Which Jurisdiction for Private In-space Assembled Autonomous Platforms?
Introduction
The development of assembly techniques in space in the more general context of on-orbit servicing should encourage the emergence of private space platforms in the coming years. Equipped with artificial intelligence tools, these platforms could provide innovative services whose legal regime could be all the more difficult to determine as they will be provided by unregistered infrastructures, which are not under the jurisdiction of a State of origin. These services could threaten the sovereignty of States, defy their internal public order, and be the cause of damage on Earth and in space. Such services and technologies cannot therefore be developed without calling for strict regulation.
However, space activities, unlike other activities, do not come under any international regime and depend only on the national regime of the State of attachment. International space law is based on a founding principle, that of the responsibility of States and, beyond the legal dimension, their accountability. It is up to the State of attachment to police itself by regulating in accordance with the principles laid down by the treaties it has signed and to which it is committed internationally
- (i)
The manufacture of space objects.
- (ii)
The launch and control procedures in orbit.
- (iii)
The operation of satellites or satellite constellations.
- (iv)
The allocation of frequencies serving them and end-of-life deorbiting operations.
- (v)
The services they provide or the data they produce.
This legal ecosystem only works when a space object or activity can be attached to the jurisdiction of a State. The in-space assembly of new space objects (for instance, space platforms), which are both private and autonomous, gives rise to important legal questions, which has become necessary to address.
By drawing on the legal reasoning proposed by the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union in a recent judgment involving the Airbnb platform [1], this article builds a model for determining the law applicable to in-space assembled autonomous platforms and the services they are likely to provide. First, it provides a brief overview of in-space assembly, servicing, and manufacturing (Section 2), and then, it makes a comprehensive inventory of the new challenges and emerging industry trends in the field of in-space assembly (Section 3). It identifies some of the most significant industrial projects, which are currently engaged or contemplated (Section 4). It then examines the status of such private platforms assembled in space in terms of both international rules and state jurisdiction (Section 5). It suggests an approach that distinguishes the service provided from the physical platform itself, which would enable States to regulate service operation (Section 6). The conclusion sets out a series of practical proposals that could be implemented at different levels (Section 7).
Section snippets
On-orbit and in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing: a brief overview
Before analyzing the industrial and legal challenges arising from placing of private in-space assembled autonomous platforms in orbit, it is worth providing a brief overview of in-space assembly, servicing, and manufacturing, including their advantages and main applications.
Challenges and emerging industry trends in the field of in-space assembly
The future development of assembly techniques in space should be the result of the combined effects of seven major events that are currently reshaping the world economy or, more specifically, space activities.
First of all, assembly techniques are at the heart of the 21st-century economy. Even if the international crisis provoked by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic prompts industries to relocate their production lines, there is every reason to believe that this relocation will
In-space assembly: Use-cases, working examples and implementation
Several industrial projects confirming the relevance of the aforementioned anticipations have already emerged.
One of the most ambitious projects is certainly the one launched by the NASA in January 2020, which aims to develop a low-orbit robotic assembly system named “MakerSat.” In this objective, a $142 million contract was awarded to Maxar Technologies, based in Westminster, Colorado, on January 31, 2020 [23]. The winning consortium built around Maxar includes the aerospace company Tethers
Space law trying to catch up with private in-space assembled platforms
The assembly of equipment or platforms in space gives rise to delicate legal problems in determining their legal regime. These problems are exacerbated as soon as such an assembly is carried out in an autonomous and robotic manner. International space law was not designed to allow for flexible legal qualifications that would adapt to the evolution of technological progress. It is in fact based on a legal methodology that gives priority to the connection with the Earth and, consequently, to the
Making the case for services provided from private in-space assembled platforms
The solutions proposed in the aforementioned section for the legal qualification of the platform itself, as a physical support, meet some limitations that invite to consider another legal approach, based on the analysis of the service(s) that this platform can provide.
These platforms, whatever their modalities, capacities, or “virtualities,” are called upon to evolve in an environment that remains “the prerogative of all humanity.” If States assume international responsibility for the national
Conclusions
Concluding such an analysis is not easy. As we have seen, the reasoning is very open and must remain so, in particular to enable lawyers to establish their legal qualifications, whatever be the evolution of techniques. Many legal consequences depend on these legal qualifications, from the possibility for States to assert their sovereignty through a regime of control of the services provided on their territories to the delicate questions of liability in the event of an accident caused by such
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
The SIRIUS Chair is funded by CNES, Airbus Defense & Space and Thales Alenia Space. But we benefit from a great deal of freedom in our research and publications
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Cited by (1)
Reinventing treaty compliant ‘‘safety zones’’ in the context of space sustainability
2021, Journal of Space Safety EngineeringCitation Excerpt :Apart from providing that space objects remain under the jurisdiction of the State of registry when launched in space (Article VIII OST) and that they include any component part of a space object (Article I of the Liability Convention), the space law treaties fail to define space objects in more concrete terms. Further, they make no reference to space objects conceived, assembled or manufactured directly in space (with the exception of objects constructed on celestial bodies as per Article VIII OST), and it remains as yet an open-ended question whether such objects would warrant different considerations than those launched from Earth (for a more detailed discussion on that matter see [46]). Notwithstanding, space objects can differ so widely in scope, purpose, size and location that attaching a lawful safety zone to any such object could stretch the concept of safety zones.