The ever-increasing convergence of U.S. military and commercial space activities poses new challenges to the viability of the legal concepts that have traditionally governed the use of outer space, and particularly the military use of space, from the beginning of the space age. This paper will look at two examples of where the melding of U.S. military and commercial space activities necessitates a reexamination of the applicable legal theories. Part I will examine the concept of self-defense in outer space, by considering the legality of the use of conventional military force to defend against "cyber-attack" on its commercial space assets. Part II will examine the concept of the use of outer space for "peaceful purposes" under international law, by focusing on the permissibility of military use of the International Space Station. As private commercial entities increasingly take their place aside State actors in outer space, understanding the impact of space commercialization on the law governing military-related activities in outer space becomes more-and-more important to policymakers, military planners, legal scholars and space law practitioners alike.

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.

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Thesis. 1978. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND AERONAUTICS. / Includes bibliographical references. / M.S.

The Outer Space Treaty established the obligation to provide continuing supervision of its national space activities by the appropriate state. The implementation of this obligation remains a matter of state discretion. Since this Treaty came into force the world has evolved to become reliant on space based utilities to enable the global economy and state governance. Today, space faring states are increasingly dependent upon the supervision practices of other states to assure its space interests as the attribution of state responsibility becomes more difficult to ascribe. / Therefore, the absence of binding supervision standards may become an impediment to future space applications due to three identified trends. First, the trend towards space commercialization requires active state supervision. Second, the rise in environmental hazards requires minimal safety standards to decrease the harmful effects on space applications. Third, space security requires identification of intentional acts and prudent measures to safeguard vital space applications.

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