Private Intervention In Space - A Comparative Analysis Vis A Vis Laws Of USA And India

Srishti Shrivastava, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law ICFAI University, Ranchi

Ankita Kumari, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law ICFAI University, Ranchi

ABSTRACT

Space Law as a Law is fairly new in Origin. Although the intervention in Space can be traced back to as old as World War I but the law regulating this has acquired shape recently. Some of the jurists even termed the nature of law as ‘instant custom’ i.e. those which have acquired the status of custom or it is included in general practice within a short period of time as compared to other customary practices. Right from the launch of the first satellite, UN made attempts to regulate the commercial space activity which came around as the formation of Committee on Peaceful of Outer Space and eventually adoption of Resolution on International Co-operation in the peaceful uses of Outer Space and then finally as the OST or the Outer Space Treaty. The Private Player participation in the Outer Space is more of a recent phenomenon as previously these activities were mostly for the purpose of Satellite installation for Military and Telecommunication purpose. But now it is more than commercialized than ever. When we focus on legal development in this regard we can see that the Outer Space Treaty did not contain an elaborate measures in this regard but countries have adopted specific policies pertaining to liability of the objects and persons being sent to the development of a PPP (Public Private Partnership) Model to harness this as a resource to increase the utilization of Space as a valuable asset. This article focus on such laws and model adopted internationally and in USA and the steps taken by India to regulate this sector and what more could be done in this regard by comparative analysis.

Keywords: Space Law, Instant Custom, Public Private Partnership, Outer Space Treaty.