Space Law Reform

In the past few years, the situation related to the exploration and use of space has changed dramatically. It has been proven that the extraction of space resources can be profitable; there is progress in the development of space technology; space has become an object of interest from private investors; there is a gap between the state of the space industry in the United States and in other countries. These changes resulted in a US-initiated reform aimed at legalizing the appropriation of extracted space resources, as well as, in the long term, at legalizing the appropriation of sites of celestial bodies and resources in situ by both individuals and states. Its instruments are proposals for the reinterpretation of key agreements, new US and Luxembourg law and the Artemis Accords signed on October 13, 2020 by eight states. The first part of the reform is almost complete: even now, we can talk about the emergence of an international custom that legalizes the appropriation of extracted resources. Some states and part of the doctrine, however, advocate the preservation of the regime of the common property and its strengthening through the creation of an international body authorized to issue permits for the extraction of resources and / or the lease of sites of celestial bodies. The reform of space law is important not only in itself, but also as a litmus of the development of general international law: it indicates that international law continues to develop; this process is carried out through the efforts of a narrow alliance of states outside the traditional convention mechanism. The diplomatic potential of Russia is very high: it could not only support a certain option for the development of space law, but also formulate its main parameters.

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