Space exploration has been an international endeavour since the 1950’s. It used to be a project for nations, driven by government programmes. However, and more recently, it is probably being pursued just as forcefully by private corporations like SpaceX. However, there are a number of other less glamorous, but functional, activities that routinely take place in outer space. Satellites are presently the dominant commercial activity. They operate in various fields such as telecommunication, navigation, remote sensing of the earth’s resources and meteorology, etc. And then, far less benign, is the threat that space will be used by nations for military purposes. As space gets utilised more, and as the risk of undesirable use increases, the need increases for more focussed and effective regulation. At present, activities in space are regulated at both a public international law level as well as at a national level. At the international level, the UN regulates the rules. Currently, there are five UN treaties: the Outer Space Treaty, the Rescue Agreement, the Liability Convention, the Registration Convention, and the Moon Agreement. Much of what is in those treaties has become customary international law.

This article, interestingly, discusses the need for appropriate changes to the current legal framework: both at a domestic and internal law level to ensure that space is always used for peaceful purposes and not as a place from which to wage war. The article refers to The McGill Manual, an independent and impartial effort to codify 52 accepted principles of public international law, put together by 80 experts, to achieve precisely this. These principles impose constraints on irresponsible and dangerous activities in outer space. #spacelaw #tilapa #internationallaw