I’ve been thinking about space exploration and colonisation a lot recently, even for me. I have my reasons, but going in to it is a whole other post, so you just get this spec of postulation today.

The commercialisation of spaceflight is well under way and, soon enough, the tech is going to reach a point of reliability and cost-effectiveness that there is going to be a big push to get out there and exploit it economically. I’m not just talking getting people on the Moon or Mars, I’m talking industry and commercial ventures (hello, giant space billboards!)

I can’t help but wonder, however, how space is currently considered as far as law and jurisdiction goes and how it will be tackled in the future.

As I understand it now, the space agencies are overseen by their country of operation, much like shipping on the high seas or international airlines. The company adheres, by and large, to the laws as imposed by where their HQ is.

However, Oil rigs within a certain distance of another country are subject to the laws of that country, right? So, whose laws does a mining operation based on the Moon, or out at the asteroid belt, adhere to? Do they still stick to the country of origin laws? I’d say that’s the way it’s going to go, but eventually, we’ll have enterprise based entirely in outer space… then what?

When a company is based on Luna and operate in the Kuiper belt, who oversees them? Is the Moon then established as a sovereign territory and a government established, just to oversee a handful of companies? Or is it run by the UN?

Then, what happens when space is militarised, because there is no avoiding that. Eventually a private military company or security company will either be established or begin to operate in space. How are they controlled? Or are they left to their own devices?

I wonder what work is being done towards that…