Type: Seminar

Legal concepts relating to outer space have a long history, are robust and continue to develop. Even when space exploration and operations were exclusively the domain of nation states, a multitude of international treaties, conventions and other agreements governed activities in space. As the private sector increasingly plays supporting and, in some cases, leading roles in the development of space, the applicability and interpretation of those international treaties are under review and stress. National security and economic considerations are now increasingly emphasized over peaceful exploration for scientific purposes, resulting increasing geopolitical dynamics in space. This seminar provides an introduction and overview of space law, international and domestic, and examines the laws and policies governing the growth of the private sector in space. After reviewing what “space” means physically and legally, we proceed to examine the origins and development of international space law in international treaties and agreements and the purported underlying policy consensus relating to peaceful exploration for the benefit of all humankind. Part of the remainder of the class focuses on the evolution and development of space law and policy prior to the current private-sector era followed by the fast-developing changes in national laws relating to national security and private-sector activity in space. Critical legal and policy issues are considered relating to space-based natural resources extraction and ownership on the Moon, planets and asteroids, human settlements, in-space manufacturing, space debris and other environmental concerns. At the end of the semester, we will discuss the growing market for “space lawyers.” We expect to have sector-leading guest speakers, either in-person or online, on several subjects. Being a seminar, each class will include class-wide discussions and group-based exercises. Each student will be required to prepare several short (less than one page) position or advocacy papers on some of the topics discussed in class and an end-of-class research paper on a topic of the student?s choice.