Who Owns The Moon?

Did you grow up fascinated by the sky, wanting to touch the stars, exist in space, and capture it with what the human eye sees? Maybe we’re closer to it than we know 👀

June 20th 1969, almost 52 years ago, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin (the name you try your best to remember) landed on the moon, and humans set foot on another world. Arguably one of humanity's most outstanding achievements. Since then, India with NASA has discovered water on the moon, NASA has peppered the surface of Mars with landers and rovers, the EU space agency has an ongoing mission to Mercury, and the most intriguing of them all: Space Tourism. Private Enterprises have developed technologies that have the potential to revolutionise the field, from space planes and advanced engines to inflatable space station modules and reusable rockets that can fly themselves back with a soft landing.

With all this advancement in Space and Space Tourism, the need for refinement in Space Law is of utmost importance. When the five major treaties of space law were drafted during the Cold war, it was hardly envisioned that Space would evolve like the way it has and private companies would have such a significant stake in it. According to the Outer Space treaty, Space is a global common equivalent to the high seas and Antarctica. No state can claim their sovereignty over it, but with increased privatisation in Space, the ambiguity regarding private companies in the law remains. While our space activities have grown exponentially, both national and international space law have not. So, is Space tourism travelling faster than space law?

Let's break it down.

Space law is a branch of international law that governs all space-related activities. It serves as a backbone and guide to fundamental principles, like the notion of space as the province of all humankind, the freedom of exploration and use of outer space by all states without discrimination. It looks at a variety of matters, such as the preservation of the Space and Earth environment, liability for damages caused by space objects, the settlement of disputes, the rescue of astronauts, the sharing of information about potential dangers in Outer Space with other nations, the use of space-related technologies, and international cooperation.

Space tourism is a niche segment of the aviation industry that gives tourists the ability to travel for recreational purposes. Since space tourism is extremely expensive, only a small segment of consumers who can and are willing to purchase a space experience would be able to access this bourgeois travel option. Space tourism has several forms of space travel one can opt for - orbital, suborbital and lunar travel. On 20th July 2021, Bezos – the richest person in the world – will participate in the first passenger flight of his company Blue Origin with his brother.

You can't talk about space tourism without bringing up SpaceX. In 2021, SpaceX, with its goal of lunar tourism, has sent ten astronauts to Space in under a year. The company has reused a rocket and capsule from a past mission—something CEO Elon Musk said is key to making space exploration cheaper and, more importantly, sustainable. NASA noted that SpaceX and Boeing's contracts have saved the agency more than $20 billion in development costs instead of relying solely on Russian spacecrafts. Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic aren't far behind and have claimed to carry their first passengers on a ride for suborbital tourism. Virgin Galactic says 600 people have bought tickets, including famous personalities like Justin Bieber and Leonardo DiCaprio.

In space it is International law that abides, however the International treaties are very much state-oriented: States are both the 'makers' and the 'breakers' of space law. The international rules concerning space activities are directed at States. States' make space law, by individually deciding on whether to sign or give official consent (ratify) to be a part of it or not. They also serve as 'breakers' as the treaties are to be accepted exclusively by states and the states can break the chain by not being a part of it. The same system should also apply to private commercial space activities which currently doesn’t. Right now, private enterprises are not even mentioned in the key treaties and are not bound by obligations and rights (scary, right?).

Let’s delve into the problems with Space law and really understand where it is going wrong.

The state has to carry the expenses of private companies

Space-active states are liable for the cost of repair and compensation for all the accidents or damage caused by their objects and their nationals in space. This was acceptable till space tourism began, and the states had to take the cost of the private companies. So, states may indeed opt-out of the exploration of Outer Space within their territories to not be liable in the event of damages caused by their private enterprises. This could potentially result in a decrease in innovation.

Where does Airspace end, and where does Outer Space legally begin?

Air space, in international law, is the space above a particular national territory, treated as belonging to the government controlling the territory. It does not include Outer Space, which, under the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, is declared free and not subject to national appropriation. The treaty does not define the altitude at which outer Space begins, and air space ends. So if there is an accident of a space rocket at a height slightly over where planes fly, would it be applicable under air law or space law? There will also be an increase in political tension as a result of trespass in Airspace.

Property Rights in Space

The original treaty is pretty vague. Mainly because it states that no country could claim sovereignty over a planet's area in Space. Similar to the Antarctic Treaty where anyone can utilise the land for peaceful and research purposes, it's open season for anyone that wants to be there. In that respect, current space law states that everyone has access to anything built in space. So, if states build something on the Moon or Mars, the ambiguity persists if it would belong to just the particular state who created the establishment or Earth. As a whole? This could again cause political tension between nations among the other problems that it would cause.

Space Junk

Space junk is, in some ways, like air pollution. It comes from different sources, and there's a lot of space debris up there. There's nuclear engines, metal, plastic among other evils. With an increase in space tourism, space junk will further increase. The existing space treaties do not address space debris; there is neither a legal obligation on states to remove their space debris nor bear the cost for its removal. Some countries and organisations have been messier in space than others but the current law does not render them liable. States that wish to maintain their sustainable access to space should make arrangements for the removal of Space Debris and this should be defined in Space Law. Spacefaring states with the financial and technological means would be likely to start working on this. However those which are spacefaring but don’t have the technological and financial means would not be able to bear the costs of removal operations that can only be performed by those who possess this technology. States, which do not wish to cooperate in the removal of their hazardous space debris represent a legal challenge.

The current Space law treaties drafted during the Cold war are not prepared to colonise other planets and celestial bodies. Space law is such that it requires states to play prominent roles in outer Space. States are responsible for their nationals in Space. And this is just the beginning of the nomenclatural, ideological and other legal confusions that affect space tourism law and practice.

Few other threats of space tourism without regulation in space law include capitalistic agenda backed by business interests of a few states, financial disasters in states, intellectual property right issues and this is just in the realm of the Earth's orbit. Once tourists reach Mars, who knows which planets private companies will take on next. Despite all the ambiguity in space law that has to be tackled, this is a quite exciting space *coughs* to be in today. And if I had the chance (or the income), I would love to travel to Space, would you?