Imagine a spaceport. I bet you have a gigantic building in your mind, in the center of which rockets take off and land. Small winged spacecraft circling leisurely, waiting for permission to land. Against the background of roar and hum, autonomous electric cars with passengers who are going to leave our planet or have returned home scurry along the asphalt roads. And of course, there must be a railway nearby, underground or above the ground, leading to the nearest city.
While my idea of space transport may sound a little far-fetched, the spaceport should indeed be coming soon. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States has already licensed 10 spaceports, or Launch Site Operators, as it calls them. Remarkably, the same FAA licensed 12 Active Launch providers.
Even more remarkable, NASA is not on this list. I wonder if the agency will even be allowed to launch its new Space Launch System rocket.
The FAA also recently approved a commercial venture on the moon. What could be more exciting? We are becoming a species that conquers space. And this is not fantasy. But let's dig a little deeper.
The commercial company that will explore the moon is called Moon Express. The ultimate goal of the venture is to win the Google Lunar X Prize. Presumably, if a company buys a US launch, it will have to be licensed. And under license, the company will only be able to send the Moon Express robot to the moon with FAA approval.
Moon Express has mentioned that it will use Rocket Lab to deliver its robot to the moon. But Rocket Lab is being launched from New Zealand and is not on the FAA-approved Active Launch Operator List. And any US citizen must comply with the laws wherever the launch takes place in the world. But why should the FAA or any government on Earth be legally responsible for landing on the moon? Did the team of the Chinese Chang'e-3 ask permission before launching? Not.
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Again, does the authorization impose responsibility on the authorizer? After all, licensing means risk management. It turns out that the existing court systems on Earth are not suitable for space? Who will investigate a possible theft on the International Space Station (just imagine the comic of this situation)? Who will oversee the implementation of laws and make judgments? There are still many questions to be resolved before humans can just sit and watch as spacecraft take off from the center of the spaceport.
But there is progress, despite all the uncertainties. The foundation for international space law has already been laid. Space transportation infrastructure begins to serve customers, not scientists. Individuals perform feats that were previously only capable of an entire state. So … imagine the spaceport again. It will be built very soon.
ILYA KHEL