All about the Mexican Space Agency
The direct antecedent of the Agencia Espacial Mexicana or Mexican Space Agency (AME) is the Comisión Nacional del Espacio Exterior (CONEE), an office created in 1962 and attached to the Secretariat of Communications and Transport, which carried out experiments in rocket, telecommunications and atmospheric studies from 1962 to 1976. →
All about the Japanese space law
Adopted on November 16, 2016, the Space Activities Act entered into force on November 15, 2018. Creating a regime for authorising space operations conducted by private operators, the new Japanese system seeks to encourage engagement of the private sector in space activities by ensuring legal certainty. →
The differences between COPUOS, UNOOSA and COSPAR
The United Nations has been involved in space activities since the very beginning of the space age. Since the first man-made satellite orbited Earth in 1957, the United Nations has committed itself to secure outer space. What are the differences between COPUOS, UNOOSA and COSPAR? →
What do astronauts eat in space?
What do astronauts eat in space? Nutrition is at the basis of human health. Among the fifteen disciplines dealt with by NASA, there is nutrition and food. This discipline is the subject of scientific research because an inadequate nutrition is likely to compromise mission success. →
The first come, first served technique in space law
The first come, first served technique, used for a long time in satellite telecommunications law in order to allocate the natural resources of space (geostationary orbit, frequency spectrum) between States, is in the foreground currently in the context of the allocation of domain names allowing access to the Internet. →
Satellite launch contract
How does the satellite launch contract works? How is it created? In this area, we can really speak of the launch market. The last few years have in fact seen the European company Arianespace, long in a situation of quasi-monopoly in matters of commercial launches, widely challenged by companies not only American and Russian, but also Chinese, Japanese, Indian, and Brazilian. →
Understanding the Wassenaar Arrangement
The main objective of the Wassenaar Arrangement is to coordinate export policies in terms of armaments but also dual-use goods and technologies. It succeeds the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls signed in 1949 (COCOM). →
Understanding the World Heritage Convention
The World Heritage Convention has managed to put in place an inventory, a list of properties of universal value, requiring the most absolute protection. Through judicial, administrative and financial cooperation, the concept of world heritage is highlighted and transcends all borders, both political and geographical. →
Satellite construction contract
Space contracts are not completely new contracts: they borrow pre-existing molds. However, contractual practice is innovating in order to respond to new needs generated by new techniques: innovation is reflected here in the very fine adaptation to the subject of the contract. →
Space technologies to fight the Coronavirus epidemics: the pros and the cons
Since last December, when the Coronavirus epidemics had spread out starting from the Chinese city of Wuhan, news are continuously dealing with the numbers of deaths, the infected people, the economic aspects of lockdown and so on. But among others news, an event that has been playing an important role in the fight against the virus has been overshadowed. →
The extraterritoriality of American law
The extraterritoriality of American law is the capacity that the United States of America gives itself to enact standards applicable to persons, natural or legal, not American. It is illustrated in several fields, in particular that of international corruption where American standards are imposed thanks to a recurrent application of the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act. →
Understanding the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is an American law passed in 1977 aimed at combating the bribery of foreign public officials. This law follows an investigation in the 1970s by the American regulator (Securities and Exchange Commission) in the context of the Watergate scandal. →
Understanding jus soli and jus sanguinis
The jus sanguinis makes descent the criterion of automatic acquisition of nationality, conceived as a heritage which is transmitted to the descendants. The jus soli is based on the place of birth of the individual. →
What is UNIDROIT?
UNIDROIT is an intergovernmental organisation situated in Rome and whose objective is to harmonise international private law across countries through uniform rules, international conventions, and the production of model laws, sets of principles, guides and guidelines. Established in 1926 as part of the League of Nations, it was reestablished in 1940. →
What was the Constellation Program?
The Constellation Program was a NASA space exploration program, the main objective of which was to send astronauts to the Moon around 2020 for long-term missions. As soon as it was presented to the media, the Constellation Program received a mixed reception. While some were enthusiastic about the idea of a new era of exploration beyond the Low Earth Orbit (LEO), others found little interest in an Apollo-bis deemed to be little innovative. →
Understanding the Fisheries Case
In the Fisheries Case of 1951, the dispute is over a maritime area where fishing was an important resource: the point was to figure out how much of that maritime zone was Norwegian, and how much was considered as high seas, meaning that the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland could freely fish in this zone. →
The female space quartet
The merging of two crews marked the first time four women were in outer space at the same time: Discovery’s three women astronauts, and Expedition 23 Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) also marked the first time two of its astronauts were in outer space simultaneously. →
Towards an International Space Agency?
It is in the light of all this questioning, and of all this projects that we fully understand the need for an International Space Agency (ISA) which will establish a common program and course of action. It would define the objectives of humanity on a short, medium and long term. The first one could be the organisation of mission on Mars. →
The launch of the first Ethiopian satellite
The data from the Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite, the first Ethiopian satellite, will help the country to monitor its resources, such as forest and mining resources, improve weather forecast, as well as observe agricultural transformations which will therefore improve the quality of the country’s responses to various issues. →
Can astronauts vote in space?
Currently, only American astronauts can vote from outer space. Indeed, in 1997, the State of Texas passed a law which allows American astronauts to cast their ballots from outer space, from the International Space Station (ISS), and even if they were further out, like on Mars. →