The SpaceX Launch and the Future of Space Law
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 26 May 2020
⏱️ 48 minutes
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Summary
On Wednesday, NASA and the SpaceX Corporation are scheduled to send astronauts back into outer space from U.S. soil for the first time since the U.S. space shuttle program ended in 2011. The launch promises to kick off a new era in space exploration, one that will see the increased use of outer space for both public and private purposes, as well as greater involvement by private corporations and other unconventional actors in space exploration. To discuss the legal and policy challenges of this new era, Scott R. Anderson spoke with three lawyers working at the bleeding edge of space law and policy: Professor Timiebi Aganaba-Jeanty of Arizona State University and its Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law; Brian Israel, a former public and private sector space lawyer who teaches space law at Berkeley Law; and Daniel Porras, currently a space security fellow at the UN Institute for Disarmament Research.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising to access an ad-free version of the LawFair |
| 0:07.2 | podcast become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash LawFair. |
| 0:14.7 | That's patreon.com slash LawFair. |
| 0:18.2 | Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, rational security, chatter, LawFair |
| 0:25.6 | no bull and the aftermath. |
| 0:34.0 | We are stepping away from arms control in general. |
| 0:37.0 | It's very unlikely that the new start agreement between the US and Russia will be renewed, |
| 0:41.6 | which is the agreement that currently keeps caps on the number of strategic weapons that |
| 0:46.6 | they can all keep. |
| 0:47.8 | The big problem for space there, though, is that it's one of the last provisions that |
| 0:51.5 | explicitly prohibits interference with national technical means of verification, which |
| 0:56.3 | is like satellites keeping an eye on the number of weapons that the other guy has. |
| 1:01.0 | There's an agreement right now, an explicit agreement not to mess with those satellites. |
| 1:04.4 | And if the new start goes out, then that's one of the last explicit protections for those |
| 1:10.5 | types of satellites. |
| 1:11.5 | So we start to ask ourselves, will we start seeing more instances of interference with |
| 1:15.9 | national technical means of verification? |
| 1:18.4 | And not only between the Americans and the Russians, but will other countries start engaging |
| 1:22.4 | in that kind of interference as well. |
| 1:25.1 | I'm Scott R. Anderson and this is the LawFair podcast for May 26, 2020. |
| 1:32.2 | This coming Wednesday, NASA and the SpaceX Corporation are scheduled to send astronauts |
| 1:36.7 | back and outer space from US soil for the first time since the US Space Shuttle program |
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