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The new season of March staged clashes between a mining company and scientists, raising a number of problems in space law. (credit: National Geographic) |
by Dennis O. Brien
Monday, November 26, 2018
March a television series on the network National Geographic Channel began its second season on November 12th. If the first episode is an indication, it will provide a detailed overview of the legal issues raised when private enterprise begins to operate on other celestial bodies.
| The company that lands on Mars is a mining and construction company. Question: What right do they have the right to exploit and sell resources in this country? |
In the opening scene, a spacecraft the size of a spacecraft SpaceX (formerly Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR) lands near a scientific base without warning, with fragments of his thermal shield hitting almost some structures there. This immediately raises two issues: non-interference in other human activities on celestial bodies and proper notification of the time, place and nature of these activities. The Moon Treaty (MT) deals with these two problems:
Article 5:
1. States Parties shall inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations, as well as the public and the international scientific community, to the extent practicable, of their activities relating to the exploration and use of their property. use of the moon. Information on time, goals, locations, orbital parameters and duration must be provided for each mission on the Moon as soon as possible after launch.
Article 8:
3. The activities of the States Parties referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article shall not interfere with the activities of other States Parties on the Moon. In cases where such interference would occur, the States Parties concerned would enter into consultations in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 15 of this Agreement.
The Moon Treaty, proposed by the United Nations but not yet adopted by the United States and other invading countries of space, applies to all celestial bodies of the system solar, with the exception of the Earth. (The text of all UN-recognized space treaties is available here.) Its application to private parties is discussed below.
The company that lands on Mars is a mining and construction company. Question: What right do they have the right to exploit and sell resources in this country? The Treaty on Outer Space (OST) states that no nation can claim sovereignty over a territory belonging to a celestial body:
Article II: Outer Space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national ownership by claiming sovereignty, through the use of or occupation, or by any other means.
But the Treaty of the Moon provides that commercial rights may be granted by an international legal framework and by its executing agency:
Article 11
3. Neither the surface nor the subsoil of the moon, nor any part of it, nor the natural resources in place, become the property of a State, of an international intergovernmental or non-governmental organization, of a national organization or of a non-governmental entity or any natural person … The foregoing provisions are without prejudice to the international regime referred to in paragraph 5 of this article.
5. The States Parties to this Agreement undertake to establish an international regime, including appropriate procedures, for the exploitation of the natural resources of the moon, as such exploitation is about to become practicable.
As suggested by The Hague Working Group on Space Governance Resources, these rights can be defined as "priority rights" of access and use, rather than permanent property rights.
6. Access to space resources
6.1 The international framework should allow unrestricted search for space resources.
6.2 The international framework should allow the allocation of priority rights to an operator for the search and / or recovery of in situ space resources for a maximum period and area when registered in an international registry, and allow international recognition of these priority rights. The attribution, duration and area of the right of priority should be determined according to the specific circumstances of a proposed space resource activity.
– Draft Modules for the Development of an International Framework for Space Resources Activities. The full text of the document is available here.
| The question thus presented is interesting: is the provision of badistance obligatory when the party requesting badistance deliberately puts himself in a situation of need? |
The Hague Group therefore follows the general guidelines of the Moon Treaty to create only laws and rights "as this exploitation is about to become feasible" rather than trying to control the 39, distant future. This is a good tip for all interested parties.
In March shortly after landing, the private company asks for water and electricity at the scientific base, saying that it must be provided under the Treaty on Outer Space:
Article V
States Parties to the Treaty regard astronauts as envoys of mankind into outer space and provide them with all possible badistance in the event of an accident, distress or landing. 39 emergency in the territory of another State Party or on the high seas. When astronauts make such a landing, they must be quickly and safely returned to the state of registration of their vehicle spatial.As part of their activities in space and on celestial bodies, astronauts of a State Party provide all possible badistance to astronauts of other States Parties.
The commander of the scientific base replied that the private company should not have begun its mission without ensuring that it had sufficient supplies to ensure its self-sufficiency. The question thus presented is interesting: Is the granting of aid obligatory when the party seeking help deliberately puts himself in a situation of need? Requiring sustainability from the start will avoid such problems in the future. The licensing agency for such activities under the Moon Treaty should require companies to be ready, willing and able to maintain themselves, in order to avoid such "emergency situations" ".
At some point, the private company begins to lay its water pipeline through an area examined by scientists for its extraterrestrial life. This would constitute a violation both of the non-interference clause of the Moon Treaty (above) and the special protections afforded to the areas of scientific investigation:
Article 7
3. States Parties shall report to the other States Parties and to the Secretary-General on areas of the moon of particular scientific interest, so that, without prejudice to the rights of other States Parties, the designation of such areas as international scientific projects may be considered. reservations for which special protection arrangements must be agreed in consultation with the relevant United Nations bodies.
Similarly, the "priority rights" proposed by The Hague Group for Resource Extraction are limited to "abiotic" resources, an additional protection for extraterrestrial life:
2. Definition of key terms
2.1 Spatial resource: an extractable abiotic resource in situ in outer space.
(see drafts, above)
This limitation should be made explicit in an agreement of application of the treaty of the moon.
Later, one of the engineers of the scientific base is injured while he's helping in the private base. Who is responsible for his injuries and damages? Which law controls? The OST and the Treaty of the Moon both state that the laws of the country of origin apply not only to their bases, but also to their personnel, wherever they are:
Article VIII (OST):
A State Party to the Treaty on whose registry an object launched in space is transported retains the jurisdiction and control over that object and the personnel thereof, as long as it is in outer space or on a celestial body.
Article 12 (MT):
1. States Parties retain jurisdiction and control over their personnel, vehicles, equipment, facilities, stations and facilities on the moon. The ownership of space vehicles, equipment, facilities, stations and facilities should not be affected by their presence on the moon.
What happens if the staff of one country is at the base of another country? These "choice of laws" issues should also be addressed in the Moon Treaty Implementation Agreement.
This agreement should also create a dispute resolution structure. The Hague Working Group recommended recourse to arbitration, in particular to the Optional Rules of the Permanent Court of Arbitration of 2011 for the arbitration of disputes relating to activities in the Hague. outer space (see section 18 of the "Building blocks"). But this process may be too slow and cumbersome to deal with the ever-changing situations presented by exploration and development. The agency created to administer the international legal framework under the Moon Treaty would probably be much more efficient and quicker to deal with such issues. It could even serve as a referee if it came to that.
National Geographic renders a great service to humanity with its series March . It presents the legal issues most likely to confront us in space before we get there. humans. They seem to believe that this can be accomplished in several decades, which goes against most scientific thinking and is the biggest technical defect of the series. But the legal question is always interesting: who makes the decision to terraform Mars? And if a life form is found, even if microbial? The Treaty of the Moon forbids changing the "balance" of the environment of any celestial body:
The Moon Treaty Implementation Agreement should deal with the way in which humanity decides whether it wishes to transform another celestial body into a terraform. It is not enough to leave such a decisive decision to a country, to a private group or to a wealthy entrepreneur, whatever his sense of adventure and his goodwill. At the end of the first episode, when the base commander raises some of these issues with the leader of the private operation, the chief says, "We do not need to follow a treaty. We are a private company. And our county has not adopted the treaty either. The first problem he addresses is the applicability of space law to private companies. Most scholars believe that treaties apply to private entities because they must operate "under the control and supervision" of their home countries.
But the US House of Representatives recently pbaded a bill specifically excluding private companies from "national" regulations.
The Moon Treaty Implementation Agreement should clarify that these obligations do in fact apply to all non-governmental entities, including private enterprises. Since US space laws refer to "international obligations", this would be sufficient to establish that jurisdiction. Finally, there is the question of countries that will not sign the Moon Treaty and its implementation agreement. The solution here is not legal, but practical: countries that do not sign the Treaty / Agreement, as well as their non-governmental entities, would not be allowed to engage in celestial activities within the international legal framework. If they pursued such activities, their demands on resources would not be recognized and none of the member countries (including their NGOs) would be allowed to purchase goods or services from such operators. The threat of such an exclusion would most likely require all countries with space to sign the Treaty and the Agreement, just as similar practical considerations forced all countries to join the Treaty. World Trade Organization, whatever their political philosophy. National Geographic renders a great service to humanity with its series March . It presents the legal problems most likely to confront us in space before we go there. With this glimpse into the future, it is becoming increasingly clear that we must adopt the Moon Treaty, with an implementation agreement that addresses the aforementioned outstanding issues. As a species, we still have time to work together and cooperate as we leave the planet and establish humanity on other celestial bodies. We can also count on militant nationalism and unregulated industries, which, according to history, leads to endless conflict and unnecessary suffering. As we have recalled Klaatu, the choice is ours. Dennis O'Brien is a lawyer and former member of the NASA / Hastings research project. He is currently Director of the Space Treaty Project. This year he published his first novel, Major Tom on the Run to the Moon. For more information on the project, the book and a petition for the Moon Treaty, visit spacetreaty.org. Note: We are temporarily moderating all subcontracted comments to cope with a spam surge. [ad_2]Source link Related Articles |
