Policy and Law

In this week's Space Cafe Web Talk Dr. Raji Rajagopalan discussed how India’s approach to outer space has changed over the last decade and how it is now driven increasingly by national security concerns.

In separate media appearances last week, Russian and Chinese diplomatic and military officials have criticised US – and allied – military space programmes and ambitions.

Chinese officials have unveiled details of, and launch timeline for, its Tiangong space station now that the Long March 5B launch vehicle has been successfully launched and China’s crewed capsule has been tested.

Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, has said that Russia is designing a new “orbital” station where crews will build deep space probes to explore the Solar System.

Russia and China are currently in talks to pool their resources for joint lunar operations, according to several Russian and international news media sources.

Last week, NASA released "The Artemis Accords: Principles for a Safe, Peaceful and Prosperous Future." The aim of the Artemis program, according to NASA, is to "[L]and the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024, heralding in a new era for space exploration and utilization". I read the short, concise document that NASA  published with a great deal of interest, and a number of thoughts about international technology, economics, and politics came to mind.

After celebrating the 50th anniversary of the European space cooperation in 2014, ESA now marks 45 years since the signing of the Convention for the creation of a single European Space Agency on 30 May 1975.

The Russian state space corporation Roscosmos is to develop a low-Earth orbit (LEO) space surveillance satellite that will help monitor space debris and should be launched by 2027, according to a senior Roscosmos official in remarks to the TASS news agency on 28 May 2020.

SpaceX has become the first private company to launch a crewed mission into low-Earth orbit. At 3:22pm Eastern Standard Time (EST), 30 May 2020, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle launched two NASA astronauts – Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley – on board the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.

Prof. Dr. Kai-Uwe Schrogl discussed Space law for the future, including the global status of national space legislation, the regulatory frameworks of the future, security affects, issues of appropriation, the who-can-do it, and the role of Europe.  in this week’s Space Cafe Web Talk, held on 19 May.