United Nations Conference on Disarmament - Geneva

MUSIS - Multinational Space Based Imaging System

SPOT - Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre 

National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS)

Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs Office (CRSRAO)

Commercial Remote Sensing Compliance and Monitoring Program (CRSCMP)

National Space Policy of the US - 2010

National Space Policy of the US - 2006

National Security Space Strategy - 2011

Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines - 1993

Senate Committee Approves Commercial Space Bill As House Prepares To Vote On Its Own

International Council of Scientific Unions' Committee on Space Research (COSPAR)

2004 Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act (CSLA) - PUBLIC LAW 108–492

Licensed launch of spaceflight participants for revenue - 51 USC 50905

Paying claims exceeding liability insurance and financial responsibility requirements - 51 USC 50915

Liability insurance and financial responsibility requirements - 51 USC 50914

Chapter 513 - Space Resource Commercial Exploration and Utilization

SpaceX Falcon Heavy - as of today, September 4, 2014 - the world's most powerful rocket

1965: INTELSAT established the first commercial global satellite communications system.

2009: first major collision between an operational satellite and space debris - Iridium 33/ Cosmos 2251 

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS): satellite system used to pinpoint the geographic location of a user's receiver anywhere in the world 

- US NAVSTAR Global Positioning System

- Russian GLONASS

- China Beidou

- European Union Galileo

International Lawmaking Process

- Treaties

Travaux preparatoires

- Customary International Law

Opinio juris

The Paquete Habana case

International Dispute Resolution

- International Court of Justice (ICJ)

- Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs)

- Permanent Court of Arbitration

4 Methods for making International Agreements in the U.S.

1. Treaties

2. Congressional Executive Agreements

3. Presidential Executive Agreements

4. Treaty-Authorized Executive Agreements

Department of State Circular 175

Charming Betsy Doctrine

Last in Time Rule

Lex Specialis

International Sources of Space Law

5 Major Outer Space Treaties

1. Outer Space Treaty

2. Rescue Agreement

3. Liability Convention

4. Registration Convention

5. Moon Agreement

4 U.N. General Assembly Resolutions

1. U.N. Res. 37/92. Principles Governing the Use by States of Artificial Earth Satellites for International Direct Television Broadcasting

2. U.N. Res. 41/65. Principles relating to remote sensing of the Earth from space

3. U.N. Res. 47/68. Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer Space

4. U.N. Res. 51/122. Declaration on International Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for the Benefit and in the Interest of All States, Taking into Particular Account the Needs of Developing Countries

Types of Government Contracts

FAR 16.2 - Fixed-price contracts

FAR 16.3 - Cost-reimbursement contracts

FAR 16.4 - Incentive contracts

FAR 16.5 - Indefinite-delivery contracts

FAR 16.6 - Time-and-material contracts

CRADA - Cooperative Research and Development Agreement

SAA - Space Act Agreement

Law Offices of Laura Montgomery

The Law Offices of Laura Montgomery publish Ground Based Space Matters.

Ground Based Space Matters is intended to highlight and explore space law and policy issues, and does not constitute or provide legal advice.

FCC’s Proposed New Orbital Debris Rules: Jurisdiction, Duplication, and Indemnification

When did the FAA release a draft rule? In days of yore.

New Executive Order on Space Mining, the Moon Agreement, and Customary International Law

March 2021 - FAA Streamlined Launch and Reentry Rule Takes Effect

July 2023 - FAA Launches Commercial Human Spaceflight Occupant Safety Rulemaking Committee

The FAA launched a rulemaking committee to examine the development and cost of possible future regulations for commercial human spaceflight occupant safety. The agency is taking this action due to the increase in commercial space activities and the impending end of the Congressional prohibition on commercial human spaceflight regulations in October 2023.

The committee is expected to gather recommendations from industry and other stakeholders to help the FAA plan, conceive, and implement—when the time is right—a well-informed, thoughtful, regulatory regime for commercial human spaceflight occupant safety. Recommendations will be submitted to the FAA next summer.

The committee is co-chaired by Dr. Minh Nguyen, Executive Director of the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation and Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar, Chief Government and External Relations Officer of Axiom Space. View the full membership list here.

Under current federal law, the FAA cannot regulate the safety of individuals on board a space launch or reentry vehicle absent death, serious injury, or a close call. Congress first imposed this regulatory learning period in 2004, and subsequently extended it, to ensure the industry had ample time to grow and innovate.

Presently, FAA regulations require crew and spaceflight participants are made aware of the hazards of space travel and fly under a written informed consent framework.

In addition to this rulemaking committee, the FAA is updating its recommended practices for commercial human spaceflight occupant safety, working with various organizations to develop voluntary consensus standard and conducting or facilitating human spaceflight research.

Back in the Day: The Outer Space Treaty During War - 

Laura Montgomery

Jul 24, 2023

Have you ever wondered whether the Outer Space Treaty applies during war?  We have some clues from the past to suggest it does not.  The Senate held full hearings on the treaty before ratifying it, so there is lots of testimony from the treaty's U.S. negotiators.

The Outer Space Treaty’s applicability provision at Article XIII states that “The provisions of this Treaty shall apply to the activities of States Parties to the Treaty in the exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, …”  If the Treaty applies only to “exploration and use” it may be argued that neither of those activities include war, although a broader interpretation might view war as a “use.”  However, General Wheeler, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified to the Senate during the 1967 ratification hearings that the Treaty would not apply during war.

The Department of Defense's Office of the General Counsel later provided a fuller explanation in 1999 and as updated in 2002:

During an international armed conflict between the two nations concerned, however, the law of armed conflict would apply unless it was trumped by the principle of noninterference with space systems. Resolution of this issue depends largely on whether the four space treaties will be considered to apply during an armed conflict. None of them has any specific provision that indicates whether the parties intended that the agreement apply in wartime. There appears to be a strong argument that the principle of noninterference established by these agreements is inconsistent with a state of hostilities, at least where the systems concerned are of such high military value that there is a strong military imperative for the adversary to be free to interfere with them, even to the extent of destroying the satellites in the system. As indicated in the discussion of treaty law in the introduction to this paper, the outcome of this debate may depend on the circumstances in which it first arises in practice. Nevertheless, it seems most likely that these agreements will be considered to be suspended between the belligerents for the duration of any armed conflict, as least to the extent necessary for the conduct of the conflict.

In short, the U.S. Department of Defense seems unlikely to apply the strictures of the Outer Space Treaty during an armed conflict.  The DOD position does not appear to have changed as of the 2016 DOD Law of War Manual, which states in reliance on the 1999 assessment quoted above: “Certain provisions of these treaties may not be applicable as between belligerents during international armed conflict.”

Sarah Nilsson, J.D., Ph.D., MAS

602 561 8665

sarah@sarahnilsson.org

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