Historical events hold lessons about collaboration and competition in space that could inform how experts plan for the discovery of life beyond Earth.
Articles on Space Law
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The US disregards international law on Earth. Is that what we want on the Moon?
NASA’s Artemis II mission has revived lunar ambition – and a potential new race between nations. Very different visions now complicate the human future of space.
It’s about more than just beating China. As a space lawyer puts it, a Moon base would come with strategic, economic and scientific advantages.
Satellite remote sensing allows rapid, detailed disaster response and planning. But the rules governing who controls and has access to the data aren’t keeping up.
Greenland is central to US Space Force strategies for orbital dominance. Laws and treaties designed to maintain the peace in space are looking increasingly outdated.
As access to space becomes easier, terrorism is now a tangible threat. The world needs clear rules to avoid turning the final frontier into the next battlefield.
As a Russian space mission is set to launch mice into orbit, regulations are long overdue to recognise the sentience of animals and protect their welfare.
Nuclear reactors in space may sound like something out of science fiction, but they are likely to prove important for powering long-term space missions.
As more countries look to space, experts argue that it’s worth asking why we want to go at all, and who should lead the charge.
More people will be going to the Moon in coming years, and the way current legal frameworks are written could lead to conflict.
As ‘space tourism’ grows and private companies become more involved in orbital missions, space law has failed to keep up. Urgent reform is called for.
Space isn’t lawless, but the agreements governing it don’t cover everything nations will have to grapple with as they develop their space programs.
Nations will need to tread carefully on the Moon in order to avoid conflict.
A proposed new rocket launch site in Canterbury highlights the need for New Zealand space law to keep up with a rapidly developing but under-regulated and risky sector.
There are major gaps in space law, which could have dire consequences for space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life.
Sending human ashes and personal mementoes to the Moon is now possible, but it opens up a maze of legal and ethical conundrums.
A US-led coalition and China are both planning to establish bases on the Moon. How the two nations will navigate actions on the Moon and how other countries will be involved is still unclear.
An elaborate scheme to shade Earth with millions of tonnes of Moon dust floating in space is unlikely to get off the ground.
A comment by Bill Nelson, the NASA administrator, sparked a strong public response from the Chinese government. But due to legal and practical reasons, no country could take over the Moon anytime soon.
Top contributors
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Emeritus Professor of International Law, Western Sydney University
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Professor of Air and Space Law, University of Mississippi
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Professor, Adelaide University
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Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Waikato
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Professor of Law, University of Bradford
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Full Professor, Former Director, Institute of Air and Space Law, McGill University
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Researcher, Air and Space Law, McGill University; Bond University
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Assistant Professor of Space and Society, Arizona State University
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Lecturer in space and military law and strategy, UNSW
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Professor of Business Law and Ethics, Indiana University
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Assistant Professor of Space and International Relations, Johns Hopkins University
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PhD candidate, School of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Sydney
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Professor of Law, Adelaide University
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Associate Science Editor & Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation
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Podcast host, The Conversation
