Abstract
A clear delimitation of the frontier between air space and outer space is hereby advocated, through a compromise that contemplates features of both the functionalist and spatialist approaches in a single and comprehensive legal regime, assuring legal security for activities conducted in both realms.
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Notes
- 1.
Hugo Grotius. Mare Liberum. Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 2009. p. 127.
- 2.
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/COPUOS/Legal/2011/symposium.html, accessed on 04.11.2011.
- 3.
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/limited/c2/AC105_C2_DEF_2011_L01E.pdf, accessed on 04.14.2011.
- 4.
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/pres/lsc2011/symp01.pdf, accessed on 04.14.2011.
- 5.
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/pres/lsc2011/symp02.pdf, accessed on 04.14.2011.
- 6.
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/pres/lsc2011/symp03.pdf, accessed on 04.14.2011.
- 7.
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/pres/lsc2011/symp04.pdf, accessed on 04.14.2011.
- 8.
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/pres/lsc2011/symp05.pdf, accessed on 04.14.2011.
- 9.
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/pres/lsc2011/symp06.pdf, accessed on 04.14.2011.
- 10.
Official report of the 50th Session of the UNCOPUOS legal subcommittee: http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/COPUOS/Legal/index.html. For unedited transcription: http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/COPUOS/Legal/transcripts/index.html.
- 11.
The former Dutch position, presented on 03.03.2010, defended that there was no need to provide the delimitation of outer space, but only of the terms “space activities” and “space objects”, in a clear “functionalist” rationale. A/AC.105/865/Add.8.
- 12.
“Draft report of the Chair of the Working Group on the Definition and Delimitation of Outer Space”, 50th Session, UNCOPUOS Legal Subcommittee: http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/limited/c2/AC105_C2_DEF_2011_L01E.pdf, accessed on 04.14.2011.
- 13.
Up to this moment, presented formal answers to the refereed questionary the following States: the Netherlands, Tunisia, Denmark, Jordan, Austria, El Salvador, Algeria, Norway, United Kingdom, Mauritius, Czech Republic, Estonia, Bangladesh, Germany, Iraq, Serbia, Thailand, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Mexico, Brazil, Nicaragua, Ukraine, Iceland, Nigeria and Venezuela. http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/SpaceLaw/national/def-delim/question.html, accessed on 11.21.2011.
- 14.
A/AC.105/889/Add.8.
- 15.
A/AC.105/889/Add.2.
- 16.
For instance: I. H. Ph. Diedericks-Verschoor. An Introduction to Space Law. 2. ed. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999. p. 21; Robert F. A. Goedhart. The Never Ending Dispute: Delimitation of Air Space and Outer Space. Paris, France: Frontières, 1996. p. 51; Gennady M. Danilenko. “The Boundary Between Air Space and Outer Space in Modern International Law: Delimitation on the Basis of Customary Law”. Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space. IISL, Budapest, 1983. p. 74; Andrzej Górbiel. Legal Definition of Outer Space. Lodz, Poland: Uniwersytet Lódzki, 1980. p. 73/74.
- 17.
It is important to mention the proposals presented by the USSR: A/AC.105/C.2/L.121, 1979 and A/AC.105/C.2/L.139, 1983. For a comprehensive review of the current position of the Russian Federation on that matter: A/AC.105/889/Add.10.
- 18.
On 12 February 2008, Russia submitted to the Conference on Disarmament the “Draft Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space, the Threat or Use of Force against Outer Space Objects”, prepared jointly with China, defining “outer space” as “space beyond the elevation of approximately 100 km above ocean level of the Earth.” For the latest discussion on that regard, reference is made to the thematic discussion held at the Conference on Disarmament on 31 July 2012: http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpNewsByYear_en)/23B0ED99B9B9B43BC1257A4C003F86B9?OpenDocument, accessed on 11.02.2012.
- 19.
Considering the recent progress of suborbital flights and the growing interest in private space activities, Frans G. Von Der Dunk defended that “it is time to seriously reconsider whether we should not firmly but flexibly establish that the boundary between airspaces and outer space at an altitude of 100 km, following the considerable number of instances where this number has already been referred to. After all, what is wrong with a nice round figure?” “The Sky is the Limit – but Where does it End?” Proceedings of the Forty-Eighth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space. IISL, Fukuoka, 2005. p. 92.
- 20.
Indeed, as observed by Armand D. Roth, “la question est en réalité (…) plus politique que technique et la prolifération des théories en la matière semble inversement proportionnelle aux perspectives de solution”. La Prohibition de l’Appropriation et les Régimes d’Accès aux Espaces Extra-Terrestres. Paris, France: Presses Universitaires de France, 1992. p. 99.
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de Oliveira Bittencourt Neto, O. (2015). Final Remarks. In: Defining the Limits of Outer Space for Regulatory Purposes. SpringerBriefs in Space Development. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16685-8_8
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