Abstract: The space activities were ushered in with the launch of First man-made object, Sputnik-1 into outer space by the then Soviet Union, on 4th October, 1957, which created a host of legal issues with regard to the use of Outer Space by a country. The rivalry between the USA and the then USSR during the cold war regime was extended to outer space with the launch of satellites successively besides ballistic missiles for military purposes. The United Nations General Assembly concerned with the developments, intervened and constituted an ad-hoc committee in 1958 to suggest recommendations to ensure the peaceful uses of outer space by all the nations. Subsequently this ad-hoc committee was made as a permanent committee and named it as United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS). The Legal Sub Committee of the UNCOPUOS formulated a set of principles and Five Legally binding Treaties on peaceful uses of outer space. The Outer Space Treaty, 1967, the first treaty formulated by the UNCOPUOS led to formulation of four other treaties namely, Rescue Agreement (1968), Liability Convention (1972), Registration Convention (1975) and finally the Moon Agreement (1979).
Commensurate with the exponential growth of space technologies and the outer space activities and their applications, associated legal issues were also increasing. For example, the topic of Space Debris, which was not thought of initially, has become a threatening issue to the long-term sustainability of outer space activities for peaceful uses. The outer space activities of a few countries are tending towards weaponization of outer space. The Outer Space today, is congested with large number of space debris, contested with excessive military activities and competed with commercial activities. The current and emerging scenario warrants a revisit of the UN Space Treaties, which is practically a cumbersome process. The scope of formulation of a new treaty is also practically unrealistic.
Under the current state of affairs, the member states of the UNCOPUOS have been pursuing alternate legal instruments such as Guidelines, Principles, Norms etc., for responsible behaviour of States in outer space, which are not legally binding, with a hope that they would become customary law through State practices.
This talk will elucidate the various provisions of the UN Treaties on outer space activities, subsequent developments and the Way Forward.. ..
About the speaker: Mr. V. Gopalakrishnan is an Adjunct Faculty at ISSSP, NIAS. He has served in Indian Space Research Organisation over 30 years in various areas - initially at Satellite Centre in Project Management, Intellectual Property Rights Management, Technology Transfer, Space Industry Co-operation and later at ISRO HQ in Space Law & Policy, Space Security, Space Technology Export Control matters and International Co-operation. As a member of Indian Delegation, he has participated in various international meetings on Space matters such as UNCOPUOS, UN Institute for Disarmament Research, Technical Experts Meeting of missile Technology Control Regime and so on. As a member of International Institute of Space Law (IISL), Paris, he is actively working on capacity building in Space Law among Indian law students. He is a Fellow of Institution of Engineers (India).
As a member of International Strategic and Security Programme at NIAS, he actively contributes in the conduct of the annual Space Course on various Themes, NIAS-CISAC (USA) annual meetings, Institutional Interactions with NTRO, ISRO on strategic security topics. He is a co-PI in a project sponsored by DRDO on export control issues.