Routledge Handbook of Commercial Space Law

Lesley Jane Smith is Professor of International Economic Law at the Leuphana University, Germany, is partner in Weber-Steinhaus & Smith, Bremen, and Vice President of the International Institute of Space Law. A member of the International Academy of Astronautics and Corresponding Fellow at the Royal Society Edinburgh, she served the International Astronautical Federation as General Counsel, and currently acts as Alternate Ombudsman to the European Space Agency. Ingo Baumann is a founding partner of BHO Legal, a technology law firm based in Cologne, Germany. He is member of the International Institute of Space Law, the European Centre for Space Law and various space industry associations. He is active in several programmes as mentors for start-ups in the space sector. Susan-Gale Wintermuth is Professor in the China-EU Law School at China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing, China. She is a lecturer at the Stockholm School of Economics Riga, where she instructs on international business law. She also contributes on the same subject to the Executive MBA at the Stockholm School of Economics Riga.

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Contributors

Foreword

Editor’s preface

Introduction

PART I: General framework and boundary conditions

A: Changing institutional roles in space policy

1 Towards a new legal ecosystem for the exploitation of space

2 The EU Regulation for the Space Programme: A new framework

3 Commercial space activities in the US: An overview of the current policy and regulatory framework

B: Fostering NewSpace: Finance models and favourable jurisdictions

4 NewSpace companies: Incorporating and financing operations

5 The Space Protocol of the Cape Town Convention: A tool to promote greater commercialisation and private financing in the space sector

C: The international legal framework for licensing space activities: Innovative examples

6 Canada: Past, current, and future space law and policy perspectives

7 National space law and licensing of commercial space activities in Japan

8 Regulating commercial space activities in Australia and New Zealand

9 Practical experiences with Finland’s national space legislation and lessons learned

10 Framework and licensing requirements for space activities in Russia, with a particular focus on the NewSpace sector

11 How China incorporates and fosters commercial space activities by its national space law instruments

12 India: Recent developments in space business and regulation

D: Fostering innovation through competition and public procurement

13 The EU and ESA rules on public procurement

14 Procurement by ESA in times of pandemic crises

15 NewSpace growth through NASA’s contractual and other transaction authorities

16 Public-private partnership to promote new entrants to space activities in Japan

PART II: Specific markets

A: Commercial space solutions for earth observation data and space applications

17 Legal considerations for NewSpace companies when selling data (and associated products and services) to the US Government

18 Regulation of commercial Earth observation systems and data

B: Large constellations: Frequencies, registration, and interference

19 A satellite operator’s practical experiences with licensing and market barriers for global satellite constellations: The case of OneWeb

20 Registration requirements for satellites and the reality of large constellations: Ensuring a symbiosis of international law requirements and practicability

C: New launchers, small launchers, space ports, and space tourism

21 How can the insurance market provide new and effective solutions to NewSpace technologies and services?

22 Legislating for spaceports, commercial space markets, and space tourism

D: Space mining

23 National and international norms towards the governance of commercial space resource activity

E: Specific aspects of smart contracts and blockchain technology

24 Blockchain and smart contracts in space operations

25 Agile contracts for space projects

PART III: Cross-cutting items and challenges

A: International standards and export control

26 Export control and NewSpace: Reciprocal challenges

B: Active debris removal, on-orbit servicing, and space traffic management

27 Towards space traffic management

28 Future regulatory and licensing trends for active debris removal and on-orbit servicing in the UK and US

29 Legal aspects of ground-based infrastructure for space situational awareness

C: Long-term sustainability and the changing nature of space law (cybersecurity)

30 Space cybersecurity and US law

31 NewSpace and ensuring long-term sustainability of the space environment

32 Ensuring space sustainability through national space legislation

D: Outlook

33 Mission off-world: A technology-enabled vision for reimagining our society on Earth and beyond

Index