The earthly rules our nations need for outer space exploration

India is the first country to land a rover on the south pole of the Moon. This historic event is a harbinger of the remarkable expansion of human activity in space.  

India joins the United States, the then-Soviet Union and China in making a successful landing on the Moon. A new era of space exploration is underway.   

More countries are exploring outer space, and more companies have launched (literally) new commercial ventures. Therefore, we will need better rules on Earth to manage dramatically expanding human activity in the heavens. As the leading spacefaring country and the home base of ambitious space businesses, the United States should play a central role in helping craft rules of the road in this domain. 

The United States remains the only country so far to land people on the Moon but plans to return to the lunar surface later this decade. Japan plans to send a rover to the Moon later this year. The return of great power competition on Earth extends into space. Russia and China plan to land people on the Moon by 2029 and 2030, respectively.  

This time around, governments are not the only players in the space game. In this 21st century space race, private companies will send landers under NASA contracts. More countries and companies are sending craft to the Moon, but we do not yet have international agreements on who can land where. 

What happens in space matters to modern life on Earth. Critical national security, global communications and navigation are all supported by assets orbiting space. For decades, national security has depended on space. For the United States, space-based observation supports arms control. Satellite observation informs the U.S. military’s early warning systems. 

Closer to home, private companies have filled the skies. The number of satellites orbiting the Earth has more than doubled since 2019. With over 6,000 satellites and tens of thousands of pieces of potentially satellite-destroying debris orbiting Earth, avoiding collisions is a major goal of space situational awareness. 

For years, the U.S. Department of Defense provided tracking information as a public service. Emblematic of the emergence of spacefaring as an economic activity, this facility is moving to the Department of Commerce. More than 80 countries have satellites in space, but more than three-quarters belong to U.S. entities. Of those, more than 4,500 belong to SpaceX’s Starlink constellation. If you are reading this piece on a phone, a satellite signal brings you these words.

The U.S. should take a leading role in advancing good practices in space and, to that end, has begun to develop a diplomacy of space. Advanced by NASA and the Department of State, the Artemis Accords provide a multilateral framework for safe operations in space. So far, 28 countries are participating. India joined in June. 

Managing competition and congestion in space requires international cooperation because this area is not a sovereign territory; every state has a right of access. The 1967 Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (known as the Outer Space Treaty), has 112 state parties, including the U.S., Russia and China. The treaty recognizes that space is a global commons and that all countries have a right to access this domain. 

Developed and developing countries around the world want weather, navigation and communications services that can help their societies thrive, but these space-based tools need to be able to function effectively. We need rules of the road that apply to all spacefarers. The Outer Space Treaty requires governments to provide “authorization and continuing supervision” of non-governmental entities’ activities in outer space.

These rules should address human activity on and around the Earth and the Moon. Topics to address include launch announcements, collision avoidance and more commitments to deorbit spent satellites as well as orderly plans for landing sites and use of resources on the Moon. Scientists are intrigued by the south pole of the Moon for the possible presence of water ice, which could be divided into oxygen for people to breathe and hydrogen to make rocket fuel. 

We need a better system of rules to manage human activity in space. Innovation in transportation generates a need for rules of the road. In the 20th century, the expansion of aviation created a need for international agreement. Governments eventually developed a single global system managed by the International Civil Aviation Organization. All countries acceded to the system that makes international air travel orderly today. 

In the 21st century, countries, companies and consumers that depend on information from space-based assets would benefit from an updated space governance regime. The U.S. is well-positioned to lead the creation of that new regime. Even if it is not based on a single treaty, in the 21st century we will need frameworks for cooperation to enable us to benefit from the wonders of space. 

Esther Brimmer is the James H. Binger senior fellow in global governance at the Council on Foreign Relations. From 2009-2013 she served as the U.S. assistant secretary of State for international organization affairs.