Posted on February 18, 2009 - by Venik

Space lawyers

The recent collision between an in-service US-made Iridium 33 communications satellite launched by Russia in 1997 and a defunct Russian Strela-2M-class Kosmos-2251 communications satellite launched in 1993 created a stir among the small but hungry community of space lawyers in the US. There are about 8,000 man-made objects orbiting Earth.

These include about 560 operational satellites, some 2,200 defunct satellites in decaying orbits, and thousands of sizable chunks of other space trash zooming past each other in intersecting orbits at thousands of miles per hour. If there was a proper legal framework in place and you were a lawyer, the low orbit alone could prove a veritable cornucopia of highly profitable lawsuits against some of the wealthiest governments and corporations around the world.

This is exactly what got Dr. Frans von der Dunk – a space law professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln – all hot and bothered. I didn’t even know that Nebraska had a university, let alone that, apparently, it was the global (galactic?) center of space law. Professor’s legal gears started turning:

Was Russia at fault because it allowed its satellite to fly around for more than a decade without any means to control its flight path?

Was Iridium at fault because it had the actual station-keeping navigational capabilities that would have allowed it to stay clear from a collision course?

Can Russia claim damages when its satellite had been defunct for more than a decade?

Were either the United States or Russia able to foresee the serious risk of collision — and if so, would either country’s failure to act put them at fault?

(Expert: Satellite collision shows need for more regulation of ‘space debris’, Feb 17, 2009, Physorg.com)

I have some answers for the good professor. Was Russia at fault for losing an old satellite? No, gravity was. Sue Sir Isaac Newton. Was Iridium at fault for failing to detect and evade the old Russian satellite? It does not matter: Iridium Satellite LLC is not going to sue itself nor is it going to sue the country that launches its satellites for cheap. Can Russia claim damages for losing a piece of space trash? Apparently yes, if it hires a certain law professor to represent its interests in court in Nebraska.

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