Policy and Law

Delegates representing ITU Member States have agreed at the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to adopt an innovative new milestone-based approach for the deployment of non-geostationary satellite (NGSO) systems in specific radio-frequency bands and services.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) to promote international cooperation in the exploration and peaceful uses of outer space.

The Ukrainian parliament passed the country’s first commercial space law, titled “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on the State Regulation of Space Activities,” that was signed on 25 October 2019 by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to Oleksiy Burchevskyy of the Kinstellar law firm writing in Lexology.

The UAE Space Agency has announced its participation in Dubai Airshow 2019 as part of the efforts to enhance its international presence and showcase its current projects and future plans.

Mubadala Investment Company, the Abu Dhabi-based global investor, will showcase the latest development across its diverse aerospace portfolio at Dubai Airshow 2019, which runs from 17-21 November 2019.

A new report has found New Zealand’s space sector contributed $1.69 billion to the economy in the last financial year and employs 12,000 people, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford announced on 14 November 2019.

Techstars, the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed, announced on 13 November 2019 the launch of the Techstars Allied Space Accelerator. The accelerator, a virtual program, will run in partnership with the United States Air Force, the Netherlands Ministry of Defence, the Norwegian Space Agency and the Norwegian Ministry of Defence.

The European Union's (EU) Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) defence technology initiative announced on 12 November 2019 its decision to cooperatively develop several military space projects designed to enhance the defence and security of EU member states.

On 13 November 2019, at the margins of the New Space Europe Conference, Ms. Paulette Lenert, Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs and Ms. Simonetta di Pippo, Director of United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) signed a funding agreement to support UNOOSA’s new “Space Law for New Space Actors” project.

The space age has gone through two paradigm shifts since the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957. Until the early 1990s, ‘Space 1.0’ was the province of government-run, taxpayer-funded space programs. Civil space agencies such as NASA, Russia’s Roscosmos and the European Space Agency, along with military and major aerospace prime contractors, were the main players. Then a paradigm shift to ‘Space 2.0’ got underway when the commercial space sector entered the global market and began to  achieve dominance.