Legal risks of space commercialization

Experts have agreed that the lack of updated global space legislation might pose a serious problem that could inhibit the development of the space industry, specially legal risks.

It is true that the Outer Space Treaty from 1967 exists and that we subsequently created the Rescue Agreement in 1968, the Space Liability Convention in 1972, the Registration Convention in 1975 and the Moon Treaty in 1979. All of these were developed within the framework of the United Nations COPUOS, the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. However, these agreements are non-binding and have different levels of accession. Additionally, they are almost 40 years old, which means that the social, political and, above all, technological reality has significantly changed since then. These agreements are also reached by consensus, which is increasingly harder to find.

Among the things that need regulation are political law for each country (jurisdiction concerning vertical space, satellites, platforms and space vehicles), relations among countries concerning jurisdiction, the use of satellites, communications, espionage and even the way to proceed in the event that we come into contact with aliens.
Yet there are problems that we need to solve more urgently, such as limitations regarding technology exportation, which hinder (if not prevent) cooperation among companies from different countries; China is a clear example of an emerging power in the space market with whom we must find a way to collaborate.
We will also need to implement regulations on the use of the radio spectrum, which is a scarce commodity and will be increasingly demanded due to the increasing amount of satellites in orbit. There is a technological solution that might help in this regard: optical data transmission, which still needs time to become the standard even though it is already working very well in systems such as the EDRS from the European Space Agency.

Forum experts talked about several goals for governmental agencies and legislators in order to promote the commercial use of space. They deem that it is necessary that governments at least:

• Do not hinder.
• Facilitate the exportation of products and technologies and its regulation.
• Promote cooperation among people, institutions and countries.
• Facilitate access to already acquired knowledge.
• Provide security for private resources.

     It would also be ideal if they:

• Clearly supported initiatives.
• Provided funding.
• Supported innovation.
• Participated in international cooperation.
• Provide access to their infrastructures and talent related to space.

     In order to do so, they have a set of strengths and resources such as vast experience in working in space and developing collaborations with other governments and agencies. They also have the possibility of creating, implementing and ensuring compliance of regulations and laws, such as the one about allocating funds to these sorts of initiatives. Last but not least, they have facilities, staff and knowledge they have been accumulating over the last fifty years of space exploration.

     Working with them entails a number of risks, such as the lack of flexibility typical of governmental bodies, the unpredictable nature when the people in charge are replaced, different interests that are not aligned with those of the industry, little flexibility when adapting to new players and, sometimes, the lack of necessary funding to work properly.