Международно-правовые аспекты управления космическим движением

Chapter 24 - Regulations for future space traffic control and management

: The international problems involved in the use and control of outer space are studied. An analysis is made of the United Nations Committee findings on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

Iran's first endeavor in space dates back to 1958 when established the United Nations ad-hoc Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space with other 17 countries(later changed its name to the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space : COPUOS). Because of an 8 year imposed war following the Islamic revolution (1979), the country's space activities were halted until 2004 when Iranian Space Agency was established. In this article the structure of ISA and its changes to meet the needs of coordinating with international space law will be reviewed. We will go through rules and regulations according to private space activities and their shortcomings and at the end there are some recommendations to improve private sector's role in this regard.

International Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space Report of the Legal Sub-Committee of the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space on the Work of its Sixth Session* - Volume 6 Issue 6

Planetary protection: lessons learned

During 2011, the Space Law Committee of the International Law Association (ILA) focused a good part of its efforts on discussing state-of-the-art advances in the field of space debris. At the same time, its members followed the presentations made by states at the fiftieth session of the Legal Subcommittee (LSC) of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), which was held from 28 March to 8 April in Vienna, Austria. Another important contribution on the matter was made by the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) at its fifty-fourth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space, which was held on 3-7 October in Cape Town, South Africa, where participants addressed space debris issues from a strong inter-disciplinary platform. Further and substantial developments are expected for 2012. In the first place, the presentations to the LSC of COPUOS at its fifty-first annual session will include reports on domestic measures taken in compliance with the 2007 COPUOS Guidelines on Space Debris Mitigation. Just as important will be the proposals and recommendations to be submitted by the ILA Space Law Committee in its fifth report to the seventy-fifth conference of this institution, which is to be held in Sofia, Bulgaria, on 26-30 August 2012. In fact, one of the chapters of the report addresses space debris in a new light observing that, since the COPUOS Guidelines on Space Debris Mitigation are not binding and are only applied on a voluntary basis, this system does not seem to be strong enough given the increasing amounts of commercial space activity. Consequently, space debris risks are increasing at a similar pace. Furthermore, and as noted in previous reports for this yearbook, it remains a matter of concern that these guidelines were developed with no involvement whatsoever by the LSC of COPUOS and that they were not adopted by consensus at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in 2007. Likewise, but indeed less clear, is the issue of space debris caused by military satellites, and this issue remains unresolved.

Progress in basic space science education and research: The UNBSSI

COSPAR (Committee on Space Resarch), UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space

This article argues that the content of the legal term “peaceful purposes,”as used in international space law is changing. Peaceful Purposes as understood throughout the bulk of the Space Age has encompassed not only the UN Charter’s prohibitions on the use of force, but also a number of customary international law principles that enhanced it beyond mere non-aggression. Through an examination of state practice with regards to the military uses of outer space, this article concludes that the legal content of peaceful purposes is eroding towards an alignment with “non-aggressive” as understood in the law concerning the use of force. Specifically, this article argues that geopolitical and technological changes are encouraging states to pursue disruption in the space environment rather than stability, and this has been matched with state practice and rhetoric that exhibits that states are moving toward more offensive, rather than defensive, stances in the space environment.

Japan’s advancements in technology and its strategic focus on space policy have driven swift advancements in the field, attributed to Japan’s ability to balance scientific exploration, industrial growth, and national defense. This article examines Japan’s national legal framework governing space activities. The key pieces of legislation analyzed are the Law Concerning Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency of 2002, the Basic Space Law of 2008, the Act on Launching of Spacecraft, etc. and Control of Spacecraft of 2016, the Act on Ensuring Appropriate Handling of Satellite Remote Sensing Data of 2016, and the Act on the Promotion of Business Activities for the Exploration and Development of Space Resources of 2021. The analysis of these activities is conducted in accordance with the relevant international space legal framework. The article delves into the shift in Japan’s space policy from “non-military” to “non-aggressive” in 2008 and its impact on national legislation. An examination is provided of the fourth law in the world (following similar actions by the USA, Luxembourg, and the UAE) concerning the exploitation of natural resources of celestial bodies, enabling private entities to conduct exploration and extraction activities. This is especially noteworthy given the lack of direct international legal oversight on space resource utilization. This article also examines Japan’s international legal space policy, including the Japan-U.S. Framework Agreement on Cooperation in the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies 2023, in light of the particularly close Japan-U.S. cooperation in space exploration and use. Japan’s enactment of a law regarding the exploration and exploitation of natural resources of celestial bodies, along with Japan’s participation in projects such as Artemis, Lunar Gateway, and Hakuto-R, demonstrates its growing role in international space projects and its pursuit of the closest possible cooperation with the United States in ensuring national security through the use of outer space. The conclusion offers summarizing statements.

(A Study on the Governance of the Global Commons)

The adoption and entering into force of the 1975 Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space (also known as the Registration Convention) was another achievement in expanding and strengthening the corpus iuris spatialis. It was the fourth treaty negotiated by the member states of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS) and it represents a lex specialis to the Outer Space Treaty (OST), elaborating further Articles V, VIII, and XI of the OST. Article V OST deals with safe and prompt return of astronauts in case of distress or emergency landing to the state of registry of their space vehicle, which is then further defined in the Registration Convention. Article VIII OST only implied registration and provided for the consequences thereof, namely in respect of exercising jurisdiction and control over a registered space object. However, the Registration Convention specified the ensuing obligations and regulated the necessary practical steps of space objects registration. The Registration Convention also complements and strengthens Article XI OST, which stipulates an obligation of state parties to inform the secretary-general of the nature, conduct, locations, and results of their space activities in order to promote international cooperation. The prevailing purposes of the Registration Convention is the clarification of “jurisdiction and control” as a comprehensive concept mentioned in Article VIII OST. In addition to its overriding objective, the Registration Convention also contributes to the promotion and the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes. Establishing and maintaining a public register reduces the possibility of the existence of unidentified space objects and thereby lowers the risk of putting, for example, weapons of mass destruction secretly into orbit. Notwithstanding these important objectives, the negotiation history of the Convention and its lower number of ratification compared to the previous three space treaties testify to the numerous challenges that surround registration. The mandatory marking of space objects was one of the most heated points of debate between member states during the drafting of the Convention in the 1970s. Member states had conflicting views, depending on whether they were launching states or potential victims of launch failures. Additionally, questions on whether there should be one central or several registers and whether the type of information to be registered should be obligatory or optional were also pivotal in the discussion. It took five years of negotiation for member states to reach compromises and to adopt the Registration Convention, containing 12 articles. The articles covered issues ranging from registration procedure and different registries to amendments and withdrawal from the Convention. In addition, the following novelties were introduced: a new definition on “state of registry” was included; the “Moscow formula” was abandoned as the depositary was moved to the UN; and the “in five years review” clause found in Article X signified that the drafters were anticipating that technological developments could have such an impact on the Convention’s provisions that shorter time span between reviews were required than in previous space treaties. Despite the Convention’s novelties and its objective to protect the attribution of jurisdiction and control on the basis of a registry, as well as to ensure the rights provided in the Liability Convention and the Rescue and Return Agreement by offering means to identify space objects, the articles dealing with joint launch registration and registration by Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) are seen as weakening jurisdiction and control concept. Due to the fact that jurisdiction and control stay only with the state of registry, the other launching states may only conclude appropriate agreements to retain any of these rights. Thus, international responsibility and liability remain with all the launching states, but jurisdiction and control only with the state of registry. Furthermore, in the case of an IGO, the IGO does not have the sovereign authority to exercise jurisdiction and control, thereby raising the question who could do so instead of or on behalf of an IGO. In this regard, the Convention leaves important areas unregulated. In the following years, there were proposals to expand the Registration Convention to encompass other subject matters such as financial interests of assets in outer space; however, up until today, these issues remain regulated only by the UNIDROIT Space Assets Protocol.

This article aims to highlight the main areas of discussion regarding long-term sustainability of space activities within the United Nations and assess the most significant challenges COPUOS has towards the establishment of a new working group to make progress in the field. To this end, it will account for the evolution of the negotiations on sustainability, focusing particularly on the proposal made by the Group of Latin American States and the Caribbean (GRULAC). In addition, this article will briefly outline the European initiative on a code of conduct on space activities and will contrast the projected text with the guidelines on long-term sustainability, agreed upon at the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). Finally, it will argue that while certain aspects of space safety and security are addressed in other bodies, these aspects are a fundamental premise of the sustainability of activities in outer space.

Increasingly over the past six decades, space exploration and technology have revolutionized the world we live in. The land- scape in outer space has continued to evolve rapidly, presenting new challenges for a much slower moving legal framework as well as for peaceful uses of space more generally. In particular, space debris has emerged as a pressing global threat. In response, states have shifted towards a more informal two-pronged approach to outer space, as reflected by non-binding instruments adopted by the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), along with the development of technologies that aim to provide practical solutions to space debris concerns. Taking into account these strategies, this Article first undertakes a review of various complexities facing the existing regulatory framework regarding the environment of space with a focus on dual-use technologies. The Article then demonstrates how Science and Technology Studies (STS) perspectives may offer frameworks and approaches that allow legal scholars to approach highly networked and entangled questions in ways that offer new paths forward while also facilitating technical legal analysis. By doing this, we hope to emphasize that a more multi-disciplinary perspective regarding the complexities and challenges associated with increasing levels of space activities is both warranted and constructive.

The 1960 was the year in which we waited for a big initiative from the United Nations Organization through its Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in the direction of the further steps in organizing the outer space. The Ad Hoc Committee created in 1958 was enlarged by six new members as a result of compromise which was reached between the USA and USSR. Nevertheless, 1960 passed without a single meeting of that Committee and, today, it is quite premature to await some important results from an official action on the part of intergovernmental organisms in the way of a codification of future space law.