The Development of Outer Space

Sovereignty and Property Rights in International Space Law

Thomas Gangale

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9780313378232
• eBook ISBN: 9780313378249
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: International Law
• Index: Law

This account of the evolution of outer space law examines key issues that fuel the debates over sovereignty and property rights designed to govern the future colonization and use of heavenly bodies other than our own. In the United States, lobbies for the commercial development of space have become increasingly antagonistic toward the international legal regime of outer space, condemning the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and the unratified 1979 Moon Agreement as anti-business. The Development of Outer Space: Sovereignty and Property Rights in International Space Law argues that the res communis principle enshrined in the Outer Space Treaty was misrepresented here, with essential help from corporate lobbyists whose real object was the defeat of the Law of the Sea Convention. Thomas Gangale builds the legal case for reviving the moribund Moon Agreement as a prelude to negotiating a second Moon treaty to establish a regulatory regime for the exploitation of extraterrestrial resources. The author's account of the inception and evolution of outer space law to date is deeply informed by his appreciation of such terrestrial considerations as the nation-state system, the contending economic theories of capitalism and communism, and the post-colonial struggle between the developed space-faring nations and the developing earthbound nations.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Preface
• 1 The Forsaken Promise of Space
• 2 The Launching of Space Law
• 3 Property Rights in Outer Space
• 4 Common Heritage in Magnificent Desolation: The Moon Agreement’s Tragic Odyssey
• 5 Moon Myths: What the Moon Agreement Is Not
• 6 Return to the Moon: The Moon Agreement Reconsidered
• 7 Castles in the Air: The Space Settlement Prize
• 8 Celestial Empire: China’s Rise as a Space Power
• 9 Interplanetary Political Economy
• 10 The Cosmic Tumblers
• Appendix 1 The International Cooperation Resolution
• Appendix 2 The Declaration of Legal Principles of Outer Space
• Appendix 3 The Outer Space Treaty
• Appendix 4 The Registration Convention
• Appendix 5 General Assembly Resolution 34/68
• Appendix 6 The Moon Agreement
• Appendix 7 The COPUOS Understandings of the Moon Agreement
• Appendix 8 The ABA Section of Intl. Law Resolution on the Moon Agreement
• Appendix 9 The Declaration on International Cooperation
• Index
• About the Author