29.01.2025
Celestial Dump
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Alexander M. Oreshenkov

PhD in law, expert on international legal issues of the Arctic.

In late October last year, a United Nations panel on space traffic coordination stated that the rapid increase in satellites and space debris in low Earth orbit might make this most accessible part of outer space unusable unless countries and companies cooperate and share the data needed to manage this part of space.

The panel called for urgent action and creation of a comprehensive joint database of orbital objects and an international framework for tracking them and managing space traffic.[1]

The article Space Debris, published by NASA, says that “the problem of managing space debris is both an international challenge and an opportunity to preserve the space environment for future space exploration missions.”[2] Possible ways to solve the problem of space debris[3] at the international level have been provided by the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines.[4]

Importantly, the Guidelines are not a binding international treaty, but a recorded official document.[5] Its principles were developed by a specialized international structure—the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC).[6] On request from the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), the Guidelines were sent to the latter and in 2007 approved by a non-legally binding[7] UNGA resolution,[8] which called on states to apply the Guidelines “through appropriate national mechanisms.”[9] It should be emphasized that the Guidelines contain recommendations for preventing the formation of anthropogenic space debris, but do not provide for its active removal, specifically from outer space into the Earth’s atmosphere.

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On 18 June 2024, a group of American Conservatives and Democrats introduced for consideration by the U.S. House of Representatives, the Orbital Sustainability Act, or Orbits Act,[10] which had passed[11] hearings in the Senate a year before. The goal set by the bipartisan bill is to “establish a first-of-its-kind demonstration program to help reduce the nearly 1 million pieces of space junk in orbit.” The bill exemplifies how a leading spacefaring power, hiding behind international “Guidelines” and using “appropriate national mechanisms” builds a national regulatory framework for active removal of “space debris.”

In international legal practice (and in International Space Law (ISL) treaties in general), there is no unified terminological approach to the concept of ‘space debris.’ Suffice it to say that in the abovementioned NASA’s Space Debris article there are three phrases to define this concept (and another three to define ‘space debris dump’).

Article IX of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (Outer Space Treaty)[12] speaks of the ‘contamination’ of outer space. The word ‘cleaning’[13] should be used as an antonym for this concept (due to the absence of relevant concepts and provisions in the ISL). However, American legislators use another term—remediation of orbital debris. Notably, the participants in the COPUOS forum, where it was introduced, showed diverse understanding of the term.[14]

According to U.S. lawmakers, active remediation “means the deliberate process of facilitating the de-orbit, repurposing, or other disposal[15] of orbital debris, which may include moving orbital debris to a safe position, using an object or technique that is external or internal to the orbital debris.”

It should be noted that the word ‘disposal’ means not only “removal” but also “disposition (of property),” i.e. suggests the right, as stated in Article VIII of the Outer Space Treaty, of the launching state or the state of registration to dispose of their property, i.e. space objects or their component parts. As is known, this right is an integral part of property ownership, which, according to the same Article, “is not affected by their presence in outer space or on a celestial body or by their return to the Earth.”

However, the American bill provides that the entity specified in it will use the right to dispose of any unknown (from an international legal point of view) “space or orbital debris” not by virtue of this legal power, but by virtue of jurisdiction over (space) objects and their crews.”[16]

While the Outer Space Treaty, as well as the Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects[17] and the Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space,[18] speak of operationally suitable “space objects launched into outer space,” including their component parts, Sec 3 (6) of the American bill names a completely different category of space objects—“any human-made space object orbiting Earth that (A) no longer serves an intended purpose; and (B) (i) has reached the end of its mission; or (ii) is incapable of safe maneuver or operation.” This category includes not only U.S. satellites that have ceased to function, but also other states’ space objects that meet the above criteria. Moreover, referring to a legally non-binding UNGA resolution, the bill grants specified legal entities and individuals the right to dispose of “any human-made orbital objects.”

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Renown Russian international lawyer Igor Lukashuk argues that “the regime of international spaces—air and outer space, and the high seas—is entirely determined by international law. In all international spaces, international law has unconditional primacy. It determines to what extent domestic law can operate here.”[19] This opinion is based on the provisions of Article I of the Outer Space Treaty, which stipulates: “Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be free for exploration and use by all States without discrimination of any kind, on a basis of equality and in accordance with international law.” Meanwhile, the American bill suggests that, firstly, U.S. legislators plan to extend its application beyond the territorial supremacy of their state bypassing ISL provisions, and secondly, it violates the abovementioned norm of the Treaty.

The “space debris” filling the outer space surrounding the Earth is not a space dump. Whereas land dumps are heaps of abandoned things, debris, fragments, etc., in outer space only small, unidentifiable “space debris” can be classified into this category. Non-functioning but identified space objects or their parts, including debris, remain the property of the launching state or the state of registration.

The U.S.’s increased activity in matters of national regulatory support for cleaning the “celestial dump” is apparently part of its desire to commercialize the development of space resources, including “space debris.”[20] As Vassily Gudnov, head of the Roscosmos Department of International Relations, aptly noted, “many countries see the removal of space debris as a new market of very expensive services.”

In the absence of generally accepted international legal regulations of due scope that would specify in detail the use of outer space, the U.S., by adopting the Space Resource Exploration and Utilization Act of 2015, has established a national regime for the use of natural resources of celestial bodies. Like the Orbits Act, it violates international law. Also, it allows for raising private capital in the U.S. for the expansion into outer space, as well as private capital of other states willing to participate in space projects under U.S. leading and coordinating role. The U.S.’s economic superiority has facilitated its breakaway from other states in space technologies by a wide margin. It may serve as the basis for further consolidating its dominance in scientific and technical space activities, which may largely determine the transition of the world economy to a qualitatively new level.[21]

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References

[1] Bhattacharjee, N., 2024. Global Push for Cooperation as Space Traffic Crowds Earth Orbit. Reuters, 2 December. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/science/global-push-cooperation-space-traffic-crowds-earth-orbit-2024-12-02/

[2] See NASA’s Space Debris web page: https://www.nasa.gov/headquarters/library/find/bibliographies/space-debris/

[3] Oreshenkov, A.M., 2024a. Теоретические основы международно-правового аспекта удаления “космического мусора” [Theoretical Basis of International Legal Aspect of “Space Debris” Removal]. Moscow Journal of International Law, 2, pp. 46-64. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24833/0869-0049-2024-2-46-64

[4] Its Russian-language version was posted on the UN website “Conventions and Agreements” (https://www.un.org/ru/documents/decl_conv/conventions/space_debris.shtml), although the document has nothing to do with international treaties.

[5] See definition in The Oxford Dictionary of English: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/document_1

[6] On the legal status of the organization see: Oreshenkov, A.M., 2024b. Status of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee as an International Structure. Representative Power – XXI Century, 7-8, pp. 51-58. Available at: https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=74512825

[7] https://www.un.org/en/model-united-nations/how-decisions-are-made-un

[8] UNGA Resolution 62/217 of 22 December 2007. Available at: https://www.unoosa.org/pdf/gares/ARES_62_217R.pdf

[9] Para 26 of UNGA Resolution 62/217 of 22 December 2007. Available at: https://www.unoosa.org/pdf/gares/ARES_62_217R.pdf

[10] Neguse, Joe, 2024. Congressman Joe Neguse, 18 July. Rep. Neguse Introduces Bipartisan ORBITS Act, Bill to Clear Space Junk & Protect Space Operations. Available at: https://neguse.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-neguse-introduces-bipartisan-orbits-act-bill-clear-space-junk-protect

[11] S.447 — ORBITS Act of 2023. Available at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/447/text?s=1&r=43.

[12] Treaty on the Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, of 27 January1967. https://www.un.org/ru/documents/decl_conv/conventions/outer_space_governing.shtml.

[13] Veniaminiv, S.S., 2018. Special English-Russian and Russian-English Dictionary on Space Surveillance and Orbital Debris. 2nd Edition. Moscow: ISR RAS, p. 301. http://www.iki.rssi.ru/books/2018veniaminov.pdf

[14] See Oreshenkov, A.M., 2024a, pp. 60-61.

[15] Note that the bill uses ‘disposal’ in place of ‘removal’ that is generally accepted in international practice.

[16] Compare Para 7 of Article 4 the Orbital Stability Act or Orbits and the first sentence of Article VIII of the Outer Space Treaty.

[17] See: https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20961/volume-961-I-13810-English.pdf

[18] See: https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20961/volume-961-I-13810-English.pdf

[19] Lukashuk, I.I., 2007. International Law. General Part. Moscow: Wolters Kluwer, p. 249.

[20] Semenova, E., 2017. Cleaning in Space Will Be a Paid Service. “Argumety i fakty, 13 December. Available at: https://aif.ru/society/ecology/svalka_na_orbite_kto_budet_ubirat_kosmicheskiy_musor

[21] For more on the impact of space activities on the economy see: Loginov, E.L. and Loginov, A.E., 2010. Космос как стратегический приоритет в борьбе за мировое экономическое лидерство в XXI веке [Outer Space as a Strategic Priority in the Struggle for Global Economic Leadership in the 21st Century]. Natsionalnye interesy: prioritety i bezopasnost’, 25(82), pp. 52-61. Available at: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/kosmos-kak-strategicheskiy-prioritet-v-borbe-za-mirovoe-ekonomicheskoe-liderstvo-v-xxi-veke/viewer

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