INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS AGREE LAWS GOVERNING SPACE EXPLORATION NEED CAREFUL REVIEW

Legal experts from Russia and the United States of America have agreed that international legislation is needed to control the exploration of mineral resources in space to avoid a new ‘Wild West’.

As companies – and countries – start to look to outer space for valuable resources, the idea of human colonies on the Moon, once the province of science fiction, is moving ever closer.

But while outer space mining is a growing possibility, no one is quite sure whether it would be legal because international treaties governing commercial activity in space are out of date. At the same time national governments, notably the US, are developing legislation to pave the way for easier exploitation of space resources.

Writing in ROOM – The Space Journal (www.room.eu.com), Olga Volynskaya, chief international law counsel of the Russian state commission for space activities (Roscosmos - http://en.federalspace.ru/), said: “International law gives no answer to the most important issue in space commercialisation: how to balance public and commercial interests. The long-term sustainability of space activities calls for better and clearer laws.

“It is alarming if the freedom of exploration and the use of outer space for peaceful purposes can be disregarded when it comes to national space operations.”

James E. Dunstan, founder of the Mobius Legal Group (http://mobiuslegal.com/) in the USA, agrees. He said: “Even before humans left the surface of Earth, lawyers and politicians worried about what and whose laws would apply to outer space.

“[But] contrary to what some commentators claim, there is no ‘loophole’ that allows individuals to claim ownership of celestial bodies.”

However, it is clear that more work is needed to ensure clarity and work has started in this area. For example, the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space is beginning to establish a new regulatory regime for the long-term sustainability of outer space activities via a dedicated working group.

A series of discussions in the latest issue of ROOM coinciding with the 4th Annual Manfred Lachs International Conference Conflicts in Space and the Rule of Law held in Montreal seeks to provide some clarity.

Our future in space may not be a cloudless or a peaceful one warns ROOM editor-in-chief Igor Ashurbeyli.

He said: “The very nature of Homo Sapiens – or even that of Homo ‘gambliens’ – will not allow us to harness our ancient Earthly instincts. And we will live to see new space cowboys in lunar saloons and on space ranchos.”

For more on this debate and other issues relating to space exploration visit www.room.eu.com

Space

63 The Annex
High Street
Ketton
PE9 3TE

This release was published on openPR.