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The International Space Station (ISS) Intergovernmental Agreement as a Precedent for Regulating the First Human Settlements on Mars

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Assessing a Mars Agreement Including Human Settlements

Part of the book series: Studies in Space Policy ((STUDSPACE,volume 30))

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Abstract

In spite of the global crisis the world is suffering from, the space sector has not stopped evolving. The rise of private space actors and the increasing commercialisation of outer space, further incentivise the development and growth of new technologies that enhance space exploration. With the current rate of scientific and technical development, the reality of establishing the first human settlements on Mars is well within the foreseeable future. Legal questions arising from the establishment of such settlements and from the human activities thereon, will be a pressing issue since the general regime provided by international space law does not offer sufficient regulations. In providing for a new international regime, an important precedent in the hands of the legislators will be the International Space Station (ISS) legal framework. The ISS’ proven legal regime, and especially the Intergovernmental Agreement, can play a significant role in providing solutions for a number of issues, such as criminal jurisdiction, liability, intellectual property and the regulation of outer space commercialisation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Mike Wall, ‘SpaceX gearing up for 12-mile-high test flight with prototype of Mars-colonizing Starship’ (LIVESCIENCE 15 September 2020). www.livescience.com/amp/spacex-starship-sn8-prototype-test-flight-soon.html. Last accessed 15 September 2020.

  2. 2.

    Meghan Bartles, ‘SpaceX wants to send people to Mars. Here’s what the trip might look like.’ (Space 26 May 2020). www.space.com/spacex-plans-journey-to-mars.html. Last accessed 15 September 2020.

  3. 3.

    Darrell Etherington, ‘Elon Musk says building the first sustainable city on Mars will take 1000 Starships and 20 years’ (Techcrunch 8 November 2019). https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/07/elon-musk-says-building-the-first-sustainable-city-on-mars-will-take-1000-starships-and-20-years/. Last accessed 15 September 2020.

  4. 4.

    Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and other Celestial Bodies, 19 December 1966 (entered into force 10 October 1967) 610 UNTS 205 (Outer Space Treaty); Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space, 19 December 1967 (entered into force 3 December 1968), UNGA Res. 2345 (XXII) (Rescue Agreement); Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects (adopted 29 November 1971, entered into force 1 September 1972) UNGA Res 2777 (XXVI) (Liability Convention); Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space (adopted 12 November 1974, entered into force 15 September 1976) UNGA res 3235 (XXIX) (Registration Convention); Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (adopted 5 December 1979, entered in force July 1984) UNGA res 34/68 (Moon Agreement).

  5. 5.

    Carla Sharpe, Fabio Tronchetti, Legal aspects of public manned spaceflight and space station operations in Frans von der Dunk, Fabio Tronchetti (eds) Handbook of Space Law (Edgar Elgar, 2015) 619.

  6. 6.

    Ibid 620.

  7. 7.

    Nola Taylor Redd, ‘Salyut 1: The First Space Station’ (Space, 26 July 2012). https://www.space.com/16773-first-space-station-salyut-1.html. Last accessed 15 September 2020.

  8. 8.

    Rochus Moenter, ‘The International Space Station: Legal Framework and Current Status’ 64 (1999) 4 Journal of Air Law and Commerce 1033.

  9. 9.

    Agreement among the United States of America, governments of Member States of the European Space Agency, the government of Japan, and the government of Canada on Cooperation in the Detailed Design, Development, Operation, and Utilization of the permanently Manned Civil Space Station, 29 September 1988 (1988 IGA).

  10. 10.

    Agreement Among the Government of Canada, Governments of Member States of the European Space Agency, the Government of Japan, the Government of the Russian Federation, and the Government of the United States of America concerning Cooperation on the Civil International Space Station, 29 January 1998 (entered into force 27 March 2001) (1998 IGA or IGA).

  11. 11.

    Sharpe, Tronchetti (n 5) 631.

  12. 12.

    Hans P Sinha, ‘Criminal Jurisdiction on the International Space Station’ (2004) 30 Journal of Space Law 85, 86.

  13. 13.

    Ibid 107.

  14. 14.

    See Stacy J Ratner, ‘Establishing the Extraterrestrial: Criminal Jurisdiction and the International Space Station’ (1999) 22 B C Int'l & Comp L Rev 323, 331.

  15. 15.

    Ibid 332–333.

  16. 16.

    Ibid 339.

  17. 17.

    Ibid 334.

  18. 18.

    IGA (n 10) art 22 para 1.

  19. 19.

    Ibid para 2.

  20. 20.

    Sinha (n 12) 118.

  21. 21.

    For the Liability Convention regime see Liability Convention (n 4) art II, III, IV V.

  22. 22.

    Sharpe, Tronchetti (n 5) 637.

  23. 23.

    Ibid.

  24. 24.

    Ibid 638.

  25. 25.

    IGA (n 10) art 16 para 3 (f); A Farand, Jurisdiction and Liability Issues in Carrying out Commercial Activities in the International Space Station (ISS) Programme in F. G. Von Der Dunk, M. M. T.A. Brus (eds) The International Space Station: Commercial Utilization from a European Legal Prespective (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2006) 92.

  26. 26.

    Ibid Farand.

  27. 27.

    IGA (n 10) art 16 para 2 (c).

  28. 28.

    Liability Convention (n 4) art XXIII.

  29. 29.

    IGA (n 10) art 1 para 1.

  30. 30.

    Lee Ann W Lockridge, ‘Intellectual Property in Outer Space: International Law, National Jurisdiction, and Exclusive Rights in Geospatial Data and Databases’ (2006) 32 Journal of Space Law 319, 331.

  31. 31.

    Rosario Avveduto, ‘Past, Present, and Future of Intellectual Property in Space: Old Answers to New Questions’ (2019) 29 Washington International Law Journal 203, 226.

  32. 32.

    Sharpe, Tronchetti (n5) 635.

  33. 33.

    IGA (n 10) art 21 para 3.

  34. 34.

    Alexandra M Davidson, ‘To Explore Outer Space: The Intellectual Property Frontier for Patents’ (2019) 47 Hofstra L Rev 889, 891.

  35. 35.

    IGA (n 10) art 21 para 3.

  36. 36.

    US Invention Secrecy Act, 35USC s 184.

  37. 37.

    IGA (n 10) art 21 para 6.

  38. 38.

    Avveduto (n 31) 228.

  39. 39.

    IGA (n 10) preamble.

  40. 40.

    Ibid art 5 para 1.

  41. 41.

    A M Balsano, J Wheeler, The IGA and ESA: Protecting Intellectual Property Rights in the Context of ISS Activities in von der Dunk, Brus (n 26) 68.

  42. 42.

    Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (enacted 15 April 1994) 1869 UNTS 183 (TRIPS).

  43. 43.

    Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (enacted 20 March 1883) as last revised on 14 July 1967, 828 UNTS 305 (Paris Convention).

  44. 44.

    Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (enacted 9 September 1886) as revised on 24 July 1971, 1161 UNTS 3 (Berne Convention).

  45. 45.

    Juan Felipe Jimenez, 'Patents in Outer Space: An Approach to the Legal Framework of Future Inventions' (2016) 98 J Pat & Trademark Off Soc'y 447, 456.

  46. 46.

    IGA (n 10) art 1 para 1.

  47. 47.

    Stephan Hobe, Jurgen Cloppenburg, 'Towards a New Aerospace Convention? Selected Legal Issues of "Space Tourism"' (2004) 47 Proceedings of the Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space 377.

  48. 48.

    Zeldine Niamh O'Brien, 'Liability for Injury, Loss or Damage to the Space Tourist' (2004) 47 Proceedings of the Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space 386.

  49. 49.

    A Ferreira-Snyman, ‘Legal Challenges Relating to the Commercial Use of Outer Space, with Specific Reference to Space Tourism’ ' (2014) 17 Potchefstroom Elec LJ 1, 18.

  50. 50.

    It has been suggested by some that space tourists should undergo some sort of training in order to ensure they receive the humanitarian protection offered by the Rescue Agreement; see Steven Freeland, 'Fly Me to the Moon: How Will International Law Cope with Commercial Space Tourism' (2010) 11 MELB J INT'l L 90, 98; see Tanja Masson-Zwaan, Steven Freeland, ‘Between heaven and earth: The Legal Challenges of Human Space Travel' (2010) 66 Acta Astronautica 1597, 1604; others suggest that space tourists cannot be considered as personnel of the spacecraft since they do not perform functions relating to the operating of the space vehicle during their relatively short period in outer space; see  Ibid, 20.

  51. 51.

    Edith Walter, The Privatization and Commercialization of Outer Space in Christian Brunner, Alexander Soucek (eds) Outer Space in Society, Politics and Law (Springer-Verlag/Wien 2011) 500; even if the transportation to the ISS was carried out by the Soyuz (governmental spacecraft) and the destination was an intergovernmental space station, the motivation and the money for the flight were of private commercial character; see Frans von der Dunk, Legal Aspects of Private Manned Spaceflight in von der Dunk, Tronchetti (n 5) 697.

  52. 52.

    IGA (n 10) art 5 para 2.

  53. 53.

    Ibid art 9 para 2.

  54. 54.

    Steven Freeland, 'Up, up and … Back: The Emergence of Space Tourism and Its Impact on the International Law of Outer Space' (2005) 6 CHI J INT'l L 1, 3.

  55. 55.

    Frans von der Dunk (n 51) 700.

  56. 56.

    Ibid.

  57. 57.

    Ibid.

  58. 58.

    IGA (n 10) art 9 para 3 (a).

  59. 59.

    See Freeland  (n 54) 2.

  60. 60.

    Von der Dunk (n 51) 701.

  61. 61.

    The Multilateral Crew Operations Panel's Principles Regarding Processes and Criteria for Selection, Assignment, Training and Certification of ISS (Expedition and Visiting) Crewmembers (2001) (MCOP Agreement) visible at (Space Ref 2002) www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=4578, last accessed 15 September 2020.

  62. 62.

    Stephan Hobe, ‘Legal Aspects of Space Tourism’ (2007) Nebraska Law Review 439, 458.

  63. 63.

    MCOP Agreement (n 61) para III.

  64. 64.

    Ibid.

  65. 65.

    Ibid.

  66. 66.

    Ibid.

  67. 67.

    Frans G von der Dunk, 'A Slee** Beauty Awakens: The 1968 Rescue Agreement after Forty Years' (2008) 34 Journal of Space Law 411, 433.

  68. 68.

    Hobe (n 62) 457.

  69. 69.

    Sharpe, Tronchetti (n 5) 659.

  70. 70.

    See E González Ferreiro, A Azcárraga, ‘Orbital Space Ports: Their Operating Procedures and Legal Frame’ Proceedings of the Fiftieth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2008) 160.

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  1. University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

    Alexandros Eleftherios Farsaris

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Correspondence to Alexandros Eleftherios Farsaris .

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  1. European Space Policy Institute, Vienna, Austria

    Annette Froehlich

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Farsaris, A.E. (2021). The International Space Station (ISS) Intergovernmental Agreement as a Precedent for Regulating the First Human Settlements on Mars. In: Froehlich, A. (eds) Assessing a Mars Agreement Including Human Settlements. Studies in Space Policy, vol 30. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65013-1_6

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