The Space Governance Gap and Sustainability: A Case for Alternative Dispute Resolution in the New Space Era

Abstract

This study examines the “Space Governance Gap” that is said to be created by the move from state missions to the “New Space” era driven by commercial interests. It is being noticed that today it’s the private companies and massive satellite fleets that dominate the outer space, but the governing rules are stuck in the past. This situation has the potential to threaten the fragile environmental sustainability of the outer space. The authors here examine the existing treaties of the space law with a view to find out that if they can handle modern problems like orbital crowding and private commercial interests, and their impact on sustainabilty. The major focus of the study is to analyse the ‘dispute resolution’ mechanism under the treaty system and thereby highlight the so-called ‘governance gap’. The authors have analysed a few real-world cases like the Cosmos 954 crash and the Antrix-Devas dispute, to point out the possibility of major flaws in the current governance framework. The study explores that the existing rules might have become too political, too slow, and sometimes ignore the interests of private commercial entities. Thus, it is being suggested that to keep space safe and sustainable, it is advisable to move away from rigid state-on-state lawsuits, and instead use the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) for dispute resolution.