Recap: 8th European Conference on Space Debris
The Legal and Regulatory session on the last day of the 8th European Space Debris Conference, chaired by ECSL members Jenni Tapio and Alexander Soucek, saw eight high-quality presentations dealing with legal, policy and economic responses to the safety and sustainability of space activities.
The panel featured expert contributions from around the world, discussing cutting edge questions such as the application of space law in connection with artificial intelligence, space situational awareness capabilities and space traffic management, or how to tie industrial support and incentives to responsible behaviour in outer space. Besides more practical aspects, some panelists also explored economic and political theories, such as polycentric governance and the “tragedy of the commons” in relation to space debris. Further contributions addressed legal aspects of Active Debris Removal, including central questions on liability and responsibility; the notion of space debris mitigation in the broader context of Earth System Sustainability; and a stocktaking of the impact of large satellite constellations on the dark and quiet night sky as a manifest example of the increasingly complex task of space activities governance. A virtual poster session featuring further legal and regulatory aspects rounded this picture off.
The successful Legal and Regulatory session showed once more that space law and policy are most relevant for any interdisciplinary approach to the safe, sustainable and intergenerational use of outer space.