Today at 6:12 am ET (10:15 am GMT), the crew of Polaris Dawn made history, becoming the first-ever private citizens to conduct a spacewalk. But they may have made history with another first; the first-ever livestream of a space crime.
In 1967, 111 countries around the world signed up to the Outer Space Treaty, which governs everything in space exploration from who is responsible for space junk, to who owns Neil Armstrong’s Moon poops. According to Tomasso Sgobba, executive director of the Netherlands-based International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety, the private Polaris Dawn mission may fall foul of one part of the treaty.
“This is a mission which violates Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty,” Sgobba told Al Jazeera. “It’s a well-known issue, which of course has a history.”
The part of the law that the mission may fall outside of relates to activities in space conducted by non-governmental agencies, such as private missions, which were not a thing when the treaty was first created.
“States Parties to the Treaty shall bear international responsibility for national activities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, whether such activities are carried on by governmental agencies or by non-governmental entities, and for assuring that national activities are carried out in conformity with the provisions set forth in the present Treaty,” the treaty reads.
“The activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty. When activities are carried on in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, by an international organization, responsibility for compliance with this Treaty shall be borne both by the international organization and by the States Parties to the Treaty participating in such organization.”
This part of the treaty puts the responsibility for the mission onto the country of origin for the mission. As the Polaris Dawn mission is being run by American company SpaceX, that makes the responsible party the US government. However, the government’s various branches want no part in guaranteeing the safety of the privately-run mission.
“Under federal law, the FAA is prohibited from issuing regulations for commercial human spaceflight occupant safety,” the Federal Aviation Agency told Al Jazeera. While they will not certify any missions, they do, however, certify the rockets and spacecraft that can be used in private and governmental space flights.
While running afoul of the Outer Space Treaty may not sound great, the US is unlikely to face any repercussions for the private spacewalk, which successfully saw two private citizens take a walk in space this morning.
“The primary rule of law in space right now is the Outer Space Treaty. It’s really interesting because it’s not actually a code of law,” Professor Michelle Hanlon, co-director of the Air and Space Law Program at the University of Mississippi School of Law explained to IFLScience. “It says: ‘Hey, we’re all going to space, what’s the most important thing we want to think about? Keeping the peace in space!’ And so it is very much driven by how are we going to keep the peace.”
The law may change as more private companies conduct activity in space, and perhaps one day on the Moon, or some form of asteroid mining. Missions like this one could shape how they evolve.
[H/T: Al Jazeera]
Source Link: Did Everybody Just Watch A Live Stream Of Billionaires Breaking Space Law?
