Space liability

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The space liability concerns the international responsibility for damage caused by human activities in outer space .

Legal bases

Space treaty

According to Art. VI of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 (WRV), the contracting states are responsible under international law for national activities in space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, regardless of whether government agencies or non-governmental legal entities operate there, and ensure that national activities in accordance with this treaty be performed. Activities of non-governmental legal entities in space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, require the approval and constant supervision of the competent contracting state. If an international organization operates in space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, both the international organization and the contracting states belonging to that organization are responsible for compliance with this treaty.

According to Art. VII of the WRV, every contracting state that launches or allows an object to be launched into space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, as well as every contracting state from whose territory or facilities an object is launched is liable under international law for any damage caused add such an object or its components to another Contracting State or to its natural or legal persons on earth, in the air or in space, including the moon or other celestial bodies.

These principles were already the subject of the UN Resolution No. 1962 (XVIII) “Declaration on the Legal Principles Regulating the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space”, which preceded the WRV and was unanimously adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 13, 1963 ».

International Liability Convention

Shortly after the first object, Sputnik 1 , was sent from Earth into orbit in 1957 , an ad hoc space committee formed in 1958 under the auspices of the United Nations established the core problems of international liability for space damage as follows: (a) what injuries or damages should be eligible, (b) liability should intervene regardless of fault in some or all space activities or generally be based on fault, (c) should depend on whether the location of the damage is on the surface of the earth , in the airspace or in space , different liability principles apply, (d) a total maximum liability limit should be created and (e) if several states are involved, they can only be prosecuted jointly in the event of liability (joint liability) or individually on the whole (several liability).

The subsequent efforts of the Committee for the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space , which has since been converted into a standing committee, to draw up a liability convention in this regard, however, proved to be difficult. Because until November 1961 the refusal of some committee members of the then Eastern Bloc to take part in the drafting of an agreement prevented the start of deliberations, such discussions took place for the first time in 1962. At first, they ran slowly because after initial differences on issues to be dealt with as a matter of urgency, work on a liability agreement was postponed in favor of drawing up a contract on the principles of the use of space.

When, after its completion, the detailed elaboration of a convention on space liability began, the main points of dispute, which existed due to different interests, became apparent:

  • (a) the position of international organizations in a liability convention,
  • (b) the law applicable in determining the compensation,
  • (c) the dispute resolution procedure,
  • (d) the issue of limitation of liability and
  • (e) nuclear damage.

Nonetheless, on November 29, 1971, UN Resolution 2777 (XXVI) came about and with it the Space Liability Convention of March 29, 1972, which elaborates the liability requirements.

The German Bundestag approved accession to the Convention by law of August 29, 1975.

As an international agreement, the Space Liability Convention lays down national responsibilities and procedures. Activities of individual private or commercial actors are not explicitly regulated by the convention. A gray area also opens up when starting from a sovereign area (e.g. on the high seas).

Practical Importance of Space Liability

Space debris under observation
Main fuel tank of the second stage of a Delta-2 missile, dropped in Texas on January 22, 1997
Alumina ash from solid rocket rockets is potentially a major source of centimeter-sized space debris

20th century

While 11,366 objects in space were brought into space by 1979, of which 6,733 re-entered the earth's atmosphere , by 1988 19,037 objects are said to have been brought into space, of which around 12,000 re-entered the earth's atmosphere. That means that more than 7,600 additional objects have been launched into space in less than a decade. At the beginning of the 1990s, a further doubling of the number of space objects was expected by the year 2000.

Of these objects are 95 percent without function, which is not just about non-functioning objects such as satellites or probes are but particular space debris (space debris, also called space junk). So there are thousands of out of control objects in orbit, of which an average of one reaches the earth's atmosphere every day. The objects dipping from space into the denser air layers mostly burn up due to the high speeds and the associated collisions with the air molecules. However, in exceptional cases this does not happen completely. Rather, with the increasing number of space objects, the number of those objects that penetrate the protective shield of the earth's atmosphere will also increase.

Numerous cases of damage show that this has often happened in the past. Of these damage cases, all of which were caused by objects that re-entered the earth's atmosphere after a successful launch from orbit, only a few are mentioned here as examples. The first documented case of damage of an international character, in which a cow was killed in 1960 by an American missile that crashed in Cuba , was reason enough for Fidel Castro to cite this incident as evidence of the "aggression" of the USA against Cuba. In 1969, a Japanese freighter was hit by parts of a Soviet satellite off the coast of Siberia , injuring five seafarers.

The crash of the 30-ton, burned-out second stage of a Saturn V rocket east of the Azores into the Atlantic in 1975 and the 85-ton Skylab sky laboratory over Western Australia caused a worldwide sensation , although no third-party damage was known.

A spectacular accident and so far the only application of the Space Liability Convention was the crash of the Soviet satellite Kosmos 954 equipped with a nuclear energy source , which fell on Canadian territory on January 24, 1978 . In the uninhabited north of Canada, satellite debris weighing a total of 65 kilograms was scattered over an approx. 600 kilometer stretch, an area the size of Austria . While the radioactivity of some debris was of negligible intensity, others were so radioactive that they would have been fatal to anyone who had been in constant contact with them for a few hours.

Suggested Solar Radiation Management (SRM) techniques

21st century

In addition to re-entry into the earth's atmosphere and the associated damage to the earth's surface, space debris can also cause damage through collisions with operating, still functioning satellites, associated with the destruction or damage of the same, as well as collisions with manned spacecraft or space stations such as the ISS , which kill the life of Endanger astronauts. The Kessler syndrome describes an increase in space debris due to the fact that parts of space debris collide with one another.

Apart from the fact that these objects are often ascribed a role as triggers for the aforementioned crashes, they can cause a multitude of possible damage to active objects in space. Space debris only a few centimeters in diameter can destroy satellites and are able to kill astronauts inside a spaceship or penetrate an astronaut's spacesuit during a stay in space .

During its active mission, for example, the environmental satellite Envisat had to perform around seven significant evasive maneuvers caused by space debris. Since the satellite can no longer be steered, it in turn poses a threat to other space objects.

Both the space shuttle and the ISS have almost routinely changed orbital orbits to avoid collisions. On November 1, 2012, the ISS had to change orbit to avoid parts of the Irdium 33 satellite .

The relevance of all of these cases of damage under international law results from the fact that they affected third countries . This is often not the case with damage caused by failed rocket launches directly on the ground or during the ascent phase.

Certain geoengineering measures such as Solar Radiation Management (SRM) take place in space at a distance of more than 120 km from the earth and harbor other, as yet unexplained dangers.

Particularly significant, however, is the development of private space travel , which uses space economically under the heading of New Space or Space 4.0 . In addition to satellite-based communication technology, asteroid mining , space tourism and the removal of space debris should also be mentioned as new business areas. These activities were largely unknown when the Space Liability Convention was signed. As a further development of the applicable law, they require a state licensing and licensing system that clarifies the legal positions of the actors, an appropriate liability and insurance regime, and standards for safe, environmentally friendly and sustainable space travel.

Legal policy

Although the Space Liability Convention with the dual liability system establishes exemplary protection for uninvolved victims for all international law, it waives the exhaustion of domestic legal recourse when asserting claims for damages and excludes any exemption from liability in the event of a violation of international law, whereby the Convention through the provisions on the If international organizations promote international cooperation at the same time, the serious loopholes in the Convention must not be overlooked.

First and foremost, the non-binding effect of the arbitration ruling of the Claims Commission must be mentioned, which can be viewed as a special expression of the compromise character of the WHÜ. After all, this enabled all leading space nations to participate. The - admittedly in some cases hardly avoidable - ambiguities in the individual compensation rules, in particular with regard to causality, must also be listed in this context. The de lege ferenda central demand in the literature, however, is the creation of a liability fund to which all states that carry out activities in space would have to make compulsory contributions according to a distribution formula to be determined in more detail in order to be able to compensate victims directly from this fund. There are two main arguments in favor of this:

  • Even if the claimant were to be awarded a claim for damages in a binding decision of the Damage Commission, in the case of exceptionally high sums of money, which are quite possible in view of the lack of limitation of liability, there would still be the possibility that the liable starting state would not be able to raise the necessary financial resources. Of the countries currently operating in space, China, India, Israel and the Russian Federation should be considered in this regard. This argument may be countered by limiting the amount of liability (which would, however, reduce the character of the Space Liability Convention, which is often referred to as "victim oriented").
  • It must also be borne in mind that with increasing space traffic, the number of potentially damaging space objects and ultimately space debris also increases. An identification of the liable launch country will therefore not be possible in many cases despite the space registration agreement . In these cases , a liability fund facilitated the provision of evidence insofar as the claimant only had to prove that the damage was caused by a space object. The creation of a liability fund would therefore indeed make an important contribution to ensuring that victims are compensated.

In fact, the contracting states are increasingly adopting national space laws that more or less take account of liability issues in view of growing private space travel and the development of space tourism . With a national space law, the contracting states can to a certain extent exempt themselves from their unlimited liability for private space activities according to Art. VI Space Treaty. The Austrian Space Act of 2011 provides for the conclusion of liability insurance for natural or legal persons who carry out space activities, as well as a state recourse option .

A German space law, which specifies the domestic control and liability standards, has not yet come into existence despite legal political demands. The “Law on the Transfer of Administrative Tasks in the Field of Space” (Space Travel Task Transfer Act - RAÜG) of June 8, 1990 and the Satellite Data Security Act of 2007 are so far the only national regulations on space law in Germany.

The growing amount of space debris, on the other hand, is to be countered primarily with technical strategies for avoiding and disposing of waste .

Literature (alphabetical)

  • Manfred Bodenschatz: Some remarks on the space liability agreement of the United Nations from the perspective of aviation insurance , in: ZLW 1973, p. 67 ff.
  • Karl-Heinz Böckstiegel: Settlement of space law disputes , p. 805 ff., In: Handbuch des Weltraumrechts , Ed .: Böckstiegel, Karl-Heinz, Cologne, Berlin, Bonn, Munich 1991
  • Adrian Bueckling : Liability under international law for space damage according to the Space Liability Agreement of March 29, 1972 , Karlsruhe 1982
  • Bin Cheng: Spacecraft, satellites and space objects , p. 309 ff., In: Encyclopedia of Public International Law, Vol. 11: Law of the sea - air and space , Ed .: Bernhardt, Rudolf, North Holland, Amsterdam, New York, Oxford, Tokyo 1989
  • Carl Q. Christol: International liability for damage caused by space objects , in: American Journal of International Law , 1980, p. 346 ff.
  • WF Foster: The Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects , in: The Canadian Yearbook of International Law (Volume X) 1972, pp. 137 ff.
  • Michael Gerhard: Transfer of Operation and Control with Respect to Space Objects - Problems of Responsibility and Liability of States , in: ZLW 2002, p. 571 ff.
  • Jürgen Goldtschmidt: The problem of strict international law under consideration of nuclear and space law - studies on international commercial law and nuclear energy law (Volume 59)
  • Stephen Gorove: Liability in space law: An overview , in: AASL (Vol. VIII) 1983, p. 373 ff.
  • Bruce A. Hurwitz: State liability for outer space activities in accordance with the 1972 Convention on International Liability for Damage caused by Space Objects , Dordrecht 1992
  • Peter Malanczuk: Liability , in: Handbuch des Weltraumrechts , Ed .: Böckstiegel, Karl-Heinz, pp. 755 ff., Cologne, Berlin, Bonn, Munich 1991
  • Philipp Beat Perren: Liability problems in space activities with special consideration of the product liability risk , Bamberg 1994
  • Jochen Pfeifer: International liability for damage caused by space objects , in: ZLW 1981, p. 215 ff.
  • Wilhelm Stoffel: The liability system of international space law , in: NJW 1991, p. 2181 ff.
  • Lawrence P. Wilkins: Substantive bases for recovery for injuries sustained by private individuals as a result of fallen space objects , in: Journal of Space Law 1978, pp. 161 ff.
  • Elmar Wins: Space Liability in International Law , Tübinger Writings on International and European Law, 2000

Web links

Wiktionary: space liability  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Treaty on the Principles Regulating the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, website of the European University Viadrina , accessed on July 28, 2018
  2. ↑ Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space No. 5, No. 8. Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly at its 18th session, United Nations website, accessed on August 2, 2018 )
  3. ↑ 2777 (XXVI). Convention on International Liability for Damage caused by Space Objects United Nations General Assembly documents , 26th session, accessed July 29, 2018
  4. ↑ BGBl. 1975 II p. 1209
  5. ↑ Regina Meyer-Nehls: Political and legal framework conditions of remote sensing for a sustainable technology transfer in developing countries. Hamburg 2011, p. 34 f.
  6. ^ Report of the Committee for Education, Research and Technology Assessment (18th Committee) in accordance with Section 56a of the BT-Drs bylaws. 18/581 of February 18, 2014, pp. 84/85
  7. ↑ Thomas Weyrauch: Envisat: Also on a lower orbit longer in space October 11, 2012
  8. ^ Space station ISS gave way to space junk from ORF , November 1, 2012
  9. ↑ Alexander Proelß , Kerstin Güssow: Climate Engeneering. Instruments and institutions of international law . Study on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research . Trier 2011, p. 13 ff., 23
  10. ↑ Martin Holland: Pay please! On the to be or not to be in commercial space travel June 21, 2016
  11. ↑ The new possibilities of New Space: Why the future of space travel is increasingly also private space travel OHB website , accessed on August 1, 2018
  12. ↑ 'Space 4.O' - Space travel before a new era ESA website , November 16, 2016
  13. ↑ New Space - how private companies are opening up space LTO , April 13, 2017
  14. ↑ Katja Köllen: Why we need traffic rules in space Wirtschaftswoche , June 23, 2015
  15. ↑ Bruce A. Hurwitz: An International Compensation Fund for Damage Caused by Space Objects Published by the American Institute of Acronautics and Astronautics, 1991
  16. ↑ United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs : Schematic overview of national regulatory frameworks for space activities National legislation relevant to the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, 2014 (English)
  17. ^ National Space Law website of the Office of Outer Space Affairs , accessed July 31, 2018
  18. ↑ Steven Freeland: Fly Me to the Moon: How Will International Law Cope with Commercial Space Tourism? VII. What are the applicable Roules relating to Liability for Death / Damage? , Melbourne Journal of International Law 2010
  19. ↑ Paul Stephen Dempsey: National Laws Governing Commercial Space Activities: Legislation, Regulation, & Enforcement Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business 2016, pp. 1–44 (English)
  20. ↑ Marcus Schladebach: 50 Years of Space Law: Development Status and Perspectives Meeting reports of the Leibniz Society of Sciences in Berlin 96 (2008), pp. 35 ff. 51
  21. ↑ Space Act: Germany does not reach for the stars ZDF , July 8, 2018
  22. ↑ Dirk Lorenzen : Plans for the Space Act and Space Weather Center: The Grand Coalition and Space Deutschlandfunk , March 1, 2018
  23. ↑ BGBl. I p. 2510
  24. ↑ Space law website of the Federal Foreign Office , accessed on July 28, 2018
  25. ↑ Space travel: garbage collection in space to remove space debris Die Zeit , April 21, 2017
  26. ↑ Space debris research website of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), accessed on July 31, 2018