what does a dpace lawyer do

by Prof. Kellie Ernser 6 min read

Space lawyers draft international treaties and national laws. They advise lawmakers about good policy and whether to enter international agreements. Space lawyers may even help negotiate these agreements. They help government entities and even private companies engaging in space exploration comply with existing laws and treaties.

A space lawyer is a lawyer first. This means supporting governmental or commercial space activities by attending meetings and negotiations, drafting and reviewing documents and basically thinking a lot on the law and the space activity in question.

Full Answer

What does a space lawyer do?

Space lawyers draft international treaties and national laws. They advise lawmakers about good policy and whether to enter international agreements. Space lawyers may even help negotiate these agreements. They help government entities and even private companies engaging in space exploration comply with existing laws and treaties.

What is space law?

Apr 04, 2017 · Law is a moving target. Space law regulates everything from keeping Earth safe from extraterrestrial contaminants to keeping celestial bodies safe from Earthly contagions. What a bummer it would be...

Who was the first space lawyer?

Aug 07, 2012 · Space Lawyers: They Exist A James Cameron and Google-backed asteroid mining company has a bevy of them on retainer to help divvy up all that unobtanium. Plus they help craft liability laws for...

Is a career in space law right for You?

Why might a space lawyer be useful?

They advise lawmakers about good policy and whether to enter international agreements. Space lawyers may even help negotiate these agreements. They help government entities and even private companies engaging in space exploration comply with existing laws and treaties.

What do NASA lawyers do?

These services and issues include establishing and disseminating legal policy and interpreting new statutes and cases. The Office of the General Counsel is also responsible for developing the ethics and patent program requirements, establishing metrics, and developing quality standards.Jan 4, 2022

How does space law work?

No one nation may claim ownership of outer space or any celestial body. Activities carried out in space must abide by the international law and the nations undergoing these said activities must accept responsibility for the governmental or non-governmental agency involved.

Are space lawyers in demand?

As outer space becomes more accessible, space lawyers will be in greater demand.Dec 1, 2021

How do you specialize in space law?

Routes into Space Law Currently there aren't any undergraduate degrees in space law. Instead, you'll need to study for a standard law degree and then specialist after graduation by completing a master's or a PhD. Typically postgraduate courses cover all of aerospace rather than just space.

What agencies are under NASA?

These include:Air Force Space Command.The Missile Defense Agency.The National Reconnaissance Office.U.S. Strategic Command.Army Space and Missile Defense Command.The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.Defense Space Council.

Does NASA employ lawyers?

A: There are 130 lawyers who work for NASA.

Who owns the Moon?

The short answer is that no one owns the Moon. That's because of a piece of international law. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967, put forward by the United Nations, says that space belongs to no one country.Feb 25, 2022

What are the 5 space laws?

These five treaties deal with issues such as the non-appropriation of outer space by any one country, arms control, the freedom of exploration, liability for damage caused by space objects, the safety and rescue of spacecraft and astronauts, the prevention of harmful interference with space activities and the ...

What is international space law?

Space law can be described as the body of law governing space-related activities. Space law, much like general international law, comprises a variety of international agreements, treaties, conventions, and United Nations General Assembly resolutions as well as rules and regulations of international organizations.

How often do missions visit the ISS and why?

How often do missions visit the ISS and why? Usually about every 6 months in order to enable long-term exploration of space and provide benefits to people on Earth.

How much does a lawyer get paid in India?

In India, the range of salary that the law firms offers ranges all the way from Rs 25-30 lakh per annum to Rs 150-200 lakh. Even for lawyers who have just graduated from college, there is a wide potential range from between Rs 5-10 lakh per year to Rs 18-20 lakh per year.

Who is the founder of Space Law?

Haley is also the founder of space law’s sub-branch metalaw, which concerns itself with the mediation of alien races. Its core tenant is the Interstellar Golden Rule. Basically, according to Mr. Haley , if we should encounter an extraterrestrial species, we should treat them how we’d like to be treated.

What is space law?

Space law regulates everything from keeping Earth safe from extraterrestrial contaminants to keeping celestial bodies safe from Earthly contagions. What a bummer it would be to kill potential life on Mars with a contaminant from Earth. In fact, the Committee on Space Research’s Planetary Protection Policy is the precise reason ...

When did space law start?

Space law’s origins are linked to the Space Race. While Sputnik 1 was launched in 1957, space law didn’t become official until 1959 when the United Nations formed the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) which is under the umbrella of the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs aka UNOOSA.

Can a country own the moon?

For example, according to the seminal Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and the subsequent Moon Agreement of 1979, no country can own the moon, much less militarize it. As technology advances and entities move on to colonizing and monetizing the solar system, space law will become even more complex.

Is space law a thing?

While “Space Law School” isn’t a thing quite yet, there are ways to tailor your education to your extraterrestrial career goals. One possible small step in the right direction is to attend a law school that offers courses in space law. Additionally, working in the aeronautics field either as a civilian or with the military could provide valuable experience.

Is space law a new field?

Space law is not even a brand-new field. Space legislation has been an official global concern since the 1950s. Laws governing airspace date back to the early 20th century, but those laws were not sufficient in covering outer space issues. As space exploration turns from a mainly scientific pursuit into a big business, ...

What are the challenges of space law?

Challenges that space law will continue to face in the future are fourfold—spanning across dimensions of domestic compliance, international cooperation, ethics, and the advent of scientific innovations. Furthermore, specific guidelines on the definition of airspace have yet to be universally determined.

Who was the first law school graduate to get a space law certificate?

Michael Dodge, of Long Beach, Mississippi, was the first law school graduate to receive a space law certificate in the United States. Dodge graduated from the National Center for Remote Sensing, Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law in 2008. He is now an assistant professor in the Department of Space Studies at the University of North Dakota.

Why are the U.N. space treaties unclear?

One reason that the U.N. space treaties lack definitions and are unclear in other respects, is that it is easier to achieve consensus when language and terms are vague. In recent years, the Legal Subcommittee has been unable to achieve consensus on discussion of a new comprehensive space agreement (the idea of which, though, was proposed just by a few member States). It is also unlikely that the Subcommittee will be able to agree to amend the Outer Space Treaty in the foreseeable future. Many space faring nations seem to believe that discussing a new space agreement or amendment of the Outer Space Treaty would be futile and time-consuming, because entrenched differences regarding resource appropriation, property rights and other issues relating to commercial activity make consensus unlikely.

Which countries have space laws?

Several nations have enacted or recently updated their national space law, for example, Luxembourg in 2017, the United States in 2015, and Japan in 2008. Due to the expansion of the domain of space research and allied activities in India, the Draft Space Activities Bill was introduced in the year 2017.

When did space law start?

The origins of space law date back to 1919, with international law recognizing each country's sovereignty over the airspace directly above their territory, later reinforced at the Chicago Convention in 1944.

Who wrote the first space law?

One of the earliest works on space law was Czech jurist VladimĂ­r Mandl 's Das Weltraum-Recht: Ein Problem der Raumfahrt (Space Law: A Problem of Space Travel), written in German and published in 1932.

Why are geostationary orbits important?

There are numerous advantages in being able to use these orbits, mostly due to the unique ability to send radio frequencies to and from satellites to collect data and send signals to various locations. The United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space has approved seven nonmilitary uses for these orbits: communications, meteorology, earth resources and environment, navigation and aircraft control, testing of new systems, astronomy, and data relay. The requirement to space these satellites apart means that there is a limited number of orbital "slots" available, thus only a limited number of satellites can be placed in geostationary orbit. This has led to conflict between different countries wishing access to the same orbital slots (countries at the same longitude but differing latitudes ). These disputes are addressed through the ITU allocation mechanism.

Overview

Space law is the body of law governing space-related activities, encompassing both international and domestic agreements, rules, and principles. Parameters of space law include space exploration, liability for damage, weapons use, rescue efforts, environmental preservation, information sharing, new technologies, and ethics. Other fields of law, such as administrative law, intellec…

Early developments

One of the earliest works on space law was Czech jurist VladimĂ­r Mandl's Das Weltraum-Recht: Ein Problem der Raumfahrt (Space Law: A Problem of Space Travel), written in German and published in 1932.
At Caltech in 1942 Theodore von Kármán and other rocket scientists banded together to form Aerojet rocket company with the help of lawyer Andrew G. Haley. To toast the new corporation, K…

International treaties

Six international treaties have been negotiated to govern state behaviour in space:
The Rescue Agreement, the Liability Convention and the Registration Convention all elaborate on provisions of the Outer Space Treaty. Many consider the Moon Treaty to be a failed treaty due to its limited acceptance. Others however have pointed that the limited membership of the Moon Treaty allows the current signatory states to reconvene a convention of the parties to amend an…

International principles and declarations

The five treaties and agreements of international space law cover "non-appropriation of outer space by any one country, arms control, the freedom of exploration, liability for damage caused by space objects, the safety and rescue of spacecraft and astronauts, the prevention of harmful interference with space activities and the environment, the notification and registration of space activit…

Consensus

The United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Spaceand its Scientific and Technical and Legal Subcommittees operate on the basis of consensus, i.e. all delegations from member States must agree on any matter, be it treaty language before it can be included in the final version of a treaty or new items on Committee/Subcommittee's agendas. One reason that the U.N. space treaties lack definitions and are unclear in other respects, is that it is easier to achiev…

National law

Space law also encompasses national laws, and many countries have passed national space legislation in recent years. The Outer Space Treaty gives responsibility for regulating space activities, including both government and private sector, to the individual countries where the activity is taking place. If a national of, or an organization incorporated in one country launches a spacecraft in a different country, interpretations differ as to whether the home country or the lau…

Defining "space"

Many questions arise from the difficulty of defining the term "space". Scholars not only debate its geographical definition (i.e. upper and lower limits), but also whether or not it also encompasses various objects within it (i.e. celestial objects, human beings, man-made devices). Lower limits are generally estimated to be about 50 kilometers. More difficulties arise trying to define the upper bounds of "space", as it would require more inquiry into the nature of the universe and the role o…

Geostationary orbit allocation

Objects in geostationary orbits remain stationary over a point on the earth due to gravity. There are numerous advantages in being able to use these orbits, mostly due to the unique ability to send radio frequencies to and from satellitesto collect data and send signals to various locations. The United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space has approved seven nonmilitary …