Wouters, Jan; De Man, Philip; Hansen, Rik --- "Commercial uses of space and space tourism: setting the scene" [2017] ELECD 1647; in Wouters, Jan; De Man, Philip; Hansen, Rik (eds), "Commercial Uses of Space and Space Tourism" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) xiv

Book Title: Commercial Uses of Space and Space Tourism

Editor(s): Wouters, Jan; De Man, Philip; Hansen, Rik

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781785361067

Section Title: Commercial uses of space and space tourism: setting the scene

Author(s): Wouters, Jan; De Man, Philip; Hansen, Rik

Number of pages: 7

Extract:

Commercial uses of space and space
tourism: setting the scene
Jan Wouters, Philip De Man and Rik Hansen

Space applications have become indispensable in our modern society, as
they account for an ever-expanding number of facilities of a very diverse
nature all over the world. Whereas space services used to be, for a long
time, primarily scientific or military in nature, commercial applications
of spacefaring are rapidly accounting for the most exciting developments
in the fields of space sciences, technology and law. Satellite applications
facilitate the provision of such diverse services as global communication,
remote sensing, climate observation, data collection, resource exploit-
ation, transportation and space tourism.
The astonishing scientific and technological progress in this respect
has been made possible in large part by the enabling and, some would
argue, ambiguous legal framework that has been put in place at the
international level to govern space activities. The fundamental principles
underpinning this legal regime are the free exploration and use of outer
space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, by all States,
including their nationals, and the corollary prohibition of national appro-
priation of outer space, by any means whatsoever, including sovereignty.1
These principles stand in stark contrast to those of the legal regime
governing the airspace above the territory of States, who have complete
and exclusive sovereignty over the areas directly superjacent to their land
and territorial sea.2

1
See Articles I and II of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of
States in ...