Abstract: Introduction to Threats in Outer Space.- Orbital Debris - A Growing Threat and the Kessler Syndrome.- The Various Orbits and their threat levels (LEO, polar, Meo and Geo).- The Efforts of Inter Agency Space Debris Coordinating Committee (IADC) and UN COPUOS.- Space Debris Remediation and Removal Initiatives.- NEOS, Asteroids and Comets.- Solar Flares and CMEs.- Radiation and the Ozone Layer and Other Concerns from Space Weather.- Top Ten Things to Know about Threats in Outer Space.

Abstract: Chapter 1: Introduction - Space Law and Policy.- Chapter 2: The Historical Context.- Chapter 3: How "Rules" Are Made for Space Activities.- Chapter 4: The Participants and Actors in Space Law and Policy.- Chapter 5: The Role of the United Nations and Its Specialized Agencies.- Chapter 6: Distinction vs. Cooperation - Civic, Commercial and Military Uses of Outer Space.- Chapter 7: International Space Law.- Chapter 8: Space Regulations, Standard, and Codes.- Chapter 9: Space Policy, State Practice, and Emergent Normative Regimes.- Chapter 10: Establishing "Rules" for the Latest in Space-Related Enterprises.- Chapter 11: Dispute Settlement and Arbitration.- Chapter 12: Conclusions - Top Ten Things to Know About Space Policy and Law.- End Notes.- Appendices.

Abstract: The Overview Effect by Frank White (1987) aims at creating a “philosophy of space” for the American space program and the pro-space movement. As such, it has become something of a classic. It describes an evolutionary process set in motion by the first astronauts venturing into space and seeing Earth from an extraterrestrial perspective. According to White, this process is guided by universal forces and ultimately leads to the universe becoming intelligent and self-aware. However, The Overview Effect has not only found readers among space enthusiasts; it has also been cited in various literature, some of it academic and dealing with historical and societal aspects of spaceflight. This article examines White's overview thesis and demonstrates that it is fundamentally religious. Thus, evidence of the presence of religion in the American pro-space movement is presented, while at the same time the use of White's thesis in academic literature is put into question.

Abstract: How is outer space governed? This article argues that private authority is gaining salience in space politics, even with respect to the traditionally state-centric security and military aspects of ...

Abstract: We give estimates on the length of paths defined in the sphere model of outer space using a surgery process, and show that they make definite progress in some sense when they remain in some thick part of outer space. To do so, we relate the Lipschitz metric on outer space to a notion of intersection numbers. 20F65

Abstract: Space debris comprises all non-functional human-made objects in Earth orbit or re-entering the atmosphere Potentially hazardous orbital debris is proliferating If current trends continue, orbital debris will become a significant factor in constraining space activity Space, however, is one of the most strategically important theatres of the 21st century It is thus imperative, given humanity's reliance on space, that the issue of space debris be addressed This paper provides an overview of the existing space debris environment, sources of debris and international efforts to monitor it It analyses space debris mitigation guidelines and the proposed International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities It considers an international treaty to govern space debris as well as the establishment of an international review board to assist in regulating and reducing the amount of debris It also assesses the challenges of remediation and other policy actions to increase international cooperation to preserve the space environment Copyright The Author 2013 Published by Oxford University Press All rights reserved For Permissions, please email: journalspermissions@oupcom, Oxford University Press

Abstract: Since the commencement of space activities with the launch of the first artificial satellites and the development of rocket technology in the 1950s by the USA and the then Soviet Union, a growing number of states have engaged in space activities, or intend to use space more intensively. Although these states do not have the capability to establish comprehensive space programmes similar to those of the space powers, some of them have at least set up space agencies in recent years. At present, more than fifty states have, to some extent, invested in domestic space activities, and the number of national space agencies is increasing steadily. Space activities are thus becoming less of a luxury and more of a necessity, as states increasingly regard them as an important political investment in the future. The socio-economic benefits of using outer space have also made the development of space programmes attractive to a number of developing states, including some in Africa. The potential adverse environmental effects of outer space activities are self-evident. Although there are a number of environmental problems related to space activities, the most prominent is the issue of space debris. This contribution highlights some uncertainties and lacunae in the current outer space treaty regime. It concludes that the current space treaties are largely outdated and inadequate to address the space debris problem. It is submitted that an international dialogue, involving the developed and the developing states, should be initiated as soon as possible in order to conclude a consolidated binding legal instrument for the regulation of all aspects concerning the use of outer space.

Abstract: Effective space governance has become increasingly important to spacefaring and non-spacefaring powers given the interrelated problems of space weaponization and orbital debris, but thus far the applicable frameworks remain limited and outdated. For example, the 1967 Outer Space Treaty (OST) establishes space as being free from national appropriation, while setting out certain property rights. But legal ambiguities persist, such as regarding what weapons are permitted in space since the military use of space has not been forbidden, only the placement of weapons of mass destruction in orbit and the establishment of military bases on the moon or other celestial bodies. Consensus has been difficult to build since the failure of the Moon Treaty thereby limiting the effectiveness of the United Nations that had been so central to the development of space law. As a result, polycentric regulation is increasingly been undertaken. This move away from the United Nations is accelerating resulting in the potential fragmentation of governance, which has been brought about at least in part by the resistance to the Common Heritage of Mankind concept in the Moon Treaty. It is critical to assess whether such polycentric action is addressing the outstanding security and environmental issues in outer space, including space weaponization and junk. Significant scholarly attention has not been paid to the evolution of space law in this manner, nor holistically comparing the changes in space law to what is transpiring in the rest of the global commons, including the atmosphere.

Abstract: The period from the discovery of Tycho’s New Star in 1572 to Galileo’s “geometrization of astronomical space” in 1610 (and the years following) saw the disintegration of the boundary between the sublunary and superlunary spheres—between the “lower storey” and “upper storey” of the Aristotelian Universe. This establishment of a strong physical affinity between the universe “up there” and the earthly realm “down here” was also complemented by the rise of Copernicanism: for once the Earth was seen as a planet, the other planets could readily be imagined as other Earths. This analogy suggested not only physical but also biological affinities and supported the plausibility of humans’ capacity to travel to the Moon and beyond. Robert Burton—given the demise of Aristotle’s physics—declared in 1621 that “If the heavens be penetrable … it were not amiss in this aerial progress to make wings and fly up.” John Wilkins and Francis Godwin in the 1630s actively imagined creatures in the Moon and human journeys thither. The epic poet John Milton in 1667 hinted that “every star [is] perhaps a world / Of destined habitation.” Moreover, space travel was no one-way street: Thomas Traherne in the 1670s imagined a dweller among the stars visiting Earth and remarking on what must be the condition of its inhabitants. In these and other ways, seventeenth-century writers offered serious and impressive speculation about extraterrestrial life and its possible perceptions of Earth. Such speculations remain pertinent to astrobiological theory today. What Hans Blumenberg in the 1970s called “reflexive telescopics”—the examination of Earth from an imagined extraterrestrial viewpoint—is an important counterpart to the search for life “out there.” It serves as a reminder of the obvious but profound premise that Earth is part of the cosmos. At a popular level we often continue to speak of “outer space” as if the old “two-storey” picture of the universe still had some residual legitimacy. However, if Galileo, Wilkins, and other devotees of the New Astronomy were right about Earth’s being a full participant in “the dance of the stars,” then “outer” is a merely relative and parochial term, not a scientific or qualitative one. And it is no trivial claim to assert that the search for intelligent life in the universe has already identified its first specimens.

Abstract: Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC and his collaborators detail their work on Gravity, a technically ambitious drama set in outer space

Abstract: Throughout the Cold War era, U.S. debate over the military value of outer space focused on how space systems were able to contribute to nuclear deterrence and strategic stability between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Sanctuary school was the first prevailing view of the debate, and it recognized the value of outer space in the observation of regions within the boundaries of other sovereign nations. However, the views of this school were relativized following the inauguration of the Reagan Administration. As an alternative to the sanctuary school, there was another argument that made headway, which was that outer space should be positioned as the ultimate high ground and that ballistic missiles should be intercepted from outer space. Furthermore, following an increase in the military value of outer space, the idea that space control would become a prerequisite for the utilization of outer space began to draw interest. In the post-Cold War era, in contrast, the main point of contention has been about how space systems can contribute to wartime military engagements. The Gulf War saw a rise in the military value of space systems in terms of C4ISR, and since then the U.S. has maintained its policy of pursuing the C4ISR value of space systems in military operations. At the same time, as the perceived value of space systems increased, the view that space control should be established gained traction. However, when considering the future path of the debate, space control has a number of issues in terms of feasibility. Additionally, in the long term, the utilization of outer space as the high ground may become the point of contention. Nonetheless, technical challenges and other issues must be overcome before space-based BMD systems and other alternatives can be deployed.

Abstract: The newest and most expensive mode of transportation is commercial space travel which offers high-end suborbital flights to space tourists. Some consider it an extension of air travel, mostly on the basis that a spacecraft that operates suborbital flights would have to traverse airspace to go beyond it. This has encouraged some academics to suggest that this area of travel can easily be accommodated within the existing air transport regime, by incorporating the various safety principles that would be adopted for commercial space travel within existing treaty provisions with some adaptation and modification. Although there may be some commonality in both air travel and outer space travel, on the basis that a vehicle operating suborbital flights would go through airspace, it would be both unwise and impracticable to move a space travel regime lock stock and barrel into the existing air transport regime. This article touches on the main issues involved and addresses what is arguably the most critical aspect of space travel – security - which is the only area involving the most unpredictable aspect - the human factor. On the subject of sub-orbital flights space security has generally escaped the scrutiny of both academics and professionals. The article suggests the most appropriate regime for commercial space transport and discusses the elements that are the most critical in the development of such a regime.

Abstract: The state’s right to outer space is far from clear delimitation. Outer space is a typical commons, which means every sovereign state has the right to use the outer space and no state has the right to exclude others from using the outer space. The logic of tragedy of commons equally applies in outer space which means the resource of outer space will inevitably be over-used - for example, the space debris. Space debris is the collateral pollution of the exploration of outer space, which can be categorized in negative externality. The article seeks to frame the space debris problem in perspective of basic property theory.With an increasing feasible access to outer space for both states and individuals, the property rights logic underlying space treaties as a whole needs to be re-evaluated. Privatization is the way to overcome tragedy of the commons, outer space in this article. As a kind of overuse of outer space, space debris mitigation problem should be re-conceptualized reassessed in light of proper rights theory. De facto property rights of outer space resources have existed all the time despite its informal legal status. Three approaches of international community to space debris mitigation are proposed by the article along with analysis of cost thereof. As a priority issue of space exploitation, justification of limited property rights to outer space resources has been analyzed in the light of real constraints and challenges to international collective action to space debris mitigation. Despite of the prematureness of comprehensive outer space regulation framework, the advance of technology has made space debris mitigation a really pressing, if not the most emergent, issue in outer space exploitation.

Abstract: In April 2012, it was made known to the international community that a private entity in the United States had initiated a commercial measure that would mine asteroids. This measure, it is envisioned, would add trillions of dollars to the global GDP and open opportunities to mine precious metals such as platinum and cobalt from asteroids that are nudged to near Earth orbit. This article examines the policies of major spacefaring countries and international cooperation in space exploration through various studies conducted on the subject and the legal principles involved. Broadly, the theme revolves round two key issues: that space exploration must continue for technology to progress; and security issues relating to this potentially lucrative business must be looked into. Mining asteroids is a promising element in this equation that would pave the way for advances in physical and medical science as well as chemistry. Secondly, it looks at relations between the United States and China, given the fact that space diplomacy is an incipient but rapidly evolving process, and that the key to international cooperation would lie in relations between the United States and China. The security issues would inevitably revolve round the conduct of human beings in outer space and this subject is discussed in some detail.

Abstract: Like many baby-boomers, I grew up with visuals of chimpanzees being shot up into space as part of NASA’s program for space exploration; I read about Laika, the Russian dog who perished on her first space mission, involuntarily recruited from the streets of Moscow where she had lived as a stray. Biosphere II—the failed attempt to re-create earth’s ecosystems in an enclosure outside of Tucson, Arizona—similarly instrumentalized animals, this time for food, as part of a larger project investigating the possibilities of human life beyond earth. Now, NewSpace entrepreneurs pursue techno-solutions and space escapes for elites seeking adventurous enclosures beyond earth’s climate-changing surface. An ecofeminist perspective enriches our understanding of space exploration ideology by examining how cultural narratives of gender, species, and culture play out both here on earth and beyond our biosphere. Interrogating these techno-scientific pursuits in outer space augments our understanding of contemporary environmental problems such as climate change, environmental justice, and human-animal relations.

Abstract: In European space governance, the term ‘governance triangle’ usually refers to the cohabitation in space matters of the European Union, the European Space Agency and their respective member states. This contribution explores another, less well-known and less clearly structured space governance triangle: that between the EU, ESA and the UN. Its specific focus is on their respective regulatory activities in guaranteeing the sustainability of space activities. Initiatives with this objective have been taken by each of the organisations mentioned. The contribution examines the institutional preconditions for their coherence and complementarity. With the on-going debate surrounding the future institutional arrangements between ESA and the EU and the EU’s emerging actorness in space law matters (cf. the EU-championed International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities), the question arises as to the future institutional constellation between these three players for regulatory activities pertaining to space.