lol. who knows. i dont think we'd let it get that far, but who knows.

What about the Outer Space Treaty though? Doesn't it do kind of the same thing as the Antarctic Treaty?

No.

Two things about the Outer Space Treaty:

1. It forbids any nation from claiming any national sovereignty over the moon. Similarly, no weapons of mass destruction are allowed to be installed on the moon.

2. There is such a thing as "space law," which I'm assuming is the most awesome kind of law.

Don't worry, kiddos. If they do get there, they're only going to be selling cloned moonrocks to us stupid earthlings - much the same as before.

Can you imagine their increased factory production at 1/4 earth's gravity? McDonald's will never run out of Happy Meal Toys again.

The article says all a state has to do to get out of the Outer Space Treaty is give a year's notice. And a bunch of states, like Russia and the United States, have never even signed. This may be a big deal in the future.

Well the article, if it says they never signed, is wrong. Russia and the US *did* sign it. In fact it was signed in London, Moscow, and Washington DC on January 27, 1967. Of course, I scanned of the article for the relative text that says we didn't sign and can't find it, so I don't know where you got that from, Invictus.

"On June 16, 1966, both the United States and the Soviet Union submitted draft treaties. The U.S. draft dealt only with celestial bodies; the Soviet draft covered the whole outer space environment. The United States accepted the Soviet position on the scope of the Treaty, and by September agreement had been reached in discussions at Geneva on most Treaty provisions. Differences on the few remaining issues -- chiefly involving access to facilities on celestial bodies, reporting on space activities, and the use of military equipment and personnel in space exploration -- were satisfactorily resolved in private consultations during the General Assembly session by December.

On the 19th of that month the General Assembly approved by acclamation a resolution commending the Treaty. It was opened for signature at Washington, London, and Moscow on January 27, 1967. On April 25 the Senate gave unanimous consent to its ratification, and the Treaty entered into force on October 10, 1967."

from: http://www.state.gov/t/isn/5181.htm

It doesn't matter. If China does attempt to annex the moon, they'll just be repulsed by the space Nazis already in occupation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Sky

^ lol.

Anyway, yes I had always thought that we signed, and that the principle actors in the treaty's development were USSR and USA, which Darugnar's quote seems to back.

Anyway, on that note, it fucking pisses me off how many god damned international treaties we haven't ratified. Can I just quickly ask what the fuck is wrong with the United States? If I'm American and it pisses me off how special we think we are, then what must the rest of the world think?

I have a question though, I never thought of this before:

On the International Space Station, what laws are in effect? Same ones as those in international waters? Ones governed by some special treaty, or the Outer Space Treaty? Or US law? And furthermore, how high up does a country's airspace go? What laws are in effect outside that?

Like, for instance, when Apollo 13 was returning to earth, what laws were in effect? And when Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon? What laws there?

I never thought of this, I don't know why.

For instance, in Antarctica I'm pretty sure the laws of whatever country owns the base you're on apply, otherwise, international waters laws, maybe. Actually I don't know that either. But what makes ISS weird is that it's international and not really owned by any country.

Thank god I'm not a lawyer lol. This stuff is interesting but also kind of ridiculous

The Outer Space Treaty has provisions for shared and joint operations within and those laws, one would assume, are what govern the ISS. The terms of the OST require sharing of resources, even owned ones, with notice. Articles XII and XIII cover that pretty well.

Article XII

All stations, installations, equipment and space vehicles on the Moon and other celestial bodies shall be open to representatives of other States Parties to the Treaty on a basis of reciprocity. Such representatives shall give reasonable advance notice of a projected visit, in order that appropriate consultations may be held and that maximum precautions may be taken to assure safety and to avoid interference with normal operations in the facility to be visited.


Article XIII

The provisions of this Treaty shall apply to the activities of States Parties to the Treaty in the exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, whether such activities are carried on by a single State Party to the Treaty or jointly with other States, including cases where they are carried on within the framework of international intergovernmental organizations.

Any practical questions arising in connection with activities carried on by international inter-governmental organizations in the exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall be resolved by the States Parties to the Treaty either with the appropriate international organization or with one or more States members of that international organization, which are Parties to this Treaty.

I mixed the Outer Space Treaty up with the Moon Treaty. You all should just read the article. It's not very long.

Yeah, the OST supersedes the Moon Treaty and is the treaty in force since 1967. It encompases lunar access as well as celestial bodies and space itself.

Treaties don't work like that.

In a way this one does because the Moon Treaty wasn't ratifiedby the US, Russia, China, EU or any other space fairing State to date. It's a failed treaty that means nothing because of the 15 or so signatories to date, only India ids a major spacefairing nation and it hasn't ratified it. Plus, when it was finalized in 1979, it was only intended as an addendum to the OST to clarify aspects with regards to Lunar cooperation and bring it in line with sea floor exploration as outlined in the Convention on the Law of the Sea.

And, no, I didn't know all those details. More can be found here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Treaty.

So do we have any lawyers that can potentially answer my questions about laws in space?

And how long do you think it will be till there are space lawyers just like there are maritime ones? Or are there a few already? I doubt it, I've never heard of space-related litigation, but hey who knows, maybe some satellite collision lawsuits or something. Lol.

Use the internet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_law

Perhaps that was already posted. Bu tit seems interesting.

"The University of Nebraska College of Law offers the U.S.’s first and only LL.M. in space and telecommunications law"