Who Owns Outer Space and What are its Sovereign Boundaries?

There are 644 Active International Outer Space Agreements by signature as of December 31, 2022.

Most are project specific. In addition, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs contains 5 treaties. They are referred to as the “five United Nations treaties on outer space” as follows:

      1. The Outer Space Treaty.

This treaty is currently undergoing an update.

      1. The Rescue Agreement.
      1. The Liability Convention.
      1. The Registration Convention.

The five declarations and legal principles of these treaties are:

      1. The Declaration of Legal Principles.
      1. The Broadcasting Principles.
        • The Principles Governing the Use by States of Artificial Earth Satellites for International Direct Television Broadcasting.
        • General Assembly resolution 37/92 of 10 December 1982
      1. The Remote Sensing Principles.
      1. The Nuclear Power Sources Principles.
      1. The Benefits Declaration.
        • The Declaration on International Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for the Benefit and in the Interest of All States. This takes into Particular Account, the Needs of Developing Countries.
        • General Assembly resolution 51/122 of 13 December 1996

The jurisdiction of these treaties and agreements starts at the boarder of outer space. Where the earth’s atmosphere ends, and outer space begins. It is a proposed line, and not all entities accept the line unilaterally. This proposed delineation is called the Kármán line.

The line is named for Theodore von Kármán (1881–1963). He was a Hungarian-American engineer and physicist who was active in aeronautics and astronautics. In 1957, Kármán was the first person to calculate a theoretical altitude limit for conventional aircraft flight. 

The Kármán line is the proposed boundary between earth’s atmosphere and outer space which is accepted by the international record-keeping body FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale). The line is set at an altitude of 54 nautical miles = 62 miles = 328,000 feet above mean sea level.

The line lies within the Thermosphere which is between the Mesosphere below and the Exosphere above. This delineation of the edge of space, however, is not globally adopted.[1]

The Kármán line has no physical characteristics. There is no identifiable change in the atmosphere across it. The line is in place only for outer space legal and regulatory purposes. Atmospheric aircraft and outer space spacecraft are subject to different jurisdictions and legislations. International law does not define the edge of outer space. The Kármán line is well above the altitude achievable by conventional aircraft or high-altitude balloons. 

These limits have remained much the same since the beginning of the modern jet era. For example, the Boeing 747-200 which first launched in 1968, had an in-service ceiling altitude of 45,100 feet. The only notable exception is the Concorde, which is certified to fly at an altitude of 60,000 feet, which is above the ozone layer and into the stratosphere. The higher the altitude the lower the atmospheric density.

 

The Kármán line has nothing to do with aircraft engine combustion or wing lift.  The Kármán line is set at the approximate altitude where satellite orbits will decay before completing a single orbit.

Scientists often disagree on exactly where the atmosphere ends and outer space begins. Authorities having jurisdiction however, including the United Nations, accept the FAI’s Kármán line definition.  The Kármán line as defined by the FAI was established in the 1960s. Various entities within those nations of the outer space treaties define outer space’s boundary differently for variety of intents and purposes. Treaties and agreements are not laws.

The delineation between earth atmosphere and outer space is very much a-kin to the establishment of the rules for international waters. “International Waters” is not a defined term in international law. It is an informal term, which sometimes refers to waters beyond the “territorial sea” of any State or Nation. The term “International Waters” is sometimes used as a synonym for the more formal term, “High Seas”.  

International Waters (High Seas) do not belong to any State’s or Nation’s jurisdiction according to international law. The Convention on the High Seas was signed in 1958 by 63 signatories. High Seas are defined to mean “all parts of the sea that are not included in the territorial sea or in the internal waters of a State”. It also states that:  “no State may validly purport to subject any part of them to its sovereignty“.[2] 

The Convention on the High Seas was used as a foundation for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), signed in 1982. This law recognizes exclusive economic zones which are set at 200 nautical miles (230 miles) from the baseline. The baseline is where coastal States have sovereign rights to the water column and sea floor as well as the natural resources found there. [3] The High Seas make up 50% of the surface area of the earth and cover over two-thirds of the ocean. International Maritime Law, however, is different than outer space treaties or agreements. Again, Treaties and agreements are not laws.

In the 1960’s there was a genuine need for a globally accepted boundary between our atmosphere and outer space, and for outer space treaties and agreements.  An issue arises in the 2020’s more than half a century later. We must now consider that there is no established or even proposed outer boundary beyond the first boundary as far as we know. How far past the Kármán line does the jurisdiction of earth’s outer space treaties and agreements reach? 

Looking back through history, we can expect that the day will come when local (to earth) outer space “territories” will be measured, defined and put on a spherical map of some sort.  As soon as that happens nations will make claims to the sovereignty of those outer space territories despite any treaties or agreements. It is our nature as demonstrated throughout history. 

Nations have forever gone to war over ownership of territories on earth, regardless of ratified treaties, agreements, or even laws.  We do it with terrestrial territories to this day – every day. We also do it with the delineation of the High Seas.

China for example, is now making their own independent interpretations and challenges to the delineation of the accepted High Seas line. We can only presume China is doing this for reasons of power, money, and conquest, consistent with human history.  This will inevitably lead to international conflict, as it has historically done, depending on how hard China pushes that agenda. If nothing else, the human animal is very predictable on matters of territorial ambitions. 

There is no reason to expect earth Nations won’t do the same when outer space territories are inevitably delineated as were the current political boundaries of soil and the High Seas and International Maritime Law.   It will not matter if it is an outer space territory.

If any region has a border creating a territory, humans will inevitably wage war for control of that territory. They will fight to claim any favorable area as their sovereign territory and then defend it after they have control.  It has been our historic behavior forever and that is the first problem for humans to grapple with as we prepare to migrate into outer space.

The short-sighted second problem is that the outer space agreements and treaties currently in place don’t address extraterrestrials (ETs) in our space. They do not consider where that outer perimeter line begins or even should begin. When the day comes that ET communication happens, will earth make a claim to an outer zone territory and try to defend that outer zone from those ET entities?  To do that, we must be all on the same team. 

What we have in place now does not address an interstellar line where ETs entering our self-proclaimed territory must follow our rules. For ETs to obey our rules, we first must actually have rules and then we must be able to communicate those rules to them. Assuming we can agree on where the line is and who is responsible for holding that line; ETs will either:

      1. Respect and obey our rules.
      2. Negotiate our rules to something mutually agreeable for the benefit of both parties.
      3. Disregard the rules because there is nothing, we can effectively do about it anyway.
      4. Inform us that the rules are universal already – here is your copy, welcome to the club.
    1.  

Our interactions with ETs will be a function of the ETs purpose for coming here in the first place.  It is comparable to an adult being granted permission to enter a child’s tree house. The adult complies with the child’s tree house rules out of respect for their turf.  They do this knowing full well they can take over the tree house at any time they choose either cooperatively or by force if necessary.

Defense of territory is all about establishing a perimeter. Where should we establish that outer perimeter or should we even try? There is a lot of science fiction-like talk out there about colonizing Mars but it’s technologically very far out there for us right now. We have actually never been there in person, and we certainly will not be able to defend it any time soon.

Maybe we should start by setting the perimeter at the moon-range distance. At least we have been to the moon in person and have a flag in the ground to stake our claim so to speak. At least we have an argument that it is earths sovereign territory for a variety of reasons. The argument would imply that moon-range is the distance from our earth base which is our sovereign territory because of the impact the moon has on the earth’s oceans etc.  The moon has an impact on the earth and therefore, we must protect it. At least we would have a justifiable argument even though we can’t effectively defend that territorial perimeter at this point in time.

The obvious reality of the situation is that we have no shot at claiming and effectively defending a moon-range perimeter around the earth any time soon. We are not technologically there yet.    Moon-range defense distance might be achievable someday far into the future but not for a very long time. Maybe however, the control and defense problems are the same for ETs also. Maybe they ant defend it either. In fact, maybe the need for that sort of conquest and defense is not the way we should be thinking at all.

All of this discussion about war-like defense is based on the assumption that the ETs are coming with the intent of conquest. Maybe that sort of conquest mentality does not even exist any longer beyond our own primitive human nature. If conquest was the ET mission, they surely would have completed that mission by now.  They have been coming to earth for centuries and are probably walking among us today. The evidence of their intent and activity on earth thus far has obviously not been one of violent conquest. 

We don’t know what their intent might be, but it certainly does not appear to be one of violent conquest and control of our earthly territory. Consider the possibility that the notion of territorial control and conquest is extinct within a galactic community. It makes sense because power and control inevitably change hands and the cost is very high and all for what…. wealth and power? Perhaps the universal community has a higher and more civilized purpose.

This is why establishing two-way ET communication is so critical at this point in our time and place in the universe. Once 2-way communication is established and we are introduced to the universal community, we may very well be informed by our new ET friends that the rules are already in place. They may just tell us what those rulers are, and we would be expected to comply in order to be accepted as an active part a more universal community program. Let’s face it, we won’t really have another option.

It is not unreasonable to expect that there is an entity out there similar to the United Nations here on earth, to the fictional series Star Trek’s “The United Federation of Planets”. The logic is there and perhaps one day in the not-so-distant future, earth will have a representative on the Board of such a galactic organization.

When the day comes, and it is probably coming relatively soon, when ETs open the channels of communication, people of the entire earth as a singular common entity will have either a common friend or a common adversary. This will be unprecedented in human history to the best of our current knowledge of human history.

The concept of One World Order takes on a different meaning in this context.  The concept expands into One Galactic Order. One thing seems obvious however things turn out in the future. The people of earth or of any of the sovereign nations upon it do not own outer space or even a miniscule slice of its vastness.

In the words of former President Ronal Regan: “Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world”. There is a lot of wisdom in that simple observation and statement, and it can be interpreted as not being just about ET communication. It applies to the return of a higher authority as well. 

The more research I do on the subject of extraterrestrial communication and the universe at large, the more that research circles back to faith and a creator of the universe. Science and faith are clearly linked.

All predictions, indications and current world events are telling us that something very world changing is headed our way in the very near future. The evidence is everywhere, and it has been predicted and prophesied by most, if not all cultures and faiths of the world. With conquest, wealth and power comes corruption and immorality. The very things our creator seeks to correct in his human creation. 

The world we live in today is filled to the brim with corruption and immorality like never before. Is there a government anywhere on earth that is not corrupt? What about human morality and what we are teaching and doing to very young children in school. We are also teaching them by example. Where is all of this going? 

The judgements and corrections to human corruption and immorality will be administered by the only entity that will ever own outer space and the universe. That is for that what we must prepare. The owner of outer space is the creator of it all in the first place. In the beginning God created the heavens and earth (Genesis 1:1).

[1] Wikipedia. Kármán line

[2] Text of CONVENTION ON THE HIGH SEAS Archived 22 February 2019 at the Wayback Machine (U.N.T.S. No. 6465, vol. 450, pp. 82–103)

[3]  National Ocean Service. “What is the EEZ”.  Retrieved 8 September 2019.