New Technologies in International Law / Tymofeyeva, Crhák et al.

in conflict with existing international legal obligations. To begin, in Section two, I will layout the international law as it stands today. Followed by Section three, which looks at pieces of national legislation that speaks the concept of national appropriation and how the US led Artemis Accords appear to be providing a vehicle for a refined definition of what constitutes a national appropriation in international law. Section four will dissect Article 2 of the Outer Space Treaty. Specifically, it will look at the purpose of the treaty, the ordinary meaning of national appropriation, and subsequent state practice in regard to national appropriation. Lastly in Section five, I will conclude that even though the purpose of the treaty and ordinary meaning of national appropriation was to prevent the militarization of space and that the wording of it only applied to states respectively, the subsequent state practice does not yet exist to definitely say that national appropriation does not apply to non-state actors. 1. Current State of International Law At present, the most authoritative document controlling the law of outer space is the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies. 303 Being a mouthful, it is more commonly known as the Outer Space Treaty (OST). There are four other treaties comprising the core treaty documents of the law of outer space. 304 However, as time progressed and more state interests in outer space became apparent, fewer and fewer states agreed to be bound by these types of treaties. This is very apparent when you examine the state parties to the youngest treaty in this group, the Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (Moon Agreement), 305 which currently stands at eighteen, 306 none of which are major space powers. To further emphasize this point, Saudi Arabia officially gave notice to withdraw from the treaty on 5 January 2023, which takes effect on 5 January 2024. 307 Even though there have not been any multinational treaties on outer space concluded since the Moon Agreement, commercial interests and states have not been sitting idly by. There is a simple yet powerful motivating force that is driving the development in this area: money. Lloyd’s of London predicts that by 2040, the global space market will be valued at one trillion US dollars ($ 1,000,000,000,000). 308 Space mining itself has a projected value of roughly seven and half billion US dollars by 2033. 309 In press releases, 303 Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (1967). 304 Outer Space Treaty (1967) (114 States Parties), The Rescue Agreement (1968) (98 States Parties), The Liability Convention (1972) (98 States Parties), The Registration Convention (1975) (75 States Parties), and The Moon Agreement (1979) (18 States Parties). 305 Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (1979). 306 United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs Treaties Database, available at https://treaties.unoda. org/t/moon/participants?status=parties. 307 U.N., C.N.4.2023. TREATIES-XXIV.2 (Depositary Notification). 308 Sheehan M, ‘Lloyd’s of London launches space insurance policy’ Reinsurance News (4 December 2019) accessed 4 November 2023. 309 Market forecast by Fact.MR analyzing more than 30 countries’ space mining markets. accessed 2 November 2023

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