This brief will answer how commercial space flight will be regulated under Article VIII of the 1967 Treaty on Outer Space (‘OST’), particularly in the case of collision with other space objects. My executive summary is as follows:
‘Commercial’ space flight can be defined as (a) humans who intended to enter outer space at (b) their own expense, or at the expense of a corporate entity (c) through travel conducted by private entities.
Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty indicates that the government has continuing jurisdiction over its private citizens performing space activities. The government is the only entity able to register and authorise space flight.
The state (or the launching authority) maintains jurisdiction and control over the …show more content…
As the Treaty was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1966, the negotiation and creation of the Treaty occurred during the Cold War, when only the United States and the Soviet Union had access to space. In their attempts to apply the established legal regime to private spaceflight, legal scholars have struggled with the issues of vague treaty language and rapidly changing technological developments. There is considerable disagreement within academia over whether and to what extent the existing legal framework for outer space activity can adequately deal with private and commercial spaceflight. The drafting of fundamental principles for the use of outer space was therefore conducted with the basic assumption that spaceflight would be public, not private. However, for all intents and purposes, Article VI of the OST means in part that, as a State party to the OST, the governmental has continuing jurisdiction over its private citizens performing space activities, and is responsible for authorising space activities carried out by them. The government furthermore has an obligation to continually supervise their activities to ensure that they are carried out in conformity with the OST and international law in general. Additionally, Article VIII of the OST provides that a State party to the treaty will retain jurisdiction and control over their registered objects and personnel while in outer space or on a celestial body. The language of Article VIII leads into another issue; the matters of registration, jurisdiction and