So You Want To Be a Space Lawyer
The plot of Armageddon was kind of criminal
Out of the billions of people to have walked this planet, not even 600 of them have been to space. But that hasn’t stopped the world from governing it already.
Technically speaking, space law in its most basic sense started way back in 1919 when countries decided that the air above their territory was their air, and you couldn’t breathe it unless you were friends with them. It was certainly a simpler time then, and outer space wasn’t really on the table yet, so forgive the early 20th century for a lack of complex space laws. Let’s skip ahead to the fun stuff.
After the decidedly unfun World War II, the United Nations was doing its best to stop wars from happening. Sure there were rules in place about stopping needless bloodshed here on Earth, but then the Soviet Union launched Sputnik and someone probably thought, “Son of a gun, we forgot that countries will literally go to space if it means they get to kill each other.” Believe it or not, the US and the USSR actually started talks about what happens when they’re both in space, and presented their issues to the UN in 1958. The UN then created the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in 1959, and mad with power, the newly formed COPUOS created two subcommittees: the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and the Legal Subcommittee. The Legal Subcommittee became the people to see about making space laws.
Fast forward a bit to 1967 and we come to the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies or the Outer Space Treaty for those of us that value our time. This treaty makes up the bulk of international space law, and it’s honestly a bit of a mess. The main takeaway of the treaty is that governments can’t put weapons of mass destruction in Earth’s orbit or on the moon. But it fails to prohibit conventional weaponry, meaning just about anything else is fair game. International space law isn’t exactly stopping anybody from putting a really big cannon in orbit with enough power to shoot a giant cannonball to Earth. This is called kinetic bombardment, and it’s an awesome band name for anyone interested.
However, celestial bodies like the moon, asteroids, and planets other than the Earth are not to be used for any military purpose, meaning you can’t build a military base or test weapons on the moon for example. With that being said, the Outer Space Treaty states that the exploration of space must only be done for the benefit of mankind, which is extremely vague. No country can lay claim to any territory in space, and space must be kept free to use for everybody. But this leaves a fun question; if someone starts mining asteroids or the moon, are they allowed to keep the resources? Well, it’s a grey area.
There’s nothing in the treaty that mentions mining operations, but what would give a government or corporation the right to lay claim to the resources of a celestial body if they can’t claim it as a territory? Part of the reason the treaty hasn’t been updated as science fiction becomes closer to reality is that, put simply, international law is hard.
Worldwide treaties like this one have to be translated into several different languages which can put a strain on legal proceedings. Laws need to be written very clearly so there isn’t much room for interpretation, and bringing other languages into the mix can cause things to literally be lost in translation. Because of this, the Outer Space Treaty hasn’t been updated since its conception in 1967, and in case you haven’t noticed, the world has become a very different place since then.
So beside the point of language getting in the way, some countries just don’t see much point in updating the treaty. They’re content in thinking it’s pretty clear that its main goal is to keep space free of nuclear weapons and that should be good enough. But other countries really want to start panning for gold in space, so they’re taking matters into their own hands.
In 2015, the United States passed the SPACE Act which essentially says, “Take what you want from space. But not aliens, they’re not allowed.” So obviously, there are some critics of the law that say that laying claim to the resources of space is essentially laying sovereign claim to space itself. But the act clearly states,
“It is the sense of Congress that the United States does not, by enactment of this Act, assert sovereignty or sovereign or exclusive rights or jurisdiction over, or ownership of, any celestial body.”
Problem solved right? Not at all, but until the UN can write a law that everyone agrees on, it isn’t likely to change any time soon.
So the bottom line here is that space law just isn’t keeping up with advances in the scientific community. While the United States are poised to manifest their destiny all over the universe for now, there’s still time for a united front against anyone claiming space for their own exploitative reasons. In a free and fair world, space should be an exciting opportunity for research and exploration, and keeping these resources under the influence of only one nation could hinder advances that could benefit our entire species.
