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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
1 Why I Still Wake Up Grateful for Her 2 The Brain Science of Teenagers AI Meets Legal Expertise 3 Transform Intentions Into Measurable Outcomes Rustic French Pistachio Cake 4 The Legal Minds Behind Moon Missions
Cosmic Counsel Who Makes the Rules in Space?
The phrase “space lawyer” may conjure images of an intergalactic courtroom setting in a “Star Trek” film, but the term and profession are rooted in reality here on Earth. Simply put, space lawyers are legal professionals specializing in international law and drafting agreements between countries regarding their activities throughout our galaxy. Instead of brokering peace treaties between humans and Klingons, these attorneys work to establish policies that outline rules and obligations nations must follow when conducting themselves beyond our clouds.
For example, treaties negotiated by space lawyers were instrumental in getting the Soviet Union to spend millions to clean up radioactive debris deposited over northern Canada by its Cosmos 954 satellite in the late 1970s. Utilizing Article 7 of the Outer Space Treaty (via the 1972 Space Liability Convention), the Canadian government argued that the Soviet Union was on the hook to cover the majority of the cost of Operation Morning Light, an extensive cleanup operation by the U.S. and Canada to remove nearly 50,000 square miles of hazardous material dropped from space. Thanks to space lawyers, no nation can claim ownership of Earth (or any other planet), the moon, or any other entity discovered in the galaxy. However, recent debates have raised an intriguing question: Who would own the resources derived from the moon or another planet? If Russia were to one day discover a life-saving nutrient on the moon’s surface, would it have the right to claim exclusive ownership of this medical marvel? Would this discovery need to be shared with other nations involved in space-related treaties? While it may take years (or the invention of a good time-traveling warp drive) for us to resolve these questions, it’s clear we need space lawyers to tackle these and other questions in a legal frontier that no Earth-bound lawyer has pondered before!
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