Private Enterprise Liability for Space Servicing
- Paper number
IAC-07-E6.2.05
- Author
Dr. Antonio Morato, Universidade Sao Marcos, Brazil
- Coauthor
Dr. Ijar M. Da Fonseca, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), Brazil
- Year
2007
- Abstract
A satellite may orbit the Earth at different altitudes. At the altitude of 35,786 km (22,300 miles) the satellite's orbital period matches the period of the earth rotation. Those satellites are called geosynchronous. When the orbit lies entirely over the equatorial plan the satellite remains stationary relative to the Earth's surface and it is called geostationary. Another type of geosynchronous orbit is the Tundra elliptical orbit, that is a highly elliptical orbit with an inclination of 63.4° and orbital period of one sidereal day. A satellite placed in that orbit spends most of its time over a chosen area of the Earth, a phenomenon known as apogee dwell. Due to the numbers of GEO satellites orbiting the geostationary belt, it is increasing the concern about those satellites destiny after their lifetime is over. Dead satellites become space debris. They not only occupy a place in orbit for nothing but can in the future cause in orbit accident by crashing other spacecrafts. The same risk exists for dead satellite in low earth orbit (LEO) due to uncontrolled re-entry. The amount of space debris in LEO is much larger than that for the GEO satellites. With the assembly of the International Space station (ISS), there is an increasingly concern about the damage debris may cause on it. ISS is a large space target for any kind of debris. The potential risks of in orbit and on Earth accidents due to space debris increased in such way as to become object of international treaties and space laws. In this context the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and other Celestial Bodies states regulations to prevent and to point liabilities on organizations involved in the space explorations. Brazil has subscribed the treaty and stated internal regulations under witch the Brazilian Space Program is executed. A Brazilian Federal Executive Law states the civilian liability enforce in all the country for possible damage caused by non-governmental institutions in space exploration. The state party liability regarding organizations involved in pace technology as, for example, outsourcing enterprises is accounted for in the Convention on International Liability for Damage caused by space objects. Brazil also is a state party of that convention, regulated in the country by Treaty Promulgation via Federal Executive Law. By following the Public International Law of the interstate liability it is important to note that the non governmental entities would be free direct liability even when many of them has economic conditions to pay for the damage. The treaties blame the state only when the action is for fault, in opposition to the premise that, in the activities generating the risk the agent responsible for the damage should be in charge on the base of the developed activity and not just on the base of eventual negligence. On the other hand, the treaties while in charging only the state in terms of by fault actions opposes the premise that in activities which causes the risk, the agent responsible for the damage should be in charged on the base of developed activity instead. In this sense it is worth to think of a clear separation line between the private and the public liability in front of the powerful control of the world big corporations, in particular those of the space segments. In spite of the expenses related to the space come the most of time from public source or governmental decisions (apparently state-sovereignty decisions) those decisions are many times taken under strong pressure of private enterprises where the particular interests triumph over the public benefit, which should be in principle closely linked to the technological development and the associated return. As a corollary of these comments above is the need to analyze and discuss the implications of the space servicing activities related to retrieve, de-orbit, repair and treat space debris in general when the space operations are under the private enterprise responsibility.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-07-E6.2.05.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.