Space policy is the political decision-making process for, and application of, public policy of a state (or association of states) regarding spaceflight and uses of outer space, both for civilian (scientific and commercial) and military purposes. International treaties, such as the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, attempt to maximize the peaceful uses of space and restrict the militarization of space.
Space policy intersects with science policy, since national space programs often perform or fund research in space science, and also with defense policy, for applications such as spy satellites and anti-satellite weapons. It also encompasses government regulation of third-party activities such as commercial communications satellites and private spaceflight.
Space policy also encompasses the creation and application of space law, and space advocacy organizations exist to support the cause of space exploration.
Space law
Space law is an area of the law that encompasses national and international law governing activities in outer space. There are currently five treaties that make up the body of international space law.
The inception of the field of space law began with the launch of the world's first artificial satellite by the Soviet Union in October 1957. Named Sputnik 1, the satellite was launched as part of the International Geophysical Year. Since that time, space law has evolved and assumed more importance as mankind has increasingly come to use and rely on space-based resources.
International space law consists of six international treaties, five declarations and principles, and other United Nations (UN) General Assembly resolutions. The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is primarily responsible for the implementation of international space law, and helps advise governments and non-governmental organizations on space law.
All Treaties below except the Partial Test Ban Treaty were adopted by the UN General Assembly.
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Space advocacy is supporting or advocating for a human use of outer space. Purposes advocated can reach from space exploration, or commercial use of space to even space settlement. There are many different individuals and organizations dedicated to space advocacy. They are usually active in educating the public on space related subjects, lobbying governments for increased funding in space-related activities or supporting private space activities. They also recruit members, fund projects, and provide information for their membership and interested visitors.
Human presence in space is about humanity in space, particularly about all anthropogenic presence in space and human activity in space, that is in outer space and in a broader sense also on any extraterrestrial astronomical body. Humans have been present in space either, in the common sense, through their direct presence and activity like human spaceflight, or through mediation of their presence and activity like with uncrewed spaceflight, making "telepresence" possible.
Space law is the body of law governing space-related activities, encompassing both international and domestic agreements, rules, and principles. Parameters of space law include space exploration, liability for damage, weapons use, rescue efforts, environmental preservation, information sharing, new technologies, and ethics. Other fields of law, such as administrative law, intellectual property law, arms control law, insurance law, environmental law, criminal law, and commercial law, are also integrated within the space law.
As the pace of space activities accelerates and societies become more reliant on space-based systems, the associated risks deserve more attention. Satellites form a critical infrastructure on which military, civil and commercial entities rely. The services ...
This paper is about smart specialization strategies' as an innovation (or industrial) policy approach. Being a sector non-neutral policy, while promoting a bottom-up principle of entrepreneurial initiative and dynamics, smart specialization strategies' occ ...
The subject of real-time, steady-state optimization under significant uncertainty is addressed in this paper. Specifically, the use of constraint-adaptation schemes is reviewed, and it is shown that, in general, such schemes cannot guarantee process feasib ...