International Space Law in a New Space Age: What Laws Will Regulate Space Mining and NASA’s Gateway Program?

Authors

Hannah Kirby, Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law

Abstract

Since the late 1960s, international space law has promoted the peaceful use of outer space between countries. But international space law is insufficient to effectively govern novel outer space activities like space mining and NASA’s Gateway Program (a program between several countries to build an international space station that will orbit the moon and conduct missions to Mars). International space law is general, lacks enforceable repercussions, and leaves the door open for countries to create national laws which could result in the commercialization and destruction of celestial bodies like the Moon and Mars. This Comment explores the history of international space law and various international space treaties to explain that international space law will likely develop from companies and countries engaging in the very outer space activities the law seeks to govern. Commercial companies may also have a hand in the development of international space law if they lobby governments for their individual interests. Many scholars agree that international space law is insufficient to govern novel activities like space mining, but they differ as to the solutions.

International space law development may be a question of what comes first: the guide (of how to properly conduct activities in outer space) or the activity the guide seeks to govern, and this Comment argues that the activity will lead to the development of the law, as it often has.

Recommended Citation

Hannah Kirby, Comment, International Space Law in a New Space Age: What Laws Will Regulate Space Mining and NASA’s Gateway Program?, ILRA Student Forum (2024)