Back to the Future: Outer Space Policy Review of the Past for Clues to the Future

Sixty years later, Professor Paul B. Larsen revisits and discusses seven outer space legal issues identified by early space law experts and their current impacts on space policy. The first section addresses the ambiguous boundary of the non-sovereign outer space legal regime which, increasingly causes states to claim control of non-sovereign outer space. Second, Larsen analyzes how the lack of outer space regulation by an international agency like the International Civil Aviation Organization has encouraged states to seek to control outer space unilaterally. Third, although the original aim of space law experts was for outer space to be free for exploration and use by all states, increasingly, outer space is being controlled by competing groups of states.

Fourth, outer space was originally dedicated to peaceful use with minimal allowance for the military uses then in effect, but now military uses are voluminous and growing, with conflicts possible in the near future. Fifth, all persons in outer space were originally military acting as envoys of mankind to be rescued in the event of accidents. However, the sixth section explores how persons in outer space are increasingly now employed by competing non-governmental operators or perform military functions, not acting as envoys of mankind. Lastly, the adoption of a private international law convention on liability might require non-governmental operators to obtain adequate insurance coverage to reimburse for conjunctions, as a condition for permission to enter outer space.