Beyond Earth: The Legal Battleground for Outer Space Security

This article is a critical examination of the changing nature of space law and the increasing challenge of space debris problems in space. Space infrastructure has become an essential part of our contemporary lives. Without satellites, one can hardly use a mobile phone or internet access nor can one benefit from Global Navigation System satellite signals nor use remote-sensing satellites that provide essential information for natural disaster prevention, forest conservation or weather forecasts. While the use of space technology has many benefits, the increases of space debris seriously impairs the security, safety and sustainability of space activities. The orbital domain has become a dumping ground for obsolete satellites and rocket bodies. It threatens the uninterrupted functioning of all man-made objects placed in space. This essay analyses the prominent legal frameworks provided under leading international treaties on Aerospace Law. It argues that they cannot be certainly applied to a complex legal regime of man-made objects, space debris, which remains a thorny issue of space operations needing continuous regulations and laws. The article illustrates the essential background of Aerospace Law in today’s legal landscape and critically examines its challenges from the perspective of space sustainability, the new up-momentum in national legislation within the existing space treaty framework, and their imperative needs for vigorous international cooperation and normative regulations to cope with space debris.