The enormous growth during the last decade of outer space operations like direct broadcasting by satellite and the exploration of natural resources by remote sensing satellites have brought space law into dramatic prominence among the fields of international law. International, because the fundamental principle of space law since the cornerstone Outer Space Law of 1967 clearly requires that outer space and celestial bodies are free for exploration and use by all states in conformity with international law and are not subject to national appropriation. It is in light of the many new considerations now falling under the scope of international law because of their connection with space that this new edition of the best-known handbook in the field now appears. Among the many salient issues the legal implications of which are covered in this third edition are the following:

• the boundary problem arising because state sovereignty can no longer be accepted as unlimited in its vertical projection;

• prior consent of states to whom information is transmitted or whose territories have been sensed by satellites;

• beneficial or adverse effects on the environment caused inter alia by solar power satellites;

• increasing commercialization and privatization of outer space;

• space tourism;

• development of liability regimes for eventual commercial spaceflights;

• space traffic management;

• the increasing use of orbits, particularly the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and the Geostationary Orbit (GSO);

• the need for specific definition of vague terms like ‘province of all mankind’ and ‘peaceful purposes’;

• search and rescue operations and the rescue and return of astronauts;

• liability for damage caused by space objects;

• purpose and functioning of spacecraft registration;

• and the Moon Agreement and ‘the common heritage of mankind

The latest developments in the field are closely monitored to provide the most updated information. Lawyers, students, and various businesses (especially in the telecommunications and aerospace industries) will find all the concise but comprehensive orientation and guidance needed to understand and deal with the legal problems and practical consequences arising from the main space treaties.

Features:

• Fully updated with all recent developments in the field

• Coverage of space-related legal aspects of telecommunications

• Clear analysis of overlapping treaty, customary, and case law

Benefits:

• Understand problems likely to arise and how they will be handled

• Analysis of where national and international law intersect in applicable industries

• Deeply informed insight into protection of the space environment

Isabella Henrietta Philepina Verschoor was born at Amersfoort (the Netherlands) in 1915. She studied law at Leyden University and practised law in Amsterdam for a period of six years.

◾1943 she took her degree as a Doctor of Law at the University of Utrecht.

◾ 1953 she was appointed to lecture at Utrecht University.

She was President of the International Institute of Space Law of the International Astronautical Federation; Member of the Legal Committee in the Netherlands of the International Civil Aviation Organization; National Chairman in the Netherlands of the Peace through Law Center; Member of the Board of Editors of Air Law; Supervisory Member of the Netherlands Institute of Transport. Mrs. Diederiks-Verschoor has been lecturing on air and space law in the course of several tours abroad:

-1964, at the University of Paris (Institut des Hautes Etudes Internationales);

-1965, in Australia, at the Universities of Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne;

-1968, in the United States, at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and at the Mississippi University;

-1968 and again in 1975, in Canada, at the Institute of Air and Space Law;

-1976 and 1980 in Indonesia;

-1979, in Greece, at the Institute of Public International Law and International Relations of Thessaloniki.