An Overview of US Commercial Space Legislation and Policies — Present and Future

Abstract

The United States is the predominant space power on earth, due to its sheer economic, technological and political might. But the business dimension does not explain the whole story. The United States also administers a full-fledged body of space laws and regulations that is unchallenged in volume, sophistication, and coherence by any other nation, or group of nations on earth. This article will present to the reader an overview of the main legal documents that constitute the present body of US space laws and regulations. It will not delve deeply into the indirect legislation and/or regulations that accompany specific space laws; rather, it will only refer to them, sufficiently enough to provide the reader with elements for further research. It also includes Congress Bills that are currently under discussion in order to illustrate the probable evolution of the US space legal framework in the future months, provided these Bills are enacted into law. This presentation also touches upon defense legislation since traditional boundaries between commercial and military space activities are now obsolete. The purpose of such a fresco is to indicate what other space powers ought to do in order to participate more actively in the shaping of the future world of Outer Space affairs. This presentation will be updated on a periodical basis in order to keep the reader informed of the evolution of the US space legal and regulatory framework. This information is up-to-date as of 1 March 2002.