Legislation Outpaced by Innovation: An Analysis of the United States’ Commercial Space Sector

The private space sector has emerged in the United States in recent years, with companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic making orbit and contributing to space innovation. The expansion of such an industry in a field that people have traditionally viewed as government domain raises questions about how these privately owned and operated companies interact with United States and International space law.

This paper will explore how these companies must adhere to, or are able to avoid, the laws that govern both national and international space activity. By examining existing United Nations (UN) space treaties and the United States’ own legal framework for space ventures, this paper identifies to what extent private space companies must follow these guidelines. This paper will also examine diplomatic limits of these actors and whether they are required to act in alignment with their “home country.” In other words, are these private corporations merely privately funded extensions of the United States’ federal space sector? If not, to what extent are they independent of government interests?

In answering these questions, this paper considers current developments in the commercial space sector, such as new technology and current space events, that may be a source of international tension. Unveiling federal deregulation as a primary cause of the private space sector’s rapid growth reveals how excessive power and freedom without proper regulation in such a vast field of study, both literally and figuratively, can potentially pave the way for international disaster.