TRANSCRIPT
Maggie
Hundreds of new satellites are launched every year – but what happens to the old ones?
Space is getting crowded… so we’ll show you what the law says about who’s responsible – and what happens if things start crashing into each other.
Is space junk putting our way of life at risk? And what happened when NASA’s Skylab fell from the sky?
The European Space Agency estimates there are currently 170 million bits of rubbish orbiting the Earth. How did they get there? And could they be more serious than you think?
Space travel is not something to take for granted—it could actually become impossible – dramatically impacting our daily lives.
In 1978, Nasa scientist Donald J Kessler predicted that as we keep launching things into orbit, more of them could hit each other – and break up into smaller bits.
Those bits hit other objects… and break again, and again.
Eventually the amount of space debris could make it unsafe for any space travel – or even satellites for things like GPS, TV or weather forecasts– this is called the Kessler Syndrome.
Professor Moriba Jah is taking this very seriously. His map tracks all known human-made objects in space to help scientists monitor and predict their behaviour.
Moriba Jah
This is what I call a ‘super-spreader’ event. Large rocket bodies that have been up there for decades that are pretty much ticking time bombs in that at some point they will either explode or something will hit them and they will become many tens of thousands of pieces.
Maggie
The map is tracking 200 potential ‘super-spreader’ events. These rocket bodies belong to at least three different countries – so who is responsible?
So, with the danger of satellites crashing increasing, here’s space lawyer Jessica Noble to explain what that means – and who’s responsible.
Jessica Noble
Right now, if I if a satellite crashes into another object, whether that is in space or on earth, the state that launched that satellite is the one who is responsible for that damage and for any clean up. Right now there are no explicit laws regarding removal of debris or dead satellites in orbit, however, there have been norms and guidelines that states have been working on to address that very issue.
Maggie
Whichever country launches a satellite is responsible for it and any damage it might cause – though the law doesn’t fully address this issue yet. What about the environment in space – does the law protect it from damage?
Jessica Noble
In the Outer Space Treaty, one of the articles addresses protection of the outer space environment and requires that states conducting activities in outer space do so in a manner which avoids harmful contamination of the Moon and other celestial bodies. However, this term harmful contamination is not really is not well understood at this point. We don’t know exactly what that means, as it relates to conducting activities in outer space and that’s something that we’re that we’re trying to figure out right now.
Maggie
The Outer Space Treaty – one of the oldest bits of international space law – was created to protect the space environment, but it’s not clear on what it means about pollution, exactly. So has the situation has changed since the treaty was written, is it still good enough?
Jessica Noble
The treaty might have come about in 1967 but the authors of the Treaty did a good job of leaving the language broad enough to account for different types of activities in space, it is still the backbone of all of our activities around the globe in space and has provided a good platform for those activities. There’s always room for change when we think about norms or how we approach those activities, but the Treaty itself as the foundational law is still relevant and still applicable today.
Maggie
Jessica’s opinion is that the Outer Space Treaty was written in a way that made it flexible enough to cope with all the changes and new problems we’re facing in space.
So, laws make it clear who’s responsible for crashes – but there’s still work to be done on pollution. But what happens when if something falls out of orbit… and down to Earth?
That is exactly what happened to the US space laboratory, Skylab.
At the end of its life, in 1979, it was supposed to break apart and fall into the sea, but that didn’t go to plan.
Most of it did end up in the Indian Ocean – but some – including this bit – landed in Western Australia.
No one was hurt – luckily – but did US space agency Nasa get punished at all? Has the law changed since then?
Here’s Professor Dale Stephens from the University of Adelaide.
Dale Stephens
The law regarding damages from space to earth is contained in the Liability Convention and that convention that came into force in 1972 and lady is still the same today as it relates to it deals with space objects hitting the Earth and it deals with space objects kidney hitting each other up in space, but there’s a different type of liability that applies in space to one that applies on Earth.
Maggie
A law called the Liability Convention of 1972 still deals with space objects hitting the Earth, so the law hasn’t changed since Skylab crashed. So if something hit my house, what could I do?
Dale Stephens
The law does permit you sue what is known as the launching state, who is responsible for that piece of space junk that crashed into your house or landed on your property. If you incur damage. if you have damage as a result, that’s physical injury or damage to property, then you have a right to claim compensation for that damage, and you can do in one of two ways, you can have your country, your state make a claim against that state who was responsible for that damage or you can go to that state’s own courts, you can make a claim yourself, but you cannot do both at the same time.
Maggie
If your house gets hit by something from space, you can claim damages in one of two ways – either through your own government or via the other country’s courts. Sowhat about protecting the environment from crashes and accidents?
Dale Stephens
Many States require you to get a license to provide them with an environmental protection plan. They need to say what you’re going to do with respect to protecting the environment before they issue with a license, so in that regard States and they domestic national concerns are ahead of the game regarding international law which doesn’t impose those same requirements. Yet, because of that, though I think it’s only a matter of time before these environmental controls that are imposed nationally will find international expression and be part of international law.
Maggie
Some countries require you to have a license to launch a space craft. To get that you need an environmental protection plan. But there isn’t an international law yet about this
The law tries to keep our satellites and space ships safe from junk, and tries to protect us here on Earth. But it’s clear there’s still work to be done for lawyers!