If you have the faintest idea about Star Trek, you will be familiar with the saying 'Space…. the Final Frontier'. Even if you are not a fan of films based on science fiction, you will agree that space is indeed the final frontier for humanity. The human mind is very fascinating, one might think there is some innate curiosity hardwired in the human mind which obliges us to explore uncharted territories with great intensity. In the
Let us for a second, just ignore the fact that space joyrides are an exclusive luxury, presently accessible only to rich or the chosen and look at the legality behind this joyride. While the rich are mesmerized by our beautiful floating rock in the middle of nowhere through their glass windows of the spaceship; the lawyers, legislators and regulators on the rock's surface are grappling with the legal conundrums attributable to these joyrides. Given the risks and dangers associated with these joyrides, it is only natural that each passenger is required to sign waivers which acknowledge that that there is a possibility that they might sustain some form of injury or ultimately meet their almighty creator, for which they are waiving away their right to sue these companies. For the laymen who are not acquainted with legal jargons, these 'waivers' are just documents which say 'Yes, I understand that I am launching myself in a metal bird propelled by a controlled explosion which has a chance of injuring or killing me, but I am okay with it'. The process is quite simple at the moment, you ignore the text of the document and just sign the dotted lines like how you would sign your blank cheques.
Now that you have signed the waiver and taken off on this joyride, the next question is what happens when you sustain an injury while you float outside Earth's atmosphere and want to take legal action? The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 (Treaty) to which 115 countries are currently party to, came into force 2 years before the first man even landed on the moon which clearly indicates it is as old as the Methuselah star (the oldest star in the universe for those unaware). The Treaty is a collaborative effort to regulate outer space and laid down some very important principles such as: (i) outer space shall be used for peaceful purposes only (so no intergalactic conquests allowed like in Star Wars); (ii) every nation is free to explore space; (iii) no one can claim sovereignty over space; (iv) avoid harmful contamination of space; and that (v) nations are liable for any damage caused by their space activities to other nations. However, the Treaty offers near zero guidance on commercial and private space exploration as well as space tourism. This begs the question, who do you sue if you suffer an injury on your private adventure in outer space? For example, in the US, will the
As technology advances and these intergalactic joyrides become more frequent and extravagant, the profitability for private aerospace companies like Blue Origin,
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