Who Owns the Moon?

| Space Law & Outer Space Treaties

By Elizabeth Howell, Space.com Contributor |July 15, 2016 07:59pm ET

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Planetary Resources plans to send swarms of robotic spacecraft to mine resources

from near-Earth asteroids, as this artist's illustration shows.

Credit: Planetary Resources

Because space is an area without defined boundaries, there are many questions
about legal jurisdiction on spacecraft orbiting Earth and other celestial bodies.
Space-faring nations have agreed to a variety of policies and treaties that concern
activities in space exploration.

As soon as humans reached for the stars, some reached for the law books. In the
year after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, the United Nations General
Assembly created an ad hoc Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
(COPUOUS). In 1960, the International Institute of Space Law, a nongovernmental
organization, was created to promote international cooperation in the space law-
making process. Today, several universities worldwide offer programs and degrees
in space law.

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The field of space law evolved to deal with questions such as property rights,
weapons in space, protection of astronauts and other matters. However, space law
remains a challenging field to define. While there are treaties that have been
voluntarily signed by many nations, technological advances mean that private
companies can now take part in space exploration, and these entities may not be
covered under some existing treaties (depending on one's legal interpretation of
them). Also, national priorities change over time, and those priorities may not be
reflected in treaties that were created decades ago.

The United Nations and the Outer Space Treaty

COPUOUS was established in 1958 and made permanent in 1959. As of mid-2016, it

has 77 members, including major space-faring nations such as the United States
(NASA), Russia (Roscosmos), Japan, China, Canada, Brazil, Australia and the
member states of the European Space Agency,

The United Nations describes this committee as the "focal point" where
international entities negotiate how to use space peacefully. COPUOUS' duties
include exchanging information about space, keeping tabs on what government and
nongovernmental organizations do in space, and promoting international
cooperation. COPUOUS also formed two subcommittees in 1962 to deal with legal
issues, and scientific and technical developments; secretariat services are provided
by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).

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COPUOUS is the force behind five treaties and five principles that govern much of
space exploration. The fundamental treaty is the Treaty on Principles Governing the
Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon
and Other Celestial Bodies, or simply the "Outer Space Treaty." It was ratified in
1967, largely based on a set of legal principles the general assembly accepted in
1962.

The treaty has several major points to it. Some of the principal ones are:Space is
free for all nations to explore, and sovereign claims cannot be made. Space
activities must be for the benefit of all nations and humans. (So, nobody owns the
moon.)Nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction are not allowed in
Earth orbit, on celestial bodies or in other outer-space locations. (In other words,
peace is the only acceptable use of outer-space locations).Individual nations (states)
are responsible for any damage their space objects cause. Individual nations are
also responsible for all governmental and nongovernmental activities conducted by
their citizens. These states must also "avoid harmful contamination" due to space
activities.Treaties, principles and conferences

To support the Outer Space Treaty, four other treaties were put into place in the
1960s and 1970s to support peaceful space exploration. These treaties (referred to
below by their nicknames) are:

The "Rescue Agreement" (1968), formed to give astronauts assistance during an

unintended landing or when they are facing an emergency. States are told they
"shall immediately take all possible steps to rescue them and render them all
necessary assistance."The "Liability Convention" (1972) outlines considerations if a
space object causes damage or loss to human life. Its first article says, "A launching
state shall be absolutely liable to pay compensation for damage caused by its space
object on the surface of the earth or to aircraft flight."The "Registration
Convention" (1975), drawn up to help nations keep track of all objects launched into
outer space. This United Nations registry is important for matters such as avoiding
space debris. (For NASA, the United States Strategic Command gives real-time
updates to the agency if space debris threatens a spacecraft or the International
Space Station.)The "Moon Agreement" (1979), which gives more detail on the Outer
Space Treaty for property rights and usage of the moon and other celestial bodies in
the solar system (except for objects that naturally enter the Earth from these
bodies, namely, meteorites). This treaty, however, has only been signed by 16
nations, all of which are minor players in space exploration.

COPUOUS has also created five sets of principles to support these treaties.

The "Declaration of Legal Principles" (1963), from which the Outer Space Treaty was
created in 1967, lays down guiding principles, including the idea that space
exploration is for the benefit of all humans.The "Broadcasting Principles" (1982) has
to do with television broadcast signals. These principles include the idea of
noninterference with other countries' signals, the provision of information to help
with knowledge exchange, and the promotion of educational and social
development (particularly in developing nations).The "Remote Sensing Principles"
(1986) concerns the use of electromagnetic waves to collect data on Earth's natural
resources. Remote-sensing activities are supposed to be for all countries' benefit
and should be carried out in the spirit of international cooperation.The "Nuclear
Power Sources Principles" (1992) concerns how to protect humans and other species
from radiation if a launch goes awry, or a spacecraft flying by Earth accidently
crashes to the surface. It's common for spacecraft exploring the outer solar system
to use nuclear power sources for energy, since solar power is so weak out there. The
"Benefits Declaration" (1996) says that space exploration shall be carried out for the
benefit of all states. This was created two years before the International Space
Station an effort of 15 nations launched its first two modules into space.

The United Nations has also held three UNISPACE Conferences since 1968. (A fourth
one will take place in 2018.) This is what each conference focused on or will focus
on:

UNISPACE I (August 1968): Progress in space exploration, international cooperation

and creating an "expert on space applications" within UNOOSA. The United Nations
body then had several workshops in the 1970s on space applications such as
remote sensing, telecommunications and cartography.UNISPACE II/UNISPACE 82
(August 1982): Peaceful exploration of space (specifically, how to avoid an arms
race). Following the conference, UNOOSA worked more closely with developing
countries to develop their space technology capabilities.UNISPACE III (July 1999):
Protecting the space environment, giving developing countries more access to
space and protecting Earth's environment. This led to the Vienna Declaration on
Space and Human Development, with 33 recommendations for space-faring
countries to follow. A follow-up report to the declaration was issued in 2004, five
years after the conference.UNISPACE+50 (2018): Will celebrate the 50th
anniversary of the first UNISPACE conference and focus on what COPUOUS should
do now that more nations and nongovernmental entities are exploring space.Major
debates

It should be emphasized again that the U.N. treaties are nonbinding, but there is a
sort of international pressure by other nations when a nation strays from the
principles. There have been, however, some debates over the years about some of
the major principles of space law. While the ultimate interpretation of these matters
is up to lawyers, here are some of the major questions:

Access to space. This is mostly regulated by country. The Commercial Space Launch
Actof 1984 covers launch situations by U.S. citizens. Uncrewed rockets heading for
space and high altitudes must receive special permission from the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) underFAA Regulation 101. In most cases, licenses and permits
must be issued from the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, which
examines aspects such as launch site and launch/re-entry vehicles. The FAA is also
working on guidelines to protect space passengers when tourism companies start
operating.

Weapons in space. Perhaps the most famous effort at putting weapons into space
was the United States' Strategic Defense Initiative, sometimes nicknamed "Star
Wars." President Ronald Reagan first announced it in 1983 by. Parts of the system
were tested on Earth, but it was never completed. The concern was that the
portions of the system with space weapons would violate the Outer Space Treaty.

Space debris. With half a million dead objects floating in Earth orbit, some nations
are now voluntarily taking measures to prevent more space debris such as
deliberately de-orbiting satellites to hit the Earth's atmosphere. Without careful
care, some experts worry that space access will become restricted by debris, but it
is unclear what the legal ramifications are. In 2007, China received international
condemnation fordeliberately destroying a satellite in Earth orbit, which led to a
cloud of space debris. In 2013, a piece of that debris damaged a Russian satellite.

Mining rights. In the United States, there are two major companies hoping to
perform asteroid mining in the coming years: Deep Space Industries and Planetary
Resources. In 2015, the United States passed the U.S. Commercial Space Launch
Competitiveness Act, which in a nutshell allows for U.S. citizens to exploit asteroids
and other space resources, but not the land on which the resources sit. While this
makes resource hunting legal for U.S. citizens, some experts have said this could
violate the Outer Space Treaty.

Boundary disputes and property rights. For the moment, the Outer Space Treaty
says that space and celestial bodies cannot be claimed by other nations, but it is
unclear how these provisions would apply to private companies. The U.S.
Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act (see above) does not allow for
territorial claims. But with nations talking about landing on places such as the moon
and Mars, it is unclear how the exploitation rights and the property rights would
work in the case of adjacent colonies. Some suggest that Antarctica, a territory
owned by no nation and used mainly for scientific purposes, could be a model to
follow but not everyone agrees.

Geosynchronous satellite slots. Satellites positioned roughly 26,000 miles (41,800

kilometers) above the equator have the same rotation period as the Earth. This
allows them to remain in approximately the same location above Earth for years
while expending a minimum of fuel, making them useful for telecommunications
signals. These slots are limited and are regulated by the International
Telecommunication Union. In 1976, eight nations on the equator attempted to exert
ownership over this space under the Bogot Declaration, which was largely ignored,
due to how property claims are handled under the Outer Space Treaty.

International cooperation. Nations agreeing to work together on a space project can

experience problems from time to time. In 2012, for example, a NASA planetary
science budget cut led NASA to withdraw from the European-led ExoMars project,
forcing the European Space Agency to seek another partner (which ended up being
Roscosmos). The most major international project, the International Space
Station, has an international treaty (and various other provisions) governing its
operations among the 15 member nations, covering situations such as crimes or
proprietary rights. In principle, each nation retains control over its own elements
and personnel; in most cases, however, damages cannot be claimed among the five
major signatories on the station under a "cross-waiver of liability" clause on all
contracts.