Remediating The Outer Space Environment: The Legal Case For An International Consent Agreement on Space Debris
- Paper number
IAC-10,E7,1,23,x7543
- Author
Ms. Kelly Gable, International Institute of Space Law (IISL), United States
- Year
2010
- Abstract
This article is for the Nandasiri Jasentuliyana Keynote Lecture on Space Law & Young Scholars Session. Space debris poses a significant threat to the security of space-faring states and their objects in outer space, as well as the security of the future of space exploration – should the rate of space debris accumulation continue at its present rate, the common heritage of mankind soon will be prohibitively difficult to explore. Although the international community has recognized the inherent and potential dangers of space debris, and that such debris should be mitigated, it has stopped short of agreeing to take affirmative steps to reduce the threat that space debris poses to space-faring states’ respective national securities as well as that of the global commons of outer space. This article analyzes this potentially imminent tragedy of the commons and explores what measures might be taken to prevent such from occurring. In doing so, it recognizes that the present state of international law regarding space debris – recognition of a duty to mitigate – is insufficient, and that states must go beyond that merest of obligations of trying in good faith not to add too much more space debris when conducting outer space activities. This article submits that remediation of space debris, not just mitigation, is necessary to preserve the common heritage of mankind for future generations. This article addresses two legal aspects of remediation of space debris – the legal basis, or authority, for requiring space-faring nations to conduct such remediation, and the application of that basis to a practical method of framing such a requirement. This article concludes that a good faith argument can be made for a customary international law duty to remediate the outer space environment, upon analyzing the customary international law duty to mitigate space debris combined with the state responsibilities not to cause transboundary harm and not to allow one’s territory (or, in this case, objects) to be used so as to harm those of another state. This article then concludes that apportioning this responsibility would best be accomplished by following the Consent Decree model employed by the United States pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, which would assign percentage shares of the remediation to those largest contributors (if identifiable), then would divide equitably the remainder among other space-faring states.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)