The “Law of the Horse” for Outer Space? What “Space Law” Is, and Why It Is Important to Educate Space Lawyers

Authors

Frans G. von der Dunk, University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of LawFollow

ORCID IDs

Frans von der Dunk https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1466-2780

Date of this Version

2022

Citation

Salius Publica Suprea Lex (R. A. Stefański, ed.) (2022), pp. 193–203.

doi: 10.26399/978-83-66723-45-0/f.g.von-der-dunk

Comments

Copyright © 2002 Frans G. von der Dunk. Used by permission.

Abstract

When I tell someone that I make a professional living with teaching, researching, and advising on space law, the first reaction all too often is laughter, followed by an only half-joking “So tell me, who owns the Moon then?” Which, by the way, nowadays is an important legal issue indeed. Such a lack of automatic recognition that something like “space law” makes sense ever since humankind entered outer space, however, usually is part of a more fundamental lack of understanding of the importance of space activities for our daily lives, which does not stop growing day by day.

It is not a matter of a few superpowers spending a few billions a year for sinister military activities or plain prestige—at least, not exclusively anymore, since almost half a century. More and more countries have started to realize that many activities on Earth could be undertaken more efficiently, more comprehensively, and often even more environmentally friendly with the support of space technologies, space-derived products, and space-based services.

Increasingly, moreover, specific sectors of space activity are becoming commercialized as a consequence of such down-to-Earth practical applications of space-based technologies, products, and services. This, of course, means the private sector is becoming interested and involved to that extent. Not very long ago, some sources claimed for the first time that the total commercial/private investment in outer space activities in the broadest sense of the word outstripped the total governmental investment, presumably including military expenses—today already almost 80% of the total global budget for space comes from the private commercial sector.

For these reasons, the present contribution presents an effort to explain what “space law” is and why it is consequently important to educate “space lawyers”—even in a country like Poland, which has hitherto not been known as a major spacefaring nation, certainly not in the areas of commercialization and private sector activities.