Broadcast 2603

Guest: Michael Listner. Topics: Commercial Space Law, asteroid bill, treaties, 2015 space legal issues and more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience. We welcomed Michael Listner back to the show for the last time in 2015. During the first segment of our two hour discussion, Michael started the 2015 annual space law review by jumping right in to discussing the new Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act recently signed into law by President Obama. In this segment, he hit on key issues including legal jurisdiction on issues would now be federal law issues, the solidification behind SLS making it harder to cancel the rocket project, and the controversial "property rights" section in the asteroid part of the legislation. There were many questions for Michael regarding the significance and meaning of issues now falling under federal law. During this discussion, Michael used legal definitions and terminology and we discussed hypothetical situations to try to understand the impact of federal over state law on issues likely to make it to court. Michael again talked about the asteroid mining part of the legislation (he did so as well on his last show a few weeks ago) which he believes contradicts the Outer Space Treaty. Michael carefully went through the legal issues including the incorrect comparison of the Outer Space Treaty to the oceans and the Law of the Sea Treaty rather than a more appropriate comparison to legal regimes regarding Antarctica. Michael posted a good article on this discussion his blog, Space Thoughts, which you can read at https://spacethoughtsblog.wordpress.com/2015/12/11/section-51303-the-oc…. Later in the segment, listeners asked about domestic vs. international legal enforcement of the asteroid mining issues per the legislation, plus many questions came in about The Outer Space Treaty and even The Moon Treaty came up for discussion. In the second segment, Michael started out by saying that SLS got a big boost which was supportive of commercial space policy. Jack asked about commercial crew in the legislation, but our focus moved to the RD180 engine because that is a big deal right now. Michael said it was akin to open warfare between Senator McCain and ULA. Michael offered us a detailed explanation of the RD180 issue and how it can impact ULA, SpaceX, and actually impact the nation. Another topic was the return to flight using the Atlas 5 and the RD181 engine for the Cygnus by Orbital ATK. BJohn and later Freemont John inquired about nuclear propulsion and some of the things discussed in the recent program with Dr. Dewar. Another topic discussed was planetary protection which he said gets its authority from Article 9 of The Outer Space Treaty. Before the program ended, Michael gave us a status report on The Code of Conduct, the suborbital industry, and the Moon Treaty. Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog above. You can reach Michael through me or his blog.