Space exploration is at a turning point as more countries and companies shoot for the stars.

So who makes the rules in space?

Most people don't know what space law is or that it even exists.

Most of my time is just spent answering the question, so who's your client?

Aliens? It's Thursday February 29th and you're listening to Science Friday.

I'm Scifry producer Rasha Arredi.

In 1967, the Outer Space Treaty took effect.

Basically, it laid down some ground rules and established that space is for everyone.

But those rules were made decades ago, and space exploration has taken off since then.

So do we need new guidance? And if so, who makes it? Guest host Sophie Bushwick speaks

with two people on the forefront of space governments.

Almost 70 years ago, in the middle of the Cold War, the US and the Soviet Union

kicked off the race to space. The USSR launched the first ever satellite, Sputnik. The US put the first humans on the moon.

High stakes missions like these transformed our relationship with space forever.

Now we're in a different space race, but this time we have a lot more contenders.

There are more satellites in orbit than ever before.

NASA is trying to put humans on Mars.

Countries and private companies are sending lots of landers to the moon,

and billionaires are using rockets as tourist vehicles.

All this activity raises questions, who is in charge of space, and who makes the rules.

A story in Wired magazine by journalist Kari Johnson explores these questions and it features two

scientists at the forefront of this field. Dr. Timeby Agonaba, assistant professor of

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