Hello, SFIA audio listeners. In this month's Nebula exclusive, big alien theory,

we're asking the reason alien civilizations might be rare is because most aliens are huge.

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For us to live and build communities in space, we will need law and order.

But who will make the rules?

What should they be?

And what sheriff will see that the law is enforced.

To the first, To discuss the future of space law and regulation, we need to begin with existing space law, and that mostly hinges on whatever country you live in, and the Outdoor

Space Treaty of 1967, and the Liability Convention of 1972, and arguably the Moon Agreement

of 1984.

I should state from the outset that I don't personally give the OST any ethical validity.

You can view it as a reasonable first attempt by nations to amicably manage emerging efforts in space

or less kindly, but either way it's a placeholder until something else emerges and hopefully better.

Some oversights have been addressed, for instance the OST doesn't handle space debris but the

liability convention from five years later does.

We could shop at it all day long, but I do view it as a mostly well-intentioned document.

Nonetheless, there's some key flaws or concerns raised about it.

First and foremost, it's often just vague and ambiguous.

The OST sets broad principles but lacks specific

details on many issues. For instance, it states that space and celestial bodies are the

province of all mankind, but does not define what that means in practical terms, particularly

...