5 December 2918 at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C.
On 5 December, at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C., over one hundred attendees joined multiple speakers from across the international space law communities for a very successful 13th Annual IISL Eilene M. Galloway Symposium on Critical Issues in Space Law. The speakers and keynotes throughout the day highlighted the challenges of the development of both domestic and international space law and the interaction of space law with physics, regulation, commercial development, robotic and human exploration, and political philosophy.
Kevin O’Connell, Director of the Office of Space Commerce spoke on how the Trump Administration is seeking to define “light touch, permissive regulation” that enables space commerce. The two morning panel discussions focused on the interactions of law, technology, and physics as governments and companies seek to provide space traffic management. Representatives from the U.S. State Department and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics presented and discussed the relationship between the legal concept of ‘due regard’ and the physical definition of the Karman Line (the altitude(s) where air space ends and outer space begins).
Secure World Foundation’s new Executive Director, Peter Martinez updated the Symposium on the status and next steps of the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space’s Long-Term Sustainability Guidelines. Having reached consensus among 87 member states on 21 guidelines in Vienna in June 2018, the process now moves to national implementation.
The afternoon panels featured discussions of careers in the space law field, the rule of law across legal cultures in Asia, the Middle East, and the West, and finally legal solutions for international partnerships in exploration. In memoriam, the Symposium also presented the IISL Lifetime Achievement Award to the family of Dr. George S. Robinson, longtime IISL member and major supporter of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition.
More information, including a more complete summary of the days event and copies of some of the presentations can be found below.
Participants of the 2018 Galloway Symposium on Critical Issues in Space Law
Introduction
You can find the 2018 Introduction and Program here.
2018 Presentations
Kevin O’Connell, Director, Office of Space Commerce, Dept. of Commerce: Keynote Advancing Space Commerce What does ‘Light Touch, Permissive Regulation’ Mean?
Bhavya Lal, IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute: Panel presentation Global Trends in Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space Traffic Management (STM)
Philip Cunio, ExoAnalytics: Panel presentation Analytics for Commercial SSA
Gabriel Swiney, Office of Legal Advisor, U.S. Department of State: Presentation Thoughts on ‘Due Regard’ in Exploration and Use of Outer Space
Jonathan McDowell, Astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics: Presentation Where Space Begins: Revisiting the Karman Line
Frank Riemann, Legal Officer, Legal Services Department, ESA: Panel presentation Legal Solutions for International Partnerships for Exploration: The European Space Agency perspective
Masami Onada, Director, Washington, D.C. Office, JAXA: Panel presentation Legal Solutions for International Partnerships for Exploration
Mike Gold, Chairman, Regulatory and Policy Subcommittee, NASA Advisory Council: Panel presentation Galloway Symposium 2018
Hdeel Abdelhady, Professorial Lecturer, Islamic Law, George Washington University: Panel presentation Rule of Law in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space
Conclusions
Find the Conclusions of the 2018 Galloway symposium here.
