From Space debris to asteroid strikes to anti-satellite weapons, humanity's rapid expansion into Space raises major environmental, safety, and security challenges. In this book, Michael Byers and Aaron Boley, an international lawyer and an astrophysicist, identify and interrogate these challenges and propose actionable solutions. They explore essential questions from, 'How do we ensure all of humanity benefits from the development of Space, and not just the world's richest people?' to 'Is it possible to avoid war in Space?' Byers and Boley explain the essential aspects of Space science, international law, and global governance in a fully transdisciplinary and highly accessible way. Addressing the latest and emerging developments in Space, they equip readers with the knowledge and tools to engage in current and critically important legal, policy, and scientific debates concerning the future development of Space. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
This is a policy oriented and comparatively oriented textbook on air and space law for students and practitioners. It covers the history and development in air and space law; their interrelationships with the law of the seas and the law of Antartica; institutions working in the field of air and space law; sovereignty in national penal air law; private international air law, especially liability law; and public and private space law Much attention is devoted to the law of air commerce: bilateral air services agreements; inter-airline co-operation; the effect of competition, antitrust and European Union law; deregulation, privatization and commercialization of air transport; ownership and control of airlines, and airline alliances; multilateralisation of air transport; and congestion and environmental controls. The last chapter of the book briefly deals with the legal aspects of commercial outer space application. Increasingly, air transport, both in fact and in law, is becoming an ordinary industry like any other and is being treated as such. Rapidly, commercial outer space activities are being privatized and commercialized.
This work investigates the permissibility and viability of property rights on the - lestial bodies, particularly the extraterrestrial aspects of land and mineral resources ownership. In lay terms, it aims to ?nd an answer to the question “Who owns the Moon?” The ?rst chapter critically analyses and dismantles with legal arguments the issue of sale of extraterrestrial real estate, after having perused some of the trivial claims of celestial bodies ownership. The only consequence these claims have on the plane of space law is to highlight the need for a better regulation of extraterrestrial landed property rights. Next, thebook addresses theapparent silenceofthelawinthe?eldofextraterr- trial landed property, scrutinizing whether the factual situation on the extraterrestrial realms calls for legal regulations. The sources of law are examined in their dual dimension – that is, the facts that have caused and shaped the law of extraterrestrial real estate, and the norms which express this law. It is found that the norms and rules regarding property rights in the celestial realms are rather limited, failing to de?ne basic concepts such as celestial body.
The potential use of space for military purposes has, since the end of the Second World War, been intrinsically linked to the development of space technology and space flight. The political relevance of outer space continues to be recognised by nations, and in particular the strategic benefit of Earth observation from outer space remains an important national security tool. However, because of the dual-use potential of many space applications, the distinction between the military and non-military uses of space is becoming increasingly blurred. The consequent potential for conflict between nations in order to protect their space assets is alarmingly clear.The outer space arena has, however, evolved to increasingly include non-state entities, which are becoming more and more involved in outer space activities. These activities currently comprise the use of satellites for navigation purposes, the transportation of supplies to the International Space Station and the offering of tourist flights into outer space. Today in all space-faring countries, the space industry contributes to national GDP and supports the labour force. It also serves as a catalyst for technological advancement and productivity growth, and has become an integral part of the day-to-day lives of people all around the world.The involvement of private actors in outer space has, however, given rise to a number of legal issues, including questions pertaining to liability, insurance and property rights in space. The current outer space treaties are to a large degree outdated and unable to deal with legal issues arising out of the military and commercial use of outer space.Outer Space Law: Legal Policy and Practice is aimed at readers looking for a single title to understand the key issues relevant to the space sector, with an emphasis on the practical application of those issues. The book will be specifically relevant to legal practitioners, academics and state departments primarily working in the space arena, as well as to those in other related sectors such as IT and media, insurance and political science. Edited by Yanal Abul Failat, lawyer at the international law firm LXL LLP, and Professor Anél Ferreira-Snyman, a professor of law specialising in international space law at the University of South Africa, the book includes contributions by leading experts from space agencies, space venturers, lawyers, economists, insurers, academics and financiers.
This book examines the international and domestic American legal problems associated with activity in outer space from a strong policy perspective, with particular attention given to problems associated with space commercialization and with military activities in outer space. Outer Space: Problems of Law and Policy is indispensable as a casebook, reference, and self-teaching tool for students, practitioners, academics, and members of the aerospace industry.
Inner Space/Outer Space brings together much of the exciting work contributing to a new synthesis of modern physics. Particle physicists, concerned with the "inner space" of the atom, are making discoveries that their colleagues in astrophysics, studying outer space, can use to develop and test hypotheses about the events that occurred in the microseconds after the Big Bang and that shaped the universe as we know it today. The papers collected here, from scores of scientists, constitute the proceedings of the first major international conference on research at the interface of particle physics and astrophysics, held in May 1984. The editors have written introductions to each major section that draw out the central themes and elaborate on the primary implications of the papers that follow.
In Placing Outer Space Lisa Messeri traces how the place-making practices of planetary scientists transform the void of space into a cosmos filled with worlds that can be known and explored. Making planets into places is central to the daily practices and professional identities of the astronomers, geologists, and computer scientists Messeri studies. She takes readers to the Mars Desert Research Station and a NASA research center to discuss ways scientists experience and map Mars. At a Chilean observatory and in MIT's labs she describes how they discover exoplanets and envision what it would be like to inhabit them. Today’s planetary science reveals the universe as densely inhabited by evocative worlds, which in turn tells us more about Earth, ourselves, and our place in the universe.
This is the first book to explore the concept of 'Grotian Moments'. Named for Hugo Grotius, whose masterpiece De jure belli ac pacis helped marshal in the modern system of international law, Grotian Moments are transformative developments that generate the unique conditions for accelerated formation of customary international law. In periods of fundamental change, whether by technological advances, the commission of new forms of crimes against humanity, or the development of new means of warfare or terrorism, customary international law may form much more rapidly and with less state practice than is normally the case to keep up with the pace of developments. The book examines the historic underpinnings of the Grotian Moment concept, provides a theoretical framework for testing its existence and application, and analyzes six case studies of potential Grotian Moments: Nuremberg, the continental shelf, space law, the Yugoslavia Tribunal's Tadic decision, the 1999 NATO intervention in Serbia and the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The prominence of space law has grown in recent years as private companies rapidly expand their spaceflight capabilities and open new markets in outer space. With this transition, the space industry has many new opportunities and must also confront increased risks. Well thought-out laws that govern spaceflight activities minimize the risk to people and property in outer space and on the ground. This book examines some of these laws and subsequent court cases.
The fascinating story of how NASA sent humans to explore outer space, told through a treasure trove of historical documents--publishing in celebration of NASA's 60th anniversary and with a foreword by Bill Nye "An extremely useful and thought provoking documentary journey through the maze of space history. There is no wiser or more experienced navigator through the twists and turns and ups and downs than John Logsdon." -James Hansen, New York Times bestselling author of First Man, now a feature film starring Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy Among all the technological accomplishments of the last century, none has captured our imagination more deeply than the movement of humans into outer space. From Sputnik to SpaceX, the story of that journey--including the inside history of our voyages to the moon depicted in First Man--is told as never before in The Penguin Book of Outer Space Exploration. Renowned space historian John Logsdon traces the greatest moments in human spaceflight by weaving together essential, fascinating documents from NASA's history with his expert narrative guidance. Beginning with rocket genius Wernher von Braun's vision for voyaging to Mars, and closing with Elon Musk's contemporary plan to get there, this volume traces major events like the founding of NASA, the first American astronauts in space, the Apollo moon landings, the Challenger disaster, the daring Hubble Telescope repairs, and more. In these pages, we such gems as Eisenhower's reactions to Sputnik, the original NASA astronaut application, John Glenn's reflections on zero gravity, Kennedy's directives to go to the moon, discussions on what Neil Armstrong's first famous first words should be, firsthands accounts of spaceflight, and so much more.
