Proceedings of the Workshop - United Nations Office for Outer ...

Second, an increasing number of states have embarked on space activities, which makes itnecessary for the world community to prepare for the unexpected accidents. For example, lately,manned space programs have been conducted on a larger scale 25 , and rapid commercialization ofouter space has brought more space objects into outer space. New modes of transportationsystems adds to the new danger as well.1. Manned Space ProgramLast month (or, in October 2003), China became the third state ever to send its nationalinto outer space with its Shenzhou 3. It is also said that China plans to dispatch its astronauts tothe Moon by 2010. It should not be forgotten that already many astronauts of various nationalitieshave been on board the US Space Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) underconstruction. Moreover, since the conditions with respect to non - partner participation has beenagreed upon among the participating partners of the ISS, it is expected that the personnel from avariety of nationalities will be seen in the future on the ISS. Thus, it is more important forsovereign States to well prepare for the accidents, both for astronauts and for space objects.2. Commercialization of outer spaceThe last 15 years have witnessed the increasing use of outer space for commercialpurposes. A Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) and increasing civil uses of outer space hasbrought more satellites into outer space as well. In sum, we now see more space objects,functional and debris, in orbit that might cause accidents 26 . On top of the increased number ofobjects in space, the danger of immature technology has to be pointed out. This is a variety ofreusable space transportation system whose technology has not yet been tested. Some programsare for both reusable and manned projects including the famous “X Prize” system. Since a newspace transportation system is more susceptible to accidents, this seems to need the clear andconsistent application of the rescue principles and return conditions worldwide.New types of expendable launchers using international areas have been used since the lastdecade. Examples would be Sea Launch and Pegasus. For such vehicles, the defined provisions ofthe Rescue Agreement to return the objects to a launching authority 27 found beyond the areas ofany national jurisdiction can help avoid the conflicts.Also an increasing number of programs involve recovery-type satellites to be returned toearth after being tested in outer space to obtain samples. As a result, all these phenomena indicatethat a clear regime is required for accidents, one aspect in rescue and recovery of astronauts andspace objects, the other, in liability.3. The necessity of express conditions to be applied in case of a disasterConcerning search and rescue on the high seas, international conventions adopted by theInternational Maritime Organization (IMO), a specialized organization of the UN, may be in mostcases applied, or without them, prompted by seamanship, astronauts in distress would surely be25 US President Bush published a new space strategy “A Renewed Spirit of Discovery- The President’sVision for US Space Exploration” on 14 January 2004, which contained a human lunar explorationprogram as early as 2015, but not later than the year 2020.26 One estimate says that the number of space objects in orbit as of June 2000 is as follows: payloads being2791, debris, 6146 and, total, 893727 As Prof. Beckman pointed out, the term “launching authority” provided for in the Rescue Agreementshould imply “launching state” seen in other UN space treaties. See, 4 (1) of this paper.