Space tourists in legal limbo

Weeks before Richard Branson hopes to send tourists into space, the legal rights of passengers remain undefined.

Virgin Spaceship Unity.

Weeks before Richard Branson hopes to send tourists into space on his Virgin Galactic spacecraft, the legal rights of passengers ­remain undefined in a potential roadblock to the venture and others like it.

Although a number of treaties and laws exist for space, Inter­national Aerospace Law and Policy Group special counsel Duncan Blake said revision was needed to make them relevant for the sort of activities being planned. As well as there being no legal definition of a space tourist, Mr Blake said uncertainty existed around the questions of where space began and what constitutes a space object.

“In the aviation industry, there is a relatively comprehensive convention for passengers on commercial airlines, but there’s nothing for expected space tourists,” said Mr Blake.

“Take Virgin Galactic — at one point it operates like an aircraft and at another point it operates like a rocket, meaning it could be governed by different laws at different stages of the journey.”

The original Outer Space Treaty was established in 1967, setting up space as a “province of humanity” in which astronauts were defined as “envoys of ­humankind”, Mr Blake said.

“That meant if one of these ­envoys came down in a country other than their own, there was an obligation on that country to return them safely home,” he said.

Other scenarios covered by existing laws included liability in the event of a collision between space objects or the destruction of property on Earth by a space object, and evacuation procedures for the International Space Station.

Mr Blake said the question of how a space tourist would be classified was yet to be resolved.

“If you have a broader range of people participating in space exploration then the question ­remains as to who qualifies as an astronaut,” said Mr Blake.

To help Australia’s space start-ups tackle legal and regulatory requirements, IALPG has partnered with the University of Adelaide Law School to establish the Australian Navigational Guide Explaining Laws of Space website.