International Space Law

AuthorM. Lits - S. Stepanov - A. Tikhomirova
PositionTyumen State University (Tyumen, Russia)
Pages135-155
BRICS LAW JOURNAL Volume IV (2017) Issue 2
COMMENTS
InTERnaTIonaL SPaCE Law
MARINA LITS,
Tyumen State University (Tyumen, Russia)
SERGEI STEPANOV,
Tyumen State University (Tyumen, Russia)
ANNA TIKHOMIROVA,
Tyumen State University (Tyumen, Russia)
DOI: 10.21684/2412-2343-2017-4-2-135-155
It is well known that the modern day technologies that drive our global society are highly
dependent on the use of outer space. For example, daily activities such as sending emails,
making phone calls and carrying out bank transactions cannot be done unless satellite
technologies are involved. When you catch a plane, the air trac control is dependent
on GPS. Even natural disaster management is dependent on satellite imaging.
Taking into account the importance of this, it becomes increasingly necessary to be
knowledgeable in the eld of international law as it is the only sphere of law that
reaches beyond the physical boundaries of the Earth, goes deep into space and provides
protection for today’s society.
With new steps being taken to exploit fur ther the potentials of outer space, and with
increasing talk of new space missions and new discoveries, current international
space law is being placed under scrutiny, for it should be remembered that the major
international legal documents in this eld were adopted in the middle of the 20th century,
and thus there are fears that the law may have become obsolete, irrelevant in the face
of new challenges in the use of outer space.
This paper delivers an analysis of existing international space law and attempts to raise
several crucial issues pertinent in the area.
BRICS LAW JOURNAL Volume IV (2017) Issue 2 136
Keywords: international space law; space activities liability; commercialization of
space.
Recommended citation: Marina Lits et al., International Space Law, 4(2) BRICS Law
Journal 135–155 (2017).
1. Basic Principles of International
Space Law
In accordance with the basic principles of international civil law, liability is based
in the rst place on the laws of the country on whose territory the damage occurs
(lex loci delicti). But where the setting extends beyond geographical boundaries and
encompasses the realm of outer space, such as when a man-made space object that
causes damage in one country originated in another country, litigation may tur n
out to be extremely laborious. This is because civil law claims may be very dicult
to assert for a variety of reasons, e.g. limits of indemnity, problems with regard to
the burden of proof, inequality in terms of the strength of the parties involved, and
the diculty of getting court decisions executed. Because of these shortcomings,
special rules on liability were established by the United Nations.1
But the road to establishing an international regime was quite long. In the late
1950s, an academic debate began as to liability for third-party damage caused by
space activities. In 1962, U.S. delegates raised the need for a liability regime before the
Legal sub-committee of the UN Outer Space Committee. This was done in response
to an event of September 5, 1962, when a 3-kilogram metal object fell from the sky
and landed on a street in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and the United States believed it
to be from Sputnik 4, launched into space by the Russians in 1960. Unfortunately,
the Soviet Union showed little interest in preparing a draft instrument, as they
considered that liability would arise in accordance with international law.
The principle that the state bears international responsibility for national activities
in outer space and that each state which launches or procures the launching of
an object into space is internationally liable for damage sustained on the Earth,
in airspace or in outer space, was set out in special international documents that
initiated the origin of international space law.
Space law can be described as the body of law applicable to and governing
space-related activities. The term “space law” is most often associated with the rules,
1 Piotr Manikowski, Examples of Space Damages in the Light of International Space Law, 1(1) The Poznań
University of Economics Review (2006) (Apr. 4, 2017), also available at http://www.ebr.edu.pl/
pub/2006_1_54.pdf.

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