Institute Blog
Humanity is poised on a threshold unlike any in our short history
By Michelle Hanlon - Space is truly a great unknown – especially from a legal standpoint. The Outer Space Treaty regime has served us well for the past sixty years, but we are now contemplating all sorts of new activities in a domain once...
Don’t Judge an Agency by its Name: FCC Best for Mission Authorization
By Connor Haffey - June 2024 The Office of Space Commerce (OSC) has made a major push in the past decade to become more relevant in the commercial space industry. OSC’s statutory purview was never regulatory, as such, it only had a budget of $500,000 in...
US Mission Authorization Proposals Ignore the FCC
By Connor Haffey - May 2024 The US commercial space industry is growing rampantly - with no slowing in sight. The missions identified in the Section 108 Report that might have aspects outside the current US commercial space mission authorization...
The Inevitable Gap in the US Mission Authorization Framework
by Connor Haffey - May 2024 The Outer Space Treaty (OST), a keystone legal body of international space law, cemented fundamental obligations for its State Parties. Article VI of the OST requires “authorization and continuing supervision” of any national...
Another One Makes the Dust: Uncovering the Lunar Plume Effect
By Heath Hoeffner - May 2024 Since the Apollo missions, spacecraft landings on the Moon have been awe-inspiring achievements. However, they have also left behind a lesser-known consequence—the plume effect, which refers to the interaction between...
Stargazers and Stewards: A Sustainable Future in Space
By Heath Hoeffner - April 2024 In late February, Erika Nesvold provided a fantastic presentation on environmental justice in space which serves as a catalyst for critical analysis of key topics shaping the discourse around space exploration. With a PhD...
The Use of Solar Energy: Ethic and Sustainability Perspectives
By Anne-Sophie Martin - April 2024 Harnessing solar energy from space and transferring it to Earth or using it in lunar exploration is an area of growing interest. A number of missions and studies have been carried out in the last few years by States,...
Feminist Perspectives on International Relations in Outer Space
By Alexandra Dolce - March 2024 The Feminist Theory of International relations examines global politics through the “experiences, ideas and activities of women.” This theory emphasizes the gender duality that exists in international relations and...
Drawing the Line: The Importance of the Delimitation of Space
By Heath Hoeffner - February 2024 As humanity looks to the stars, a fundamental question arises: where does Earth's jurisdiction end, and outer space truly begin? The conceptual line that demarcates this boundary has profound significance for legal,...