Thesis (M. Eng. (Mechanical))--Universiteit van Pretoria, 1999. / Summaries in English and Afrikaans. Includes bibliographical references.

Launch activities are increasingly performed by private entities and launch participants deal with a complex legal environment. The Space Treaties provide a framework placing liability for non-governmental activities on the launching State and the duty to authorize and supervise them on the appropriate State. Launch participants are subject to specific regulation in certain States or are under institutional State control in others. They also have to comply with general domestic law of liability. Limited insurance availability led to the development of contractual risk allocation techniques, the inter-participants waivers of liability and claims, inspired by NASA practice. / This thesis offers a contribution with the synthesis of information, so far scattered, on today's legal environment, providing an overview of the norms at play in this field to allow the grasp of their relative weight and interactions in the assessment of liability risk attached to launch activities. / This synthesis reveals a legal framework presently lacking the predictability necessary for an efficient liability risk management: (1) inter-participants waivers of liability suffer the weaknesses of all limitation of liability clauses; they also lack uniformity and implementation rigor; (2) the Space Treaties contain ambiguous terms preventing predictable determination of the State liable for damage and the State obliged to authorize and supervise launch activities, and do not reflect the de facto primary liability of launch operators. / This thesis offers a contribution to the advancement of legal work on these problems by suggesting new approaches emphasizing the need for: (1) harmonization of inter-participants waivers of liability to improve their consistency and validity and ensure identical flow-down by all participants; (2) improvements of the Outer Space Treaty, Liability Convention and Registration Convention for their implementation to non-governmental launch activities. / Although the launch community is small and the need for lawmaking is not as compelling as in fields such as aviation. Nevertheless, tailored adjustments to the present legal framework are required and proposed in this thesis through model clauses and an international instrument, both of which are submitted for further thinking and contribution by those sharing the opinion that creative lawmaking is now necessary to prepare for tomorrow's endeavors.

No description available.

En ökad infrastruktur är idag en av de största anledningarna till fragmentering av habitatvilket gör det svårare för vilt att röra sig över vägar utan risker. För att undersöka i vilkenutsträckning större vilt korsar vägar identifierades gröna stråk i Halmstad tätort därviltförekomst sedan undersöktes vintern 2015/2016. Tio lokaler valdes ut längs väg 600(Tylösandvägen), väg 610 (Kustvägen), riksväg 15, riksväg 25 och riksväg 26 där inventeringarutfördes i sju dagar fördelade under en tvåmånadersperiod. Viltförekomst av älg, rådjur,dovvilt, kronvilt, hare, vildsvin, grävling, rödräv, varg och lodjur undersöktes genomidentifiering av spårstämplar för att ta reda på om någon av lokalerna utgör en riskzon förviltolyckor och om det finns skillnader i viltförekomst nära och längre från vägen samt iskogsmark och öppen mark. Studiens resultat tillsammans med viltolycksstatistik visar attvissa av de undersökta stråken utgör riskzoner för större vilt; två närliggande lokaler ianslutning till riksväg 26 och en lokal i anslutning till riksväg 15. Det fanns ingen signifikantskillnad i viltförekomst på olika avstånd från vägen, vilket innebär att vilt följer de grönastråken och inte ser vägen som ett hinder. Det fanns heller ingen signifikant skillnad mellanviltförekomst i någon av marktyperna. / An increased infrastructure is one of today’s biggest reasons for the fragmentation ofhabitats, making it harder for wildlife to move without risks when crossing roads. To see inwhich extent larger mammals crosses roads greenways were identified in the urban parts ofHalmstad municipality, after which a study was made on the presence of wildlife duringwinter 2015/2016. Ten areas were chosen along road 600 (Tylösandsvägen), road 610(Kustvägen), trunk road 15, trunk road 25 and trunk road 26 where inventories were carriedout for a period of seven days distributed over a period of two months. Wildlife abundanceof moose, roe deer, fallow deer, red deer, hare, wild boar, badger, red fox, wolf and lynxwere investigated by identification of track stamps in order to find out if any of the tenplaces constitutes a danger zone for wildlife-vehicle accidents and if there are anydifferences in wildlife abundance close to and further from the road as well as in woodlandand open land. The result of the study along with wildlife accident statistics show that someof the investigated areas form danger zones for larger animals; two adjacent areas alongtrunk road 26 and one area along trunk road 15. There were no significant difference inwildlife abundance on different distances from the road which means that wildlife followsthe greenways and do not see the road as an obstacle, thus more likely to crossover. Therewere also no significant difference in wildlife abundance in woodland and open land,meaning wildlife-vehicle accidents are not more likely to occur in one type of land over theother.

No description available.

Space activities are increasingly undertaken by private companies. Space law, however, was mainly developed in the beginning of the space age, at a time where space activities were predominantly state activities. The rules that developed were thus focusing on the duties of states and concerned private entities only through the intermediary of states. / This thesis explores the applicable principles of space law and of the international law of responsibility. Taking into account the recent practice of private companies engaged in space business, the work also focuses both on its impact on the responsibility and liability regime as well as on the legal efficiency of the links between private entities and states. / In conclusion, the thesis makes several recommendations to improve the responsibility regime for space activities.

No description available.

No description available.

In the early 21st century, the private commercial space transportation industry demonstrated that commercial human space flight is both technologically and economically feasible. In 2004, the United States Congress responded by passing legislation authorizing the Department of Transportation to license and regulates commercial human space flight. / This thesis examines and assesses the U.S. commercial human space flight vehicle licensing and regulatory law. Tort liability is inextricably linked to the success of the commercial human space flight industry and to that end this thesis provides an analysis of U.S. tort liability law in the event of a commercial human space flight vehicle accident.

This thesis examines the way legal space risks are managed in commercial space transportation provided by major carriers, such as, NASA, the US private launch sector, and Arianespace, as well as in the system envisaged for Australia. Its purpose is to show that even if all systems tend to provide a favorable risk allocation scheme to the space launch industry, there are several alternatives for the telecommunications satellite operators. It also attempts to show that, even if all these risk sharing regimes have been modeled after NASA's, there are certain important differences, which stem from the different political objectives of each of the countries where these carriers are inserted.