The Institute of Air and Space Law (IASL) of Ď㽶ĘÓƵ and the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS), in furtherance of their longstanding cooperation, will be jointly hostingĚý three webinars on topics of mutual interest in July-September 2020.
- I. Artemis Accords: Challenges & Opportunities
- II. The Quest for a Legal Frontier between Airspace and Outer Space
- III. Proposal for an Operational and Regulatory Framework to ensure Space Debris Removal
- IV. Constraints on Military Uses of Outer Space: What Might International Law Offer?
IASL-IAASS Webinar Series IV
“Constraints on Military Uses of Outer Space: What Might International Law Offer?”
The fourth webinar of this series will take place on December 4, 2020, at 10:00 AM (Eastern Time). The proliferation of military activities in outer space, evidenced by the surge in anti-satellite weapon testing and the augmentation and integration of space-based defense capabilities of many space-faring States in recent years, is increasingly becoming a threat not only to international peace and security but also to the sustainable utilisation of outer space. In this context, the webinar will discuss the prospects of expanding and clarifying the existing international law for restraining the militarization and weaponization of outer space.
The webinar will open with two brief presentations—first, on a possible Optional Protocol to the Outer Space Treaty by Amb. Paul Meyer, and second, on the efforts of the McGill-led international effort, McGill Manual on International Law Applicable to Military Uses of Outer Space (MILAMOS) to clarify lex lata on the military uses of outer space by Ms. Elina Morozova, Associate Editor of the Manual.
Discussion presentations:
- An Optional Protocol to the Outer Space Treaty (Paul Meyer)
- Manual on international law applicable to Military Uses of Outer Space (MILAMOS) (Elina Morozova)
Invited Panelists:
- Steven Freeland, Professor, Western Sydney University
- Ram Jakhu, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Ď㽶ĘÓƵ
- Paul Meyer, Fellow in International Security and Adjunct Professor of International Studies, Simon Fraser University
- Tommaso Sgobba, Executive Director, International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety
- Elina Morozova, Associate Editor, MILAMOS; Head of International Legal Service, Intersputnik
Moderator:
- Rajeswari (Raji) Pillai Rajagopalan, Distinguished Fellow & Head of the Nuclear and Space Policy Initiative, Observer Research Foundation
To register, fill in this webform:
For more information, please contact kiran.vazhapully [at] mail.mcgill.ca (subject: IASL-IAASS%20Webinar%20III) (Kiran Vazhapully )
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IASL-IAASS Webinar Series III
Proposal for an Operational and Regulatory Framework to ensure Space Debris Removal
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The third webinar, scheduled to be held on 25 September 2020 will discuss key proposals of the McGill IASL-IAASS study on making space debris removal feasible. The study inter alia recommends the establishment of an intergovernmental organisation alongthe lines of the original INTELSAT.
Discussion papers Commissioned by IASL and IAASS
- Key Elements of the Proposal (Kiran Vazhapully)
- The Insurance Perspective (Chris Kunstadter, Global Head of Space, AXA XL)
Invited Panelists
- Josef Koller, Systems Director, The Aerospace Corporation
- Steven Freeland, Professor, Western Sydney University
- Ram Jakhu, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Ď㽶ĘÓƵ
- Joseph Pelton, Director Emeritus, Space & Advanced Communications Research Institute (SACRI) at George Washington University & Former Dean, ISU
- Jason Forshaw, Head of Future Business (Europe) at Astroscale
- Isabelle Rongier, General Inspector, Ariane Group
- Tommaso Sgobba, Executive Director, International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety
Moderator
- Lucy Stojak, Director, School on Management of Creativity and Innovation, HEC Montréal
To register, fill in this webform:
For more information, please contact kiran.vazhapully [at] mail.mcgill.ca (subject: IASL-IAASS%20Webinar%20III) (Kiran Vazhapully )
Biographies of speakers and presenters
Kiran Mohan Vazhapully is Legal Officer at the Secretariat of Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO), an intergovernmental organization based in New Delhi. Currently, he is on leave specializing in air and space law (LL.M) at Ď㽶ĘÓƵ, Canada, where he is an Erin J.C. Arsenault Graduate Fellow. He holds an integrated bachelor's degree in law (BA LLB Hons.) from the National University of Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS, Kolkata) and a master's degree in international law from the University of Kerala.
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Chris Kunstadter is Global Head of Space at AXA XL, a leading provider of space insurance. He is actively involved in all aspects of AXA XL’s space activity, including technical, financial, and actuarial analysis, policy construction, claims handling, industry outreach, and business development. Chris is a recognized leader in global space risk management issues. For over three decades, he has worked closely with satellite operators and manufacturers, launch providers, government agencies, and industry groups to enhance understanding of space risk management and responsible space activity. Chris serves on the Executive Committee of the International Union of Aerospace Insurers (IUAI), and is a Member of the Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing (CONFERS) and Chair of CONFERS’ Policy Working Group. Chris joined XL in 2006, after 23 years at USAIG, where he was Executive Vice President in charge of the Aerospace and IT departments. Chris received a BA degree in Literature and an MS degree in Engineering from the University of California. He holds a Commercial Pilot license with Instrument and Multi-Engine ratings, and is a Certified Flight Instructor. Chris is an avid musician, and serves on the boards of several music-oriented not-for-profit organizations.
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Dr. Joseph N. Pelton is the Dean Emeritus and former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Space University. He is the Founder and former Executive Director of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation and former Director of the Space & Advanced Communications Research Institute and Research Professor at George Washington University. He is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics and winner of the daVinci Award of the IAASS and the Guardian Award of the Lifeboat Foundation as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Clarke Foundation and the SSPI. He is the author of over 50 books including several award-winning books in the field of space including: Space Debris and Other Threats from Outer Space and New Solutions for the Orbital Debris Problem.
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Dr Jason Forshaw is the Head of Future Business (Europe) at Astroscale. Reporting to the Chief Commercial Officer within the global business development office, Dr Forshaw addresses all aspects of future business, including business development and growth of the sales pipeline and developing R&D strategy for future products and services. His past experience includes a number of Active Debris Removal missions, including ESA's Service Oriented ADR, RemoveDebris (where he was the former Consortium Project Manager), ELSA-d launching in 2021, and the ESA Sunrise ELSA-M. His alma maters include Stanford University and Surrey Space Centre.
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Since September 2015, Isabelle Rongier is General Inspector as Deputy of ArianeGroup Chief Technical Officer, in charge of Technical Authority to secure major technical decisions in the Company, for all the Space and Defence Programmes. This covers a strong technical support to the Programmes during development phases and anomalies in production phase, as well as a validation of the technical choices with assessment of the relevant risks and opportunities. At last, General Inspector implements the Flight Readiness Review or major tests process, adapted to the company’s responsibilities. She’s also in charge of transversal activities such as pyrotechnic inspection, ground and flight safety conformity, expertise career path, technical standardization, knowledge management and product cybersecurity. Ground and Flight Safety covers main key domains addressed by IAASS: public safety at launch and reentry, ground personal safety, environment protection and space traffic control. She and her experts’ team are deeply involved in major conferences in order to foster Experts discussions at international level. Before, she worked 27 years in the French Space Agency, among which 20 years in Launchers, from System Department related to flight control activities till Technical Deputy Director of Launcher Directorate, including Safety aspects. She has worked on all launchers operated from the European spaceport in French Guyana: Ariane 4 and 5, VEGA and Soyuz. From 2010 to 2015, she was member of the CNES Executive Committee as Director of General Inspection and Quality, in charge of internal audit and risk assessment at Agency level, and responsible for certifying technical conformity to the French Space Operation Act before each space operation. Always passionate by Launch and Reentry Safety aspects, she was the Chair of the IAASS Technical committee dealing with these topics from 2010 to 2013, became President of IAASS in October 2013 and is now Emeritus President since October 2017.
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Dr. Josef Koller is a Systems Director for the Center for Space Policy and Strategy at The Aerospace Corporation, serving as a senior analyst and team leader on topics that cut across policy, technology, and economics. His focus is on space-based remote sensing, space flight safety, and long-term sustainability of outer space. He is also the director and producer of the popular Space Policy Show. Prior to joining Aerospace, Dr. Koller served as a Senior Advisor to the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Space Policy where he directly supported key national and international strategy efforts for space-related U.S. Government and DoD policy matters. His portfolio included commercial remote sensing, space traffic management, and related congressional affairs. Prior to that assignment, Dr. Koller managed and co-lead over 40 scientists in the “Space Science and Applications Group” at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dr. Koller also established and led the Los Alamos Space Weather Summer School to promote graduate student research and outreach at the Laboratory. He has authored over 50 peer-reviewed scientific publications with 1100+ citations. Dr. Koller currently serves on the NASA Advisory Council – Regulatory and Policy Committee and is Editor of the Journal for Geoscientific Model Development. Dr. Koller has a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Rice University, a master’s degree in both Physics and Astronomy from the University of Innsbruck, Austria.
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Prof. Steven Freeland, Professor, Western Sydney University, specializing in Commercial Space Law, and previously the Dean of the School of Law. He has been an advisor to the Australian, New Zealand, Norwegian, and several other Governments on issues relating to national space legislative frameworks and policy. He has represented the Australian Government at COPUOS meetings. He has been appointed by COPUOS to co-chair multilateral discussions on the exploration, exploitation and utilization of space resources at the forthcoming meeting of the COPUOS Legal Subcommittee.
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Mr. Tommaso Sgobba, Executive Director, International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS). Until 2013 Tommaso Sgobba was head of flight safety at the European Space Agency (ESA), including human-rated systems, spacecraft re-entries, space debris, use of nuclear power sources, and planetary protection.
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Prof. Ram Jakhu, Associate Professor and Acting Director, Institute of Air and Space Law, Ď㽶ĘÓƵ. He is the Project Director of the McGill Manual on International Law Applicable to Military Uses of Outer Space (MILAMOS). Prof. Jakhu served as the first director of the Master of Space Studies Program of International Space University.
Moderator
Lucy Stojak holds an undergraduate degree in law from the UniversitĂ© de MontrĂ©al, and a Masters and Doctorate degree in law from the Institute of Air and Space Law, Ď㽶ĘÓƵ. She has over 25 years of experience in the development and management of international, interdisciplinary, and intercultural educational programs. She served as the first Director of the Space Studies Program (SSP), a 9-week professional development program in the aerospace field, offered by the International Space University (ISU). She is the Chair of the Canadian Space Advisory Board (SAB). She is a Faculty member of the ISU and a current elected member of the ISU’s Academic Council. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the Annals of Air & Space Law, of the New Space Associate Editorial Board (AEB) and of the SEDS-Canada Board of Directors. She has been a member of the Canadian delegation to international organizations such as the Conference on Disarmament (CD) and the EU.
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IASL-IAASS Webinar Series II
The Quest for a Legal Frontier between Airspace and Outer Space
31 July 2020
1000-1230hrs (EST) / 1400-1630hhrs (UTC)
The second of the IASL-IAASS webinar series will be held on 31July 2020, and will focus on legal questions related to the delimitation of airspace and outer space. Even though the UN COPUOS included “the definition and delimitation of outer space” on its first agenda six decades ago, and has been deliberating on the issue ever since, these questions have now become all the more important with the proliferation of commercial space activities and accelerated development of suborbital flying machines. The ensuing academic debate between two approaches— functionalism and spatialism— have found their way into divergent opinions of States as expressed in international fora, national legislations and aviation treaties.
After examining the merits and demerits of these approaches, this webinar will discuss the benefits of establishing an intermediate region (18-160 km) between airspace and outer space with a mixed legal regime, instead of an abrupt demarcation line (based on functionalist or spatialist approaches) to separate the two regions.
Invited Panelists
- Prof. Steven Freeland, Professor, Western Sydney University
- Mr. Tommaso Sgobba, Executive Director, International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety
- Prof. Stephan Hobe, Director, Institute of Air Law, Space Law and Cyber Law, University of Cologne
- Prof. Timiebi Aganaba-Jeanty, Assistant Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, Arizona State University
- Prof. Liu Hao, Director, Institute of Aviation Law and Standard, Beihang University
Introduction
- Prof. Ram Jakhu, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Ď㽶ĘÓƵ
Moderator
- Dr. David Kendall, Former Chair, United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, and former Director General of Space Science and Technology, Canadian Space Agency
Discussion papers Commissioned by IASL and IAASS
- Functionalist, Spatialist, and Intermediate Region Approaches, by Paul S. Dempsey & Maria Manoli (IASL)
- Draft Convention on "Near-Space" Intermediate Region, by Mini Gupta (IAASS)
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IASL-IAASS Webinar Series I
Artemis Accords: Challenges & Opportunities
10 July 2020
1000-1230hrs (EST)Ěý / 1400-1630hhrs (UTC)
Programme and Speakers
Speakers:
- Mr. Mike Gold, Acting Associate Administrator, Office of International and Interagency Relations, NASA
- Prof. Ram S. Jakhu, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Ď㽶ĘÓƵ
- Mr. Gabriel Swiney, Attorney Adviser, United States Department of State
- Mr. André Farand, Former Head Programme Legal Services Division, European Space Agency
- Mr. Tommaso Sgobba, Executive Director, International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety
Moderator:
- Professor Steven Freeland, Professor, Western Sydney University
The Artemis Accords: Objectives and Features
Mike Gold, NASA Acting Associate Administrator for the Office of International and Interagency Relations
Mike Gold will describe NASA’s goals for the Artemis Accords and how they will support a safe, peaceful, and prosperous future for all of humanity in space. Moreover, Mr. Gold will discuss the principles that the Artemis Accords will contain.
Mike Gold is the Acting Associate Administrator for the Office of International and Interagency Relations. Mr. Gold also provides strategic guidance and oversight to NASA’s Office of General Counsel. Prior to joining NASA, Mike Gold was Vice President for Civil Space at Maxar Technologies, and was also General Counsel at Maxar’s Radiant Solutions business unit. Before the formation of Maxar, Mr. Gold was the Vice President of Washington Operations for Space Systems Loral. Additionally, Mr. Gold spent 12 years as Corporate Counsel as well as Director of Washington Operations and Business Growth for Bigelow Aerospace, and was an attorney for the law firms of Patton Boggs and McGuire Woods. Mr. Gold was the first Chair of the NASA Advisory Council’s Regulatory and Policy Committee and also Chaired the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee for nearly seven years. Mr. Gold is the author of several law review articles and editorials regarding export control reform and he has testified before both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives on commercial space policy and regulatory issues. Mr. Gold is admitted to practice law in New York and the District of Columbia, and he is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Artemis Accords: Historical and Broader Context
Ram S. Jakhu, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Ď㽶ĘÓƵ
Ram Jakhu will present a brief background to the US-initiated “Artemis Accords” and will discuss the domestic and international laws applicable to the extraction and use of natural resources on the Moon and asteroids.
Professor Ram Jakhu is an Associate Professor at McGill's Institute of Air and Space Law and an expert in space and public international law with experience of over 30 years. He is the Project Director of the McGill Manual on International Law Applicable to Military Uses of Outer Space (MILAMOS).
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The Origins of the Artemis Accords
Mr. Gabriel Swiney, Attorney Adviser, United States Department of State
Gabriel Swiney will discuss the origins of the Artemis Accords and their relationship to the Outer Space Treaty. By situating the Accords within the broader context of space law, Mr. Swiney will describe what the Accords are intended to do, what they will not do, and why now is the time to take modest steps towards articulating what existing obligations mean in a new era of space exploration.
Gabriel Swiney is an Attorney Adviser at the U.S. Department of State, where he handles the international space law portfolio. He is the U.S. Head of Delegation to the COPUOS Legal Subcommitee, and advises the Department of State and the U.S. National Space Council on all issues relating to international space law. Mr. Swiney works closely with NASA on legal aspects of the Artemis Program, and is one of the architects of both the Artemis Accords and the recent Executive Order regarding space resources. He is a member of the negotiating team tasked with ensuring cooperation on the Gateway, a small station that will orbit the Moon. He has practiced international law for the Department of State for thirteen years, and is a frequent speaker on space law and policy.
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International Space Station Agreements to NASA Artemis Accords: A Quantum Leap
André Farand, Former Head Programme Legal Services Division, European Space Agency
André Farand will compare the Artemis Accords with the International Space Station (ISS) Agreements. The Artemis Accords look like a contract of adhesion on a “take it or leave it” basis, completely at variance with the careful and painstaking four-year negotiations in the 1990s of the terms of the International Space Station (ISS) Agreements.
André Farand is Lawyer, Member of the Bar of the Province of Quebec (Canada). Lecturer, Institut de Droit de l’Espace et des Télécommunications (IDEST), Université Paris-Saclay, Sceaux. He retired in 2019 from European Space Agency where he was Head Programme Legal Services Division, in charge of legal support to space exploration, earth observation, and space technologies applications.
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Cooperation on International Standards for Emergency Assistance and Safety
Tommaso Sgobba, Executive Director, International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety
Mr. Tommaso Sgobba will show how the perspective of separated national and international Moon bases/missions requires an organized international effort to develop rescue and interoperability standards, otherwise even direct communication between Moon bases and access by EVA suited astronauts of different countries would be impossible in case of emergency.
Tommaso Sgobba is Executive Director of the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS). Until 2013 Tommaso Sgobba was head of flight safety at the European Space Agency (ESA), including human-rated systems, spacecraft re-entries, space debris, use of nuclear power sources, and planetary protection.
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Moderator
Steven Freeland is Professor of International Law at Western Sydney University, specialising in Commercial Space Law, and previously the Dean of the School of Law. He has been an advisor to the Australian, New Zealand, Norwegian and several other Governments on issues relating to national space legislative frameworks and policy, and has represented the Australian Government at COPUOS meetings. He has been appointed by COPUOS to co-chair multilateral discussions on the exploration, exploitation and utilisation of space resources at the forthcoming meeting of the COPUOS Legal Subcommittee.
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Relevant document:
- Outer Space Treaty
- Moon Agreement
- US Space Resource Exploration and Utilization Act of 2015-Title II-CPRT-114HPRT94571
- US Executive Order on Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources
- US Artemis-Accords
- US Artemis Accords_Enabling International Partnerships for Lunar Exploration
- ISS Intergovernmental Agreement
- ISS Code of Conduct for International Space Station Crew
- IAASS_Letter from US DoS
- IAASS_MOU-International Space Safety Cooperation
