Law Commons^™

Trying To Fit A Square Peg Into A Round Hole? Applying Air Law To Manned Commercial Spaceflight—The Case Study Of Curaçao, Frans G. Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

In appraising applicable legislation and regulation to various types of flights using various types of aircraft in Curaçao, it will become clear that it will not be easy to apply this regime without much further ado to sub-orbital flights. While perhaps on individual aspects certain definitions used may prima facie relatively easily apply or be made to apply, the extended details of almost all of those regimes at some point or other would likely go astray of what would make sense with respect to sub-orbital flights.

It is not accidental therefore, that the FAA has chosen to start from the …

Beyond What? Beyond Earth Orbit? . . . ! The Applicability Of The Registration Convention To Private Commercial Manned Sub-Orbital Spaceflight, Frans G. Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

I. Space Tourism: Where Are We Going and What Is Taking Us There? ... A. Space Tourism as the Newest Kid on the Block ... B. Conducting Sub-Orbital Operations with Aircraft or Space Objects ... C. Manned Sub-Orbital Spaceflight and the Requirement of Proper International Registration

II. Registration: As Aircraft or as Space Object? ... A. International, European, and U.S. Approaches to Regulating Sub-Orbital Spaceflight ... B. Applying the Registration Convention to Private Commercial Manned Spaceflight ... C. The Core Problem with Application of the Registration Convention to Sub-Orbital Flights

III. Back to Semantics: The Definitions of Beyond, Earth Orbit, …

Cutting The Bread, Frans G. Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

Why the draft Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space, the Threat or Use of Received Force against Outer Space Objects (PPWT) will not work—whereas the Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities may.

Maintaining The Master International Frequency Register, Frans G. Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

The present paper is the written elaboration of a presentation held under the same title at the workshop “International Regulations of Space Communications” held in Luxembourg on 24 and 25 May 2012. Consequently, the topic of this paper, the maintenance of the Master International Frequency Register as a key tool for allowing satellite communications to be a viable international sector of space activities, is viewed through the looking glass of the session title, “WRC-12 from the Perspective of International Telecommunications Law.”

In other words, it does not purport to deal with the actual details of maintaining the Register …

The Integrated Approach—Regulating Private Human Spaceflight As Space Activity, Aircraft Operation, And High-Risk Adventure Tourism, Frans G. Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

One of the overriding issues concerning private human spaceflight concerns how to properly regulate this specific new type of activity. Noting that in the discussion regarding regulation thereof usually the three distinct regimes of space law, air law and high-risk adventure tourism law are drawn upon to look for solutions, the present paper addresses the key elements of each of these approaches as they are to some extent already currently being applied and where, as a consequence, gaps and overlaps arise, as well as presents an effort to address the latter in a sensible, coherent, efficient and feasible manner.

Mixing U.S. And Dutch Approaches: Towards Curaçao’S Legislation On Private Commercial Spaceflight, Frans G. Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

One of the more advanced projects to offer private commercial spaceflights concerns Curaçao, the Dutch island in the Caribbean, from where Space Expedition Corporation (SXC) aims to start launching such flights as of 2014 with vehicles to be developed by XCOR. Not only is the island still part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, albeit as of recently as an autonomous “Land,” SXC is a company with its origins in the Netherlands, too. On the other hand, XCOR, which is going to wet lease its vehicles to SXC, is a US company, and its operations consequently will—to the extent applicable—(also) …

Outer Space Law Principles And Privacy, Frans G. Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

When the space law era was ushered in during the late 1950s, it was already clear to some observers that, sooner or later, life on Earth would be monitored from a distance without those living on it necessarily knowing about it—Big Brother in optima forma.

At the same time, with space activities primarily being undertaken by the two superpowers and their acolytes for military/strategic/political purposes (and secondarily for scientific ones), such concerns largely focused on spying in the context of the Cold War. Satellites clearly were excellent tools for finding the whereabouts of the opponent’s tanks, troops, aircraft, warships, …

Crossing A Rubycon? The International Legal Framework For Isos—Before And After Privatization, Frans G. Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

The present chapter analyzes the activities of international satellite organizations (ISOs), former ISOs, and private satellite operators from the perspective of the four principal international space law treaties, consisting of the Outer Space Treaty, the Rescue and Return Agreement, the Liability Convention, and the Registration Convention. In addition, it considers a United Nations Resolution dealing specifically with Direct Broadcasting by Satellite, as it is one of the major categories of activities that international satellite organizations such as INTELSAT and EUTELSAT have traditionally undertaken, as well as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which oversees the international regime developed to deal with …