What laws exist in space? If an astronaut does something bad, who has jurisdiction? and other silly but maybe not so silly questions. What Laws Are There In Space? - Digg
So, if I could purchase my own satellite, I could initiate Global International University (with the physical address as "earth's stratosphere"), award doctorates for $500, and could never be prosecuted? :smile:
Actually there is a lot of space law - both nationally and internationally. My former employer had a resident lawyer who specialized in space law. Areas I heard about were satellite location in geosynchronous orbit, radio broadcast frequencies, and space debris* surviving re-entry. It is not widely known that President Eisenhower delayed the first US satellite launch so that Russia would set a precedent of satellites overflying foreign countries. NOVA - Official Website | Sputnik's Impact on America * Some years ago a Russian nuclear powered satellite crashed in Canada. "Under the terms of the 1972 Space Liability Convention, a state which launches an object into space is liable for damages caused by that object.[1] For the recovery efforts, the Canadian government billed the Soviet Union C$6,041,174.70 for actual expenses and additional compensation for future unpredicted expenses; the U.S.S.R. eventually paid the sum of C$3 million."
If a NASA astronaut freaks out and kills another astronaut in space because he drank the last of the Tang, the FBI would have jurisdiction, since it's a Federal crime to murder a US Citizen anywhere.
If the astronaut is active duty military (as many are) then the military would likely claim first jurisdiction. Of course, if the handling of the Lisa Nowak case showed us anything it's that the government is reluctant to punish the unacceptable behavior of its astronaut corps.
here's a story about a crime in space https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/how-a-bitter-divorce-battle-on-earth-led-to-claims-of-a-crime-in-space/ar-AAGeTu2?ocid=spartandhp
First criminal in space... it's Astroannimal! It comes as a shock to Little Earth, I'm sure. Was it a joint account? Whose name was it in? Did Astroannimal log into it using the estranged spouse's login or her own? I really doubt whether any charges will be brought. Not unless a significant amount of money has disappeared from the account. But despite the unlikelihood of criminal charges, NASA doesn't like this kind of publicity. Astroannimal was one of their rising stars, but this might trim her wings a little.
I can see lots of complications. What if the last of the Tang was taken by a Russian cosmonaut on the Space Station and an American killed him? Would Russia get jurisdiction? As Ian says up above, there's already a huge body of space law. But all pretty shaky and hypothetical as far as I can see. Lots of it is based on maritime law and the legal arrangements in Antarctica. It's never been tested in real courts with real cases. If a murder is committed on the Space Station, presumably it would need to be investigated like any other crime scene, by trained investigators familiar with the peculiarities like how blood splatters in weightlessness. So does the FBI have any space-cops on call to be rocketed up to crime scenes? If they put lots more human activity into orbit, like space tourism, if private sector enterprises like SpaceX build Moon and Mars bases, the day is inevitably coming when there will have to be something like Space US Marshals. Who will no doubt get into all sorts of jurisdictional disputes with Russian, European and Chinese law enforcement on particular cases.
someday it will happen https://slate.com/technology/2019/08/space-crime-legal-system-international-space-station.html