Governance of space resources activities: in the wake of the artemis accords

• Author: Yutaka Osada
• Position: Former professor of international law at Law Faculty, Surugadai University, Japan, S.J.D. (Keio University, Tokyo), Abe Fellow of Japan Foundation for 1994, visiting scholar at the Georgetown University Law Center (Washington, DC) from 1995 to 1996
• Pages: 399-511

GOVERNANCE OF SPACE RESOURCES ACTIVITIES:

IN THE WAKE OF THE ARTEMIS ACCORDS

*

* This Article elaborates on the previous one with the same title in Japanese posted on the

University of Tokyo Institute of Future Initiatives (IFI)’s platform.

YUTAKA OSADA†

ABSTRACT

† Yutaka Osada is former professor of international law at Law Faculty, Surugadai University,

Japan, S.J.D. (Keio University, Tokyo), Abe Fellow of Japan Foundation for 1994, visiting scholar

at the Georgetown University Law Center (Washington, DC) from 1995 to 1996. The author

would like to thank Francis Cabell Brown Professor Edith Brown Weiss and Bhaavya Sinha, Editor-

in-Chief, for generously accepting the publication of my article in this distinguished Journal. I

also thank Paul B. Larsen, Former Adjunct Professor of GULC, for giving me his latest article.

Finally, I extend my sincere gratitude to Clark Orr, Executive Editor for the Journal, who

reviewed my article in detail and gave me some useful advice for intelligible sentences and also to

Augustine A, Hargrave, Senior Editor, who carefully checked the citations in this Article. The

views herein are those of the author and any errors or omissions remain the sole responsibility of

the author. V

C 2022, Yutaka Osada.

This Article consists of three body Sections. Section II deals with the detailed

examination of the whole picture of the Artemis Accords of 2020 in light of the

existing U.N. space-related treaties and resolutions. Section III analyzes the

legal issues arising from space resources activities in depth. In Section III, we

focus on the interpretation of the “non-appropriation” principle as provided in

Article 2 of the Outer Space Treaty and the relevant provisions of the Moon

Agreement with reference to each of their drafting histories. As a result, we

emphasize therein that a whole range of legal issues triggered by the space

resources activities cannot be reduced to the question of whether they are legal or

illegal under existing international space law, but the problem of determining

whether such activities can satisfy “substantial reasonableness of their conse-

quence.” In other words, it is the prevention from adverse ramifications of such

activities that counts. In Section IV, we observe the ongoing discussions at the

Legal Sub-Committee of the UNCOPUOS and examine the domestic laws of

the United States, Luxembourg, the U.A.E., and Japan as well as academic

recommendations, including the Hague Building Blocks, the Vancouver

Recommendations, and inputs from civil society, in the context of space gover-

nance. Finally, we conclude that it depends on two things to produce a multi-

national framework of any form, irrespective of its legally binding force: first,

the values and wisdoms of the stakeholders about outer space per se, and sec-

ond, the political momentum playing out at the relevant forum whether the

399

Artemis Accords as a bottom-up approach can take hold in the international

community or the debate taking place at the UNCOPUOS.

I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

II. THE ARTEMIS PRINCIPLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

A. Relationship with Existing U.N. Space-Related Treaties,

Purpose and Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

B. Implementation, Peaceful Purposes, and Transparency . . . . 412

C. Interoperability, Emergency Assistance, Registration of Space

Objects and Release of Scientific Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

D. Preserving Outer Space Heritage and Space Resources . . . . . 420

E. Deconfliction of Space Activities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

F. Orbital Debris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

III. LEGAL ISSUES OF SPACE RESOURCES ACTIVITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

A. Background: Democratization and Commercialization of

Space Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

B. The Outer Space Treaty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432

C. The Moon Agreement Revisited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

1. The Concept of CHM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

2. Space Resources Activities and Moratorium Issue. 444

a. Relationship Between the Moon Agreement and the

Outer Space Treaty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444

b. The Resources Activities and Moratorium Issue. . . 447

IV. GOVERNANCE OF SPACE RESOURCES ACTIVITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

A. National Legislations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

1. United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

2. Luxembourg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455

3. U.A.E. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460

4. Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462

5. Appraisals of National Legislation on Space

Resources Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466

B. Progress Made at the Legal Sub-Committee of COPUOS . . . . 470

1. Classification of Member States’ Views: 2017 to

2019 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

2. The Pathway to the Establishment of a Working

Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

3. The Establishment of a Working Group and Its

Mandate, Terms of Reference and Work Plan and

Methods of Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

C. Inputs from Non-State Actors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

1. The Hague Building Blocks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

2. The Vancouver Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . 493

GEORGETOWN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

400 [Vol. 53

3. Space Civil Society: MVA, SGAC, SWF and For All

Moonkind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498

V. CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508

I. INTRODUCTION

On October 13, 2020, the United States, the U.K., Australia, Canada,

Japan, Italy, Luxembourg, and the U.A.E. signed the Artemis Accords,

1

See Rossana Deplano, The Artemis Accords: Evolution or Revolution in International Space

Law?, INT’L & COMPARATIVE LAW. QTR. 799 (July 1, 2021), https://www.cambridge.org/core/

journals/international-and-comparative-law-quarterly/article/artemis-accords-evolution-or-revolution-

in-international-space-law/DC08E6D42F7D5A971067E6A1BA442DF1. See The Artemis Accords:

Principles For Cooperation in the Civil Exploration and Use of the Moon, Mars, Comets, and

Asteroids for Peaceful Purposes, opened for signature Oct. 13, 2020, https://www.nasa.gov/specials/

artemis-accords/img/Artemis-Accords-signed-13Oct2020.pdf [hereinafter The Accords].

which represents a political commitment to a set of principles, guide-

lines, and best practices in carrying out the civil exploration and use of

outer space. The signatories have increased to 20 countries as of June 7,

2022, including Ukraine, Korea, New Zealand, Brazil, Poland, Mexico,

Israel, Romania, Bahrain, Singapore, Columbia, and France.

2

1.

2. Ukraine signed the Accords on November 12, 2020. Ukraine Becomes the 9th Country to Sign the

Artemis Accords, U.S. EMBASSY IN UKR. (Nov. 17, 2020), https://ua.usembassy.gov/ukraine-

becomes-the-9th-country-to-sign-the-artemis-accords/; Korea signed on May 24, 2021. See Park Si-

soo, South Korea signs Artemis Accords; Brazil, New Zealand likely next, SPACENEWS (May 27, 2021),

https://spacenews.com/south-korea-signs-artemis-accords/; New Zealand signed on May 31,

2021. See Jeff Fast, New Zealand signs Artemis Accords, SPACENEWS (June 1, 2021), https://

spacenews.com/new-zealand-signs-artemis-accords/. Brazil already signed the Joint Declaration

of Intent with NASA at the virtual conference which was held on December 14, 2020, and

reportedly intended to become the first signatory to the Accords in South America. As late as June

15, 2021, Brazil at last signed the Accords. Jeff Fast, Brazil joins Artemis Accords, SPACENEWS (June

16, 2021), https://spacenews.com/brazil-joins-artemis-accords/; Poland Signs Artemis Accords at

IAC, NASA (Oct. 26, 2021), https://www.nasa.gov/feature/poland-signs-artemis-accords-at-iac;

Mexico joins Artemis Accords, SPACENEWS (Dec. 10, 2021), https://spacenews.com/mexico-joins-

artemis-accords/; Israel Signs Artemis Accords, NASA (Jan. 27, 2022), https://www.nasa.gov/

feature/israel-signs-artemis-accords; Romania Signs Artemis Accords, NASA (Mar. 1, 2022), https://

www.nasa.gov/feature/romania-signs-artemis-accords; Bahrain Signs Artemis Accords, NASA (Mar.

7, 2022), https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/bahrain-signs-artemis-accords; Singapore Signs

Artemis Accords, NASA (Mar. 29, 2022), https://www.nasa.gov/feature/singapore-signs-

artemis-accords; NASA Welcomes Vice President of Columbia for Artemis Accords Signing, NASA (May

10, 2020), https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-welcomes-vice-president-of-colombia-for-artemis-

accords-signing; France Signs Artemis Accords as French Space Agency Marks Milestone, NASA (June 7,

2022), https://www.nasa.gov/feature/france-signs-artemis-accords-as-french-space-agency-marks-

milestone. Interestingly enough, the Isle of Man, a self-governing British Crown Dependency with

population of less than 100,000, at 221 square miles, sitting between England, Ireland, Scotland

and Wales, reportedly joined the Accords in July, 2021, but the Island is counted out because the

U.K. government, on behalf of the Crown, is ultimately responsible for its international relations.

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The