Space Law & Governance

Over the next 50 years, lawyers will play a key role in ensuring that the exploration and exploitation of outer space is managed in a fair, peaceful and sustainable manner.

Human activity in outer space is expected to take on far greater significance in the next 50 years. One key area will likely be privatization and the development of space mining, while militarization is another trend peeking its head over the horizon. This evolution will bring with it some important challenges for the existing legislation that governs legal activity in outer space.

The ‘New Space’, namely the privatization of outer space activities, will see private actors increasingly providing solutions (launching spacecraft and taking on a role as suppliers) and engaging in a race towards space mining - the extraction and exploitation of resources from celestial bodies. These two dimensions are closely interrelated. As we develop outer space activity further and missions to Mars become more feasible, space mining will be a crucial part of the efficient refueling process, given the impossibility of taking on sufficient power from Earth.

Meanwhile, the militarization of outer space is expected to accelerate in the coming years. Various states are developing technology with the intention of deploying military capabilities beyond the Earth’s atmosphere, alongside other support and intelligence elements like satellites to support nations’ defense systems on the ground. Coupled with the implementation of cyber operations, artificial intelligence and quantum computing, this is a particularly challenging field in law.

Current legislation to ensure the peaceful use and non-appropriation of space was drawn up back in the 1950s and ‘60s and it considered states as the key players. Existing legal frameworks are already evolving but over the coming half century, lawyers will have to reimagine them and devise updated versions to address entirely new circumstances. Certain nations, namely the United States and Luxembourg, have already begun a ‘legal race’ to adopt specific domestic regimes that cover outer space mining and exploitation, seeking to benefit from the profits recorded by companies registered in their territories.

As we venture further into this half-century, lawyers will need to rethink existing approach to outer space and to craft new rules aimed at meeting these unprecedented challenges.

• How to ensure that the ‘New Space’ race lives up to our legal, ethical and political standards?
• How to protect the unknown environment of celestial bodies while developing mining activities?
• Can we guarantee that the gains from space mining and other space activities benefit humanity without leading to conflicts and economic troubles on Earth?
• Is there a way to regulate the militarization of outer space to safeguard peace on Earth and in the cosmos?

It is imperative now, more than ever, to address these questions and to reassess the role of law in our solar system and beyond.