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OUTER SPACE TREATY

On December 19, 1966, the UN General Assembly adopted the recommendation of COPUOS for a Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (9). The document outlines the basic principles governing the behavior of nations in space. It was opened for signature in 1967 and has been ratified by 90 countries. This "Outer Space Treaty" or "Space Charter" has been characterized by some as a Magna Charta for space. This treaty also establishes the basis for all follow-on treaties thus making it the most important of the space treaties.

The Outer Space Treaty states that space is the "province of all mankind." Space is available for the exploration and the use of everyone; no one nation can restrict the access of space to any other nation. This also means that nation states cannot claim sovereignty or expropriate any part of space for its own use. This provision is very similar to the Antarctic Treaty, but it also includes the permission of private companies to perform space exploration.

The Outer Space Treaty makes no attempt to define where space begins. A current definition is the lowest altitude that permits a vehicle to orbit the Earth without entering the earth's atmosphere. That altitude is approximately 100 km (62 miles). Below that altitude, air law with all of its sovereignty ramifications applies. NORAD has a definition which states that if a space vehicle's period is less than 86 minutes, then the satellite can be considered to be deorbiting. Greater than 86 minutes means the satellite is still in orbit.

The Outer Space Treaty further states that space will be used for only peaceful purposes and that no weapons of mass destruction will be placed in space or on other celestial bodies. The treaty does not deny the military use of space so activities such as reconnaissance, communications, early warning, intelligence gathering, and navigation are permitted. Military personnel are also permitted in space, but they cannot conduct any military maneuvers or build any military base in space or on any celestial body. Verification or the examination of military satellites is not permitted which seems to say that salvage of derelict spacecraft is off limits as well.

Ambassadorial status is provided to all astronauts and cosmonauts in a provision in the Outer Space Treaty. Astronauts are the "envoys of all mankind" and should be given all possible assistance to return to their home countries. In other words if the space shuttle lands in Russia it and the astronauts should be given as much help required to get back to the U.S. The Soviet Union recognized that the U.S. would abide by this portion of the treaty and in the darkest days of the Cold War told their cosmonauts to land in North Dakota if they were unable to land in the central USSR due to an emergency.

The Outer Space Treaty states that launching states are responsible for any spacecraft launched from their soil. The nations state is responsible for any liability which may happen due to an errant space launch or a faulty satellite.

Analysis of the debates, resolutions, and ratifying documents accompanying the Outer Space Treaty confirm its quasi-constitutional intent. The treaty was designed to create a set of overriding principles that should govern subsequent multilateral and bilateral agreements. Indeed, four subsequent agreements have elaborated on the principles of the Outer Space Treaty, and each incorporated the Outer Space Treaty by reference. This type of interrelationship among international treaties and agreements is unusual and further documents the guiding function of the Outer Space Treaty. The four subsequent agreements are:

  • The Agreement on the Rescue and Return of Astronauts, and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space, opened for signature in 1968 (11);
  • The Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects (Damage Convention), available for ratification in 1972 (12);
  • The Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space, opened for signature in 1975 (13); and
  • The Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (Moon Treaty), available for signature in 1980 (14).

What do these activities portend for supra-national or global government? Despite increasing international interdependence, optimism in the face of all the world's problems is difficult. Indeed, as the debate surrounding the Moon Treaty has evidenced, those living in societies that recognize a significant degree of individual sovereignty may be wise to weigh the value of a precipitous move toward supra-nationalism or global government. Though promising, the call for globalism must be balanced against the need to insure perpetual freedom and fundamental human rights. Moreover, the prospect of global government does not seem to lie in the near future.

See the full text version of the Outer Space Treaty.

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