Law Commons^™

Fundamental Provisions For National Space Laws, Frans Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

Whilst national space laws currently are a 'hot' topic in general discussions on space law and policy, and rightly so, one should never lose sight that 'national space law' is not something self-evident or nature-given. In each case there is a general need to justify any efforts and resources inevitably required for establishment to start with, then continuing adaptation and implementation, of a national space law. From that perspective, the present paper tries to answer three questions that are of paramount importance. Firstly, why do we need or want national space laws in the first place? Secondly, the question follows …

Space For Tourism? Legal Aspects Of Private Spaceflight For Tourist Purposes, Frans G. Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

It is barely five years ago since the first space tourist proper, Mr. Dennis Tito, made his much-publicised 20 million-dollar flight to the ISS. And now, purportedly thousands of prospective customers are lining up with such nascent companies as Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, for a 200,000-dollar, few-minute flight into the nearest part of outer space. In other words: it looks like space tourism is here to stay.

This obviously raises a number of key legal issues, stretching from proper application of such international space treaties as the Liability and Registration Conventions to national legal issues pertaining to liabilities, licensing …

Towards Monitoring Galileo: The European Gnss Supervisory Authority In Statu Nascendi = Zur Künftigen Überwachungsagentur Des Galileo Systems, Vers Une Autorité De Surveillance Du Système Galileo, Frans G. Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

There is little doubt that one of the most interesting and revolutionary, but also complicated and challenging space projects of today is Galileo, Europe’s own full-fledged second-generation navigation satellite system. Developed jointly by the European Union through the Commission and the European Space Agency, Galileo should by the end of the decade have thirty operational satellites in middle-earth-orbits providing timing, positioning and navigation signals across the globe.

From the very beginning Galileo was envisaged in particular by the Commission as a public-private-partnership (PPP). On the one hand, a private concessionaire should operate the system as of full operational capability (originally …