NASA Budget

This week NASA received $17.65 billion for fiscal year 2014. There is a video on NASA's website outlining the fiscal year 2014 proposal. In fiscal year 2013, NASA only received $16.9 billion. The House Appropriations Committee had approved a NASA budget of $16.6 billion for fiscal year 2014 while the Senate Appropriations Committee called for $18 billion. President Obama had asked for $17.7 billion. Th $17.65 billion should be applauded as a compromise that ended up in favor of NASA and the governments commitment to furthering the United State's interests in space exploration.

This spending bill gives NASA money for a mission to Mars, commercial space activities, and to explore Europa, one of Jupiter's many moons. The USA Today article explains how the budget deal preserves these many missions. According to Eric Berger of the Houston Chronicle this is a big win for the Europa mission, but the funds for the commercial activities fall short of what is actually needed to put a commercial crew in orbit by 2017. Jeff Foust provides reactions and an excellent summarization of the fiscal year 2014 NASA authorization bill at http://www.spacepolitics.com/.

Spotlight: International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG)

Mars Daily recently reported that a consrotium of space agencies released a blueprint for future space exploration with the goal of sending humans deeper into space. The consortium of agencies is known as the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG). The ISECG was established as a result of a document entitled The Global Exploration Strategy: The Framework for Coordination. A finding of the document is:
     "the need to establish a voluntary, non-binding international coordination mechanism through which individual agencies may exchange information regarding their interests, plans and activities in space exploration, and to work together on means of strengthening both individual exploration programs as well as the collective effort."

Since November 2007 the following fourteen (14) Space Agencies have participated and contributed to the ISECG:
     ASI (Italy), BNSC (United Kingdom), CNES (France), CNSA (China), CSA (Canada), CSIRO(Australia), DLR (Germany), ESA (European Space Agency), ISRO (India), JAXA (Japan), KARI(Republic of Korea), NASA (United States of America), NSAU (Ukraine), Roscosmos (Russia).

In 2011 the ISECG established a Global Roadmap for a long range exploration strategy that charts a way to expand human presence in the solar system. The Roadmap begins with the International Space Station (ISS) and has an overall goal of human missions to Mars. The report which was updated in August 2013 can be downloaded from the ISECG website. 

According to the Mars Daily article the ISECG stated, "Human exploration of the moon, asteroids and Mars will strengthen humanity's future, bringing nations together in a common cause, revealing new knowledge, inspiring people, and stimulating innovation."

It is welcoming to note that the above quote and mission of the ISECG are in harmony with the Article I of the Outer Space Treaty:
     

"The exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development, and shall be the province of all mankind.

Outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall be free for exploration and use by all States without discrimination of any kind, on a basis of equality and in accordance with international law, and there shall be free access to all areas of celestial bodies.

There shall be freedom of scientific investigation in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, and States shall facilitate and encourage international cooperation in such investigation."

As long as organizations and agencies work within the heart of the International Treaties while communicating and sharing findings it will be fantastic to watch how space exploration rapidly develops over the next couple of decades.

Sex in Space

     Now that the title of this post has your attention, what this post is actually going to discuss are the rights to reproduce in space. Seems like it this would be a no brainer. So much of a no brainer that a special suit has been developed to facilitate the "process." In a recent op-ed Laura Woodmansee, author of the book Sex in Space, questioned the ethics of reproduction in an environment where gravity, or lack of, affects the formation of cells. A study at the University of Montreal found that "intracellular traffic flow is compromised under hyper-gravity conditions and that both hyper and microgravity affect the precisely coordinated construction of the cellular envelope in the growing cell." What this means is that when the sperm and egg meet the new life will not grow as it does under Earth's gravity. Does the knowledge that a fetus will be malformed if conceived in space create an ethical obligation to not conceive in outer space? Who is going to prevent people from attempting? Can the government prohibit this private, recreational act? These are all good questions and as in most legal questions the answer depends.
     One can begin by looking at how the U.S. Supreme Court has defined the right to procreate within the Constitution. In the case of Skinner v. Oklahoma, 316 U.S. 535 (1942), a case involving the sterilization of criminals, the Court considered marriage and procreation fundamental to the survival of humans. By classifying procreation as a fundamental right any governmental attempt to prohibit that right has to meet the highest level of scrutiny.
     In Griswold v Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965) the Supreme Court found a state law prohibiting the use and distribuion of contraceptives unconstitutional. Justice Douglas discussed a right to privacy implicitly found in the Bill of Rights, more specifically the First, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments. Douglas said it would be "repulsive if police were allowed to search the sacred precincts of the marital bedroom for signs of the use of contraceptives."
     Expanding on Griswold, Justice Brennan wrote in Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. 438 (1972) "if the right of privacy means anything, it is the right of the individual, married or single, to be free from unwarranted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the decision whether to bear or beget a child."
     The issue of contraceptives came up again in Carey v. Population Services International, 431 U.S. 678 (1977).  This time the issue was whether or not the government could limit the sale and distribution of contraceptives to minors under the age of 16 by licensed pharmacists. The Court found that limiting the distribution of contraceptives to minors by licensed pharmacists placed an undue restriction on the access to birth control and infringed on the right to control procreation.
     In 2003 the Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) that a state law prohibiting sodomy between persons of the same sex violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it did not further a legitimate government interest that would justify a severe intrusion into an area of personal privacy. In other words, private consensual sexual activity between consenting adults may not be prohibited.
     This handful of cases is by no means a comprehensive look at the jurisprudence that makes up the rights  to privacy, but they do lead to a conclusion that there is a fundamental right for people to engage in private consensual sexual activity and that the government would need to show a legitimate purpose that furthers a government interest in order to uphold any prohibition on this right. It seems unlikely that the government will be able to stop people from engaging in the procreation arts.
     There was a quote by Jeff Glodblum's character Dr. Ian Malcolm in the movie Jurassic Park, (1993) in regards to cloning dinosaurs that seems like it may provide some insight to this situation: "scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should." With upcoming ventures to Mars such as the 2 person, 501 day mission around the red planet Inspiration Mars, and the Dutch startup Mars One which plans to colonize Mars via financing through reality TV, there will certainly be opportunities where people can engage in the reproductive arts. The answer to the question of whether or not they should, with current scientific knowledge, is going to be a judgement call that will be made, hopefully, after weighing all of the scientific, sociological, and psychological pros and cons.

FAA Regulation of Commercial Space Transportation

     Commercial space transportation has the ability to  jeopardize public health and safety, property, U.S. national security, foreign policy interests, and international obligations of the United States. Fortunately we have the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to issue licenses and permits. These licenses and permits are issued through the Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) for launch or reentry vehicles, launch sites (spaceports), experimental permits for reusable suborbital rockets, and safety approvals. Here are the resources that explain where the FAA's authority comes from. As with most space law issues the beginning lies with the International Treaty System.

The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (the "Outer Space Treaty"), adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 2222 (XXI), opened for signature on 27 January 1967, entered into force on 10 October 1967;

 

States Parties to the Treaty shall bear international responsibility for national activities in outer space…and for assuring that national activities are carried out in conformity with the provisions set forth in the present Treaty. The activities of non-governmental entities in outer space… shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty. (Art. VI).

A State Party to the Treaty on whose registry an object launched into outer space is carried shall retain jurisdiction and control over such object, and personnel, while in outer space or on a  celestial body. Ownership of objects … is not affected by their presence in outer space or on a celestial body or by their return to the Earth. (Art. VIII).

The above parts of the Outer Space Treaty were the precursor for the Registration Convention which further outlines the responsibility of nations who send objects and people into space.

The Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space (the "Registration Convention"), adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 3235 (XXIX), opened for signature on 14 January 1975, entered into force on 15 September 1976;

    This treaty was developed to provide for the national registration of objects launched into outer space, establish a central register of objects launched into outer space, and provide additional means and procedures to assist in the identification of space objects.

[T]he launching State shall register the space object by means of an entry in an appropriate registry which it shall maintain. Each launching State shall inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations of the establishment of such a registry. (Art. II).

 

The contents of each registry and the conditions under which it is maintained shall be determined by the State of registry concerned. (Art. II)

     In 1984 the U.S. Congress passed the Commercial Space Launch Act, Pub. L. No. 98-575, 98 Stat. 3055 (1984).  This Act and its amendments were codified in Title 49 of the U.S. Code. Then in December 2010 Congress consolidated all U.S. space laws into the new Title 51 National and Commercial Space Programs, Pub. L. No. 111-314, 124 Stat. 3328 (2010). The Commercial Space Launch Act is now codified in chapter 509 of title 51. This is where the Department of Transportation is designated to regulate the commercial launch industry. The Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) was transferred to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 1995.
     The regulations based on the Commercial Space Launch Act are codified in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) in Title 14, chapter 3 (14 C.F.R. § 400.1 (2012)). Here is a list of where to find the various regulations within Title 14:

Part 413-LICENSE APPLICATION PROCEDURES

Part 414-SAFETY APPROVALS
Part 415-LAUNCH LICENSE
Part 417-LAUNCH SAFETY
Part 420-LICENSE TO OPERATE A LAUNCH SITE
Part 431-LAUNCH AND REENTRY OF A REUSABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE (RLV)
Part 433-LICENSE TO OPERATE A REENTRY SITE
Part 435-REENTRY OF A REENTRY VEHICLE OTHER THAN A REUSABLE LAUNCH  
              VEHICLE (RLV)
Part 437-EXPERIMENTAL PERMITS
Part 440-FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Part 460-HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT REQUIREMENTS

It appears that the FAA's jurisdiction is over the launch and reentry of space vehicles and not over activities once in orbit.

Book Review: The Laws of Spaceflight: A Guidebook for New Space Lawyers

     As the field of space law continues to gain momentum more and more materials are being published. One of the more recent books, published by the American Bar Association (ABA), is The Laws of Spaceflight: A Guidebook for New Space Lawyers, by Matthew J. Kleiman, Jennifer K. Lamie, and Maria-Vittoria "Giugi" Caminati. Coming in at under 400 pages cover to cover this book covers a lot of information in a concise and readable manner. Its twelve chapters covers all of the basic information a person would need to know as they enter the field of space law. Each of the chapters are written to be read independently of one another making the book a handy reference for each of its topics.
     The first chapter provides an overview of spaceflight operations and covers basic orbital mechanics, spacecraft power and propulsion, satellites systems, hazards of the outer space environment, and practical applications of space technology. Chapters two, three, and four cover the history of spcaeflight, the international legal framework, and the development of U.S. space law respectively. Chapter five is one of the more interesting chapters as it discusses licensing commercial spaceflight and the jurisdiction of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The remaining chapters cover liability and insurance issues, licensing of private satellites, export control compliance, contracting with the U.S. Government, environmental issues, and property rights (real and intellectual). At the end of each chapter is a glossary of terms with definitions for easy reference. The appendix has the full texts of all of the international treaties and resolutions, along with a sample contract for launch services, U.S. munitions list categories IV and XV, sample technical assistance agreement, sample technology control plan, and standard practices and guidelines for space debris mitigation. The book concludes with a table of authorities and a comprehensive, usable index.
     Overal The Laws of Spaceflight is a well organized and thought out book. Practicing attorneys, attorney's new to space law, students, and academics will all find this book beneficial to build a foundational knowledge of space law and as a handy reference tool. Space Law Librarian gives this book 5 out of 5 stars.