Space Traffic Management as a Guiding Principle of the International Regime of Sustainable Space Activities

• Author: Yu Takeuchi
• Position: Associate administrator at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency '( JAXA'). LL.B.(Sophia), M.A.(Hitotsubashi)
• Pages: 319-334

Space Traffic Management

as a Guiding Principle of

the International Regime of

Sustainable Space Activities

Yu Takeuchi



The necessity of Sustainable Development of Space Activities, which can be seen as a

concept receiving some impression from Sustainable Development, has been actively

debated over last decade. This paper examines the current status of the international

regime of space activities by comparing the international regime of sustainable

development and analyzing the norms and principles applied in the Draft Code of

Conduct of Space Activities of the EU and the Long Term Sustainability of Space

Activities. The paper concludes that the Space Traffic Management system should

set the guiding principles for international space activities.

Keywords

Space Traffic Management, Long Term Sustainability of Space Activities,

Draft Code of Conduct of Space Activities of the EU

I. Introduction

Space activitieshave drastically changed in the past half a century in terms of actors.

1

In the beginning, only the United States and the Soviet Union could conduct space

activities. Governments were expected to exclusively carry out space activities at that

KFBJM3)3122*  319

* Associate administrator at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). LL.B.(Sophia), M.A.(Hitotsubashi). The

views expressed herein are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of JAXA or the

Government of Japan by any means. The author may be contacted at: takeuchi.yu@jaxa.jp/Address: 1-6-5 Marunouchi,

Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8260 Japan.

1There is no official definition for space activities.However, this paper will use this term to mean every activity

expected to reach outer space and contains the possibility to interfere the current activities. It includes launch,

operation, maneuver or re-entry of orbital or suborbital objects.

time. The number of participants, however, has gradually increased. Entering into the

21

st

century, the international community faces a different situation. Today, the UN

Committee on the Peaceful Use of Outer Space (COPUOS) counts 70 countries in its

membership as of 2010.

2

Commercial space flights have become a usual launch activity

in spacefaring nations. Satellites, including those for government use, are under

consideration for private sector operation, introducing a financial system of Public-

Private Partnerships (PPP) or Private Finance Initiatives (PFI). Even space tourism

is under development. Though the space industry still remains at an early stage in its

development, the activities themselves increase the number of participating actors as

well as sectors.

This situation has triggered the space debris problem.

3

It has been recognized since

the late 1980s; the temporary results of its discussion were concluded in the UN Space

Debris Mitigation Guidelines of 2007.

4

On February 12, 2009, however, there was a

serious collision for the first time between two large-scale satellites.

5

In January 2007,

Chinas Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile demonstration resulted in more than 3000

pieces of space debris in scattered orbit.

6

The international community shared a sense of

crisis about these situations and raised the issue of maintaining long-term sustainability of

space activities as a primary international issue.

7

Though the issue of the sustainability of

space activities first arose to prevent an arms race in outer space, harmonizing the

development and protection of the environment is a parallel and common interest for

sustainable development. Both goals are equally important to pre-empt international

conflicts.

This paper attempts to develop a Space Traffic Management (STM) system as a

guiding principle for preventing conflicts among space activities in the international

community. Part II will examine the current international legal regime governing space

320 

2United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer

Space: Members,

available at

http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/COPUOS/members.html (last visited on Aug.

09, 2011).

3UN Technical Report on Space Debris, U.N. Doc. A/AC.105/720, at 26 & 39 (1999).

4Space Debris Mitigation Gu

id

elines of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the COPUOS, U.N. GAOR 62nd

Sess., U.N. Doc. A/AC.105/890 (2007),

available at

http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/paros/

DebrisMitigationGu

id

elines.pdf. (last visited on Aug. 9, 2011).

5Cosmos 2251, a Russian Non-Functional Satellite, and Ir

id

ium 33, a US Functional Satellite Crashed at the 789km

altitude of North Siberia.

See Collision Between Two Satellites in Orbit: Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251, available at

http://www.n2yo.com/collision-between-two-satellites.php (last visited on Aug. 9, 2011).

6National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),

Chinese Debris Reaches New Milestone

, 14 O

RBITAL

D

EBRIS

Q

UARTERLY

N

EWS

3 (Oct., 2010),

available at

http://www.orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/newsletter/pdfs/

ODQNv14i4.pdf (last visited on Aug. 9, 2011).

7Gerard Brachet,

Long-Term Sustainability of Space Activities, in

S

ECURITY IN

S

PACE

: T

HE

N

EXT

G

ENERATION

P

ROC

.

(UN

ID

IR ed., Mar. 31 -Apr. 1, 2008).