"Who's Going to Regulate All These Private Space" Topic

…Stations?

"A host of companies are in the process of developing commercial space stations. Aside from the complexities of assembling these structures in low Earth orbit, these companies are also trying to figure out which government agency should serve as the regulator once their orbital outposts are up and running.

During panel discussions at the Beyond Earth Symposium, held in Washington, D.C., from October 12 to 13, representatives of private space companies expressed a need for clarity from the federal government regarding which agency will provide oversight of their future space stations, SpaceNews reported…"

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Armand

Since they fly over a lot of countries maybe it should be the UN. Only joking or am I?

it is the new wild west.

people go into space for freedom from rules to do what they want when they want it.

why should it be the us government?
no worries if they rules only apply when the space craft are stationed over us territory but a bit pressumptious to make rules for the rest of the world

or are we to be part of the new us empire?

other countries have interests in space they need to have a share.

i doubt it can happen as we cant even effectively control what happens in the oceans let alone the galasxy.

so maybe Mark has the right of it with the UN however comedic it sounds.

The Ballad of Serenity Lyrics by Joss Whedon

(written by Joss Whedon, performed by Sonny Rhodes)

Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care, I'm still free
You can't take the sky from me.

Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me.

Leave the men where they lay
They'll never see another day
Lost my soul, lost my dream
You can't take the sky from me.

I feel the black reaching out
I hear its song without a doubt
I still hear and I still see
That you can't take the sky from me.

Lost my love, lost my land
Lost the last place I could stand
There's no place I can be
Since I've found Serenity

And you can't take the sky from me.

(smile)

Armand

Bond-level villains with space stations don't care what stinkin' gov'ts think… ;-)

Unless you have a self-sustaining ecosystem (the US Navy with months long ballistic submarine deployments is the closest we have come yet), enforcement is based on going after the terrestrial support. We all know how well we're able to consistently apply and enforce laws in the terrestrial domain.

The consistent bit is what the companies are worried about. Honestly, most companies don't care about regulation. In the big scheme, its just cost passed on to the consumer. However, if regs are unevenly applied, it gives one company an advantage over another within the market. A subset of that is "surprise" regulation – regs that can be interpreted many ways and lack sufficient funding for reasonable application. Basically, a company can't predict what their risk is, which is extremely detrimental.

Thanks.

Armand