Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Edited Legal Collections Data

Viikari, Lotta --- "Environmental aspects of space activities" [2015] ELECD 259; in von der Dunk, Frans (ed), "Handbook of Space Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015) 717

Book Title: Handbook of Space Law

Editor(s): von der Dunk, Frans

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781000359

Section: Chapter 13

Section Title: Environmental aspects of space activities

Author(s): Viikari, Lotta

Number of pages: 52

Abstract/Description:

The environmental aspects of space activities and space law increasingly are being given attention as representing one of the most important future areas which, also in the legal context, will have to be addressed to guarantee sustainable use of outer space for the benefit of mankind. Within this broader issue, the ever increasing use of outer space, the issue of ‘space debris’ has become ever more important. Several space-object-to-space-object collisions have already occurred, most of them in recent years (the 2007 Chinese ASAT test; the 2008 US shooting down of the defunct USA-193 satellite; the 2009 Iridium-Cosmos collision); and the occurrence of smaller parts and pieces colliding with and sometimes damaging operational spacecraft is rapidly becoming more frequent as well. In the absence of any specific, clear and binding rules in the space treaties, the legal efforts to address space debris have so far largely focused, on the one hand, on using the traditional concepts of liability as per the 1972 Liability Convention and registration for purposes of identifying the liable state(s) as per the 1975 Registration Convention to make space operators ever more aware and careful. Problems have arisen, however, such as regards the element of ‘fault’ in regard to liability for damage caused by a piece of uncontrollable space junk or the proper extent of the rather vague provisions of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty on environmentally responsible behaviour in outer space. On the other hand, efforts have been made to draft new regimes, addressing in particular the mitigation of the generation of new space debris. Examples of the latter are the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) which has drafted guidelines on how to minimise the generation of new space debris and the transformation of many of those guidelines on the national level into binding requirements for obtaining a space licence. Humanity has benefited from space activities in numerous ways. Among other uses, space technology can provide an effective tool for protection of the environment. For instance, satellites monitor the earth environment and changes in it. They can serve the needs of environmental impact assessments and early warning systems for natural disaster reduction. The range of environmental applications of satellites is nearly unlimited. Unfortunately, the use of outer space also involves increasing environmental problems. The detrimental effects of space activities may concern the space environment per se, the atmosphere, the earth, and/or human activities in these environments. The most severe environmental hazards in the space sector are those that take place after the launch phase. These include, above all, space debris. Another environmental problem closely connected with that of space debris is the threat of nuclear contamination. Typical for the threats posed by environmental hazards in outer space is that these threats often do not affect the particular operation which causes them but endanger other space (and even terrestrial) activities indiscriminately. This is a manifestation of the ‘tragedy of the commons’ problem: benefits of individual space missions accrue primarily to the entities conducting these activities but the detrimental impact of space exploitation can usually hamper all those involved in the sector (and even others). This renders many strategies adopted nationally or by a limited set of states for combating adverse environmental consequences of space activities ineffective.