Satellite Constellations are often brighter and visible in the night sky and therefore an increase in the number of satellite constellations in the Earth’s orbit can threaten the dark skies of the earth. The bright trails of these satellites constellations on the Dark skies in large numbers can interfere with various Astronomical activities. Considering these interferences, this paper will discuss the legal measures under International Space law to protect Dark skies from Satellite constellations. Firstly, this paper will emphasize how an extension of the “Equitable Access principle” by the ITU to LEO and MEO will help in regulating the number of operating Satellite Constellations, thereby reducing the disturbances caused to Dark skies of the earth. Secondly, this paper will analyse how the concept of “Milestones based launching” of Satellite constellations as agreed under WRC 2019 can help in shaping mitigation measures. Thirdly, this paper will emphasize on the Role of Domestic Regulators such as FCC of U.S etc. and the development of National Policies to regulate Satellite Constellations in order to prevent their pollution of dark skies. Finally this paper will evaluate the importance of World Heritage Convention 1972 in protecting the Dark Skies.

In 1986 the UN General Assembly adopted the Remote Sensing Principles, a set of voluntary guidelines aimed to govern a newly established field of space activities. In the discussions that preceded the adoption of the Principles, States expressed their concerns about the new technology that enabled the continuous observation of the Earth from outer space. The concern that Earth observation would provide unfair advantage to the few States that were able to procure remote sensing satellites, combined with an effort to secure their corresponding national interests, prompted States to agree to conduct remote sensing activities on the basis of “respect for the principle of full and permanent sovereignty of all States over their wealth and resources and with regard to the rights and interests of other States and entities under their jurisdiction”. This paper will examine how the principle of respect to State sovereignty functions in light of the advancements in Earth observation applications, namely the improving resolution of satellite imagery, the capabilities of high-throughput satellites to store and disseminate data, as well as the growing convergence of space technology in non-space applications. In particular, it will examine the extent to which countries can exercise their sovereign right over information regarding territories under their jurisdiction, when this information is gathered by satellites. To this end, it will focus on the concept of sovereignty as it was formulated in the UN Remote Sensing Principles, by comparison to equivalent regimes for monitoring from the air and from the sea. Whereas space law establishes the freedom of exploration and use of outer space, an area outside the sovereignty of any State, air law, law of the sea and other fields of international law limit the freedom of conduct of other States within the territory under a State’s jurisdiction without that State’s explicit permission. The paper will also assess the benefits and drawbacks of the rapid development of Earth observation technology and the effects of the regulatory limitations in this regard. Ultimately, it will support that the current legal regime should not be interpreted as hindering the evolution of remote sensing, but as encouraging the identification and overcoming of the rising challenges, in order to enhance the benefits from Earth observation technology and its applications.

Remote sensing satellites are applying in different fields for a long time. The last two decades have shown a growing trend towards an application of the remote sensing results in the litigation. In territorial, maritime and other disputes parties start using images acquired by remote sensing satellite as an evidence. Unfortunately, not all international judicial institutions take the remote sensing results into account in its decisions. One of the main obstacles is probability of providing falsified information by the numerous service providers in the remote sensing area. On the one hand remote sensing technologies are available to everyone, on the other hand, quality of such images or credibility can be challenged by the disputing party or by the Court itself. To resolve this problem a special universal independent organization-provider of the “pure data” can be created. Also, international space law is silent about possible ways how to share of the remote sensing data or whether it is necessary to establish a special fund. By contrast, States have already started to make governmental funds of remote sensing results at the national level. This paper attempts to suggest the best way of the consolidating results which have been made by the governmental, international non- and intergovernmental organizations for creating the world fund of remote sensing data. The article consists of 3 parts: analysis of the case study, forms of international cooperation of the States and organizations on the sharing/buying of the remote sensing date and international legal aspects of this issue.

This article aims to provide the European perspective, highlighting the European Space Agency (ESA) procurement framework for regional industrial development as a potential model for the Middle East. Space activities are increasing across the Middle East and many of these countries are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This means that they must abide by WTO trade principles including competition rules. However, Middle East countries, especially Gulf countries, have developed national procurement frameworks applicable to the oil and gas industry to protect national industry participation and promote local employment. Similar rules of procurement could be proposed for the space industry in order to develop and secure the space industry in the Middle East region. To balance the criteria of regional preference and WTO competition rules, ESA’s industrial space policy could serve as a model for the Middle East.

The European Union has turned into a significant player in the area of space activities and this has been accompanied by legislative steps. In 2018, it formulated a Proposal for a Regulation Establishing the Space Programme of the Union and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme which seeks to regulate the governance of the key components of the EU space activities. In parallel, the Union adopted also the Directive No 2018/1972 establishing the European Communications Code, which represents the recent developments in the approach to frequency spectrum applicable also to space communication. It is interesting to see that from the legislative point of view European Union is approaching the regulation of space activities and telecommunication differently. Whereas telecommunication, including space communication, is regulated as a part of the European internal market and the respective procedures are substantially harmonised, space activities are based on the provision of the Lisbon Treaty which expressly prohibits any harmonization of national space laws. The common denominator for both areas is the method to codify a whole package of new and older activities in a single document.

Considering the acceleration of climate change, in the future outer space might be our last Noah’s Ark. Humans must now look to space as an opportunity to support growing resource requirements. Unfortunately, the existing international legal framework discourages investments in the space economy. Once an enterprise invests in developing a mining site, it cannot claim any ownership because of the non-appropriation principle of Article 2, Outer Space Treaty (OST); thus, other entities could legally access and exploit the same resource without any participation in the initial financial investment. Taking this into consideration, the question arises, which legal regime could ensure effective allocation of resources? The aim of this research is to develop a new legal model for outer space, considering the weak points of the current regime and the needs of the new space economy. Food for thought will be drawn from the hypothetical adoption of various international environments’ legal framework. The proposed model would take the best features of these legal regimes and its structure would be based on a mix between a classical legal trust model and a public trust model.

The present work aims to examine and study the organization “The Satellite Sentinel Project”, created to monitor the commission of international crimes in Sudan, which was essential to support the attacked civilian population and document human rights violations that occurred during the Civil War. By that, it is possible to understand that space technology can also be considered an important asset in the human rights protection systems, especially regarding the production of evidence of heinous acts of violence. Therefore, an important question arises: are those images able to guarantee legal standards to human rights systems regardless of the lack of regulation of satellite use in this particular area? For this purpose, the Sudan case was studied in light of the evidence obtained by the Satellite Sentinel Project, in order to understand its effectiveness. In sequence, the Space Law instruments, which regulate Earth observation and remote sensing activities, were examined. Finally, the discussion relied on the lawfulness and admissibility of satellite imagery as evidence before accountability proceedings.

Currently, the space industry is witnessing a commercialisation wave which, at least in parts, can be considered as disruptive. New technology and market trends associated to this commercialisation wave are circumscribed by the term NewSpace. Along with the NewSpace trend, there is a wave of investment in commercial space activities. Favourable framework conditions supporting commercialisation are key factors for investment decisions and the commercial success of companies along the entire value chain.
Laws and regulations concerning commercial space activities are established in many countries, but they are currently reviewed and amended in the light of technology and market trends. Certain new services and applications are not yet addressed under national laws, or there is no consensus on their treatment at international level. Overall, there are significant uncertainties and/or evolutions regarding the legal framework in which space companies are operating. Companies along the value chain require different types of governmental approvals, including licenses under national space legislation, licenses under national telecommunications or media law, frequency assignments, market access authorizations, or export/import licenses. Delays in authorisation procedures and/or the denial/revocation of governmental approvals may have serious impacts on investments in space ventures.
So far, investment treaties have not been extensively employed by the space industry for ensuring favourable political and legal conditions supporting their activities. However, the wave of commercial space companies and activities around the globe raises questions on the potential future role of public investment law.

This article studies five category of malicious cyber activities against space assets in order to assess to what extent the existing international telecommunications law and space law address such activities and identify which rules should be pursued to effectively solve them. Five category of such activities include jamming, hijacking, hacking, spoofing, and robbing the control of telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C) of a satellite (a kind of anti-satellite (ASAT)). Actual incidents are selected for analysis. Those are: (i) jamming: Iranian deliberate harmful interference to the Eutelsat satellites solved in the ITU; (ii) hijacking: a terrorist organization, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) hijacking US Intelsat-12 satellite solved by diplomatic negotiation between the Sri Lankan and US Governments using international telecommunications law developed by the ITU and individual national laws; (iii) hacking: alleged Chinese hacking of US NOAA’s information systems; (iv) spoofing: Iranian spoofing of the GPS signals to guide a US/CIA’s RQ-170 UAV into the Iranian territory; and (v) robbing the control of TT&C: alleged Chinese taking control of US remote sensing satellites including Landsat-7 and Terra AM-1. Concluding remarks include: 1) international telecommunications law developed in the ITU can adequately address harmful interference or hijacking as a result of malicious cyber activity as long as that is conducted by a non-State actor; 2) efforts have started in the ITU to strengthen its fact-finding ability in line with the TCBM measures taken in space activities. This orientation may be remembered as a beginning of the new stage that international space law and international telecommunications law would be merged into one field of law: 3) It remains unclear about the implications of an intangible damage occurred to a satellite when its TT&C is robbed of as a result of malicious cyber activity, while it is clear that such an action constitute the violation of the principles of respect for state sovereignty, national jurisdiction and non-intervention. Thus, for promoting peaceful uses of outer space, the elaboration of relevant Articles of the Outer Space Treaty is urgently needed to formulate clear conditions for national space activities.

The present work refers to the challenge of understanding the emerging contractual paradigm referred to satellite imagery and data online commerce. Issues like the role of consent in new online contract forms will be analyzed. In this regard, the formation of online contracts requires the existence of consent given by the parties to the contract. The formation of contracts known as “click-wrap”, “browse-wrap” and “shrink-wrap” agreements constitute a new paradigm in the tradition of online commerce related to satellite imagery and data. The author highlights other legal challenges encountered during his research and practice such as the Intellectual Property Paradigm regarding Geospatial imagery and data commercial transactions. Moreover, Value Added Data and the Exhaustion of Rights Principle of the rights deserve also some close attention and must be added to the present study.

This paper analyzes, on the one hand, the legitimate expectations and needs of the industries in terms of intellectual property protection for outer space research, as they need to be protected against violations and be free to grant exploitation licenses. On the other hand, it investigates if the use and exploitation of outer space and celestial bodies is carried out for the benefit and in the interest of all countries.
The key issue of the protection of inventions in accordance with national and international regulations will also be addressed in the paper.
The paper will start from a combined analysis of art. 5 of the IGA, establishing that each Partner shall retain jurisdiction and control over the elements it registers, and art. 21 of the IGA, which regulates intellectual property based on the quasi-territorial principle, and sets out that the regulations of the State in whose registered modules the invention occurs shall apply. The paper aims to examine national intellectual property protection regulations, highlighting possible conflicts of applicable national laws with respect to the place where the invention occurs and inventor nationality, but also regarding the recognition of the different patent systems adopted by ISS Partner States. European Partner States enjoy a privileged position, as set forth by paragraph 2 of art. 21 of the IGA.
As the unique environment of the ISS calls for quick recognition of intellectual property licenses obtained in other Partner States, the paper will analyze the different Partners’ national legislation, existing International Conventions on the matter, such as the TRIPS Agreement, and European patent regulations, which streamline procedures and introduce stringent minimum protection standards in all the areas of intellectual property.

The growth of private launch service providers in the United States stems from choices made by legislators and policy-makers that, whether intentional or not, created a market for these launch services. The first of these choices was made in 1985 when President Reagan issued an executive order allowing NASA to use the Space Shuttle to deliver commercial satellites into orbit only if the satellite required the “unique capabilities” of the Shuttle. As a result, the need for launch services for satellites that did not meet this standard quickly grew and private industry soon began filling this need. The demand for private launch services became even greater when, in 1988, President Reagan issued another directive requiring government agencies to use commercial launch service providers “to the fullest extent feasible.” When the last operational Space Shuttle, the Atlantis, was retired in 2011, the U.S. government no longer had an operational launch vehicle that could reach the International Space Station. Not wanting to rely on foreign spacecraft and wanting to spur the further growth of private industry, NASA launched programs to encourage the development of private launch services to deliver crew and cargo to the ISS. These programs resulted in the rapid development of multiple private launch service providers that now compete to deliver cargo and crew to the ISS. This paper will explain the role that these policies played in the evolution of the U.S. launch service industry and whether the adoption of the US approach is appropriate for other countries where the governmental space programs and related private industry are quite different from the space program and private industry of the United States.

Recently, SpaceX announced that it would send passengers to the moon in 2018. With the new round of space exploration boom, national research institutions, commercial enterprises are committed to the study of more advanced and economical spacecraft to explore and develop outer space. As a result, more spacecraft will be launched into space. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a system of traffic rules for navigation in outer space.
Although different modes of transport follow different traffic rules, however, many of these traffic rules are similar. The rules of preventing collisions in outer space should also be similar to other rules of preventing collisions in basic principles and measures to preventing collisions. This is not only the consideration of the efficiency of making rules, but to consider the coordination of navigation in outer space and air navigation, because the navigation in outer space and air navigation are not two independent concepts. As a representative of a type of spacecraft designed for space travel, SpaceShipTwo, the spacecraft of Virgin Galactic, has both the characteristics of spacecraft and aircraft. This type of aircraft is similar to a seaplane, which could both navigation in water and air. While a seaplane is navigating in water, it follows the rules of water navigation, such as the 2005 COLREGS, while this seaplane navigating in the air, it follows the rules of air navigation.
It seems to increase the burden of the pilot that demand a seaplane to follow different rules of preventing collisions in the water or the air. However, Because of the similar basic principles and measures to preventing collisions in both rules of water navigation and air navigation, this worry seems to be misplaced.
This paper will first address the commonality in all modes of traffic rules. Especially the basic principles and measures to preventing a collision. It will list the essential principles and measures in air navigation, and study whether these principles and measures can be applied to air navigation. Finally, the paper will address the problems may be involved in the air traffic management while spacecraft are navigating in the air.