Broadcast 422 (Special Edition)

This Space Show program featured the first ever Space Property Rights Legal Panel with Wayne White, Rosanna Sattler, Jim Dunstan, and Berin Michael Szoka. The panel began this intensive and comprehensive space property rights discussion with a basic introduction to the issue of space property rights, focusing on the Outer Space Treaty along with the other U.N. treaties impacting and helping to create the existing property rights regime. This is an in-depth discussion you will not want to miss. The panel also fielded numerous listener questions concerning possible space law issues, from what we do if aliens claim asteroids, Titan, or Mars and don';t recognize our law (a most surprising answer followed from our panel members), to issues of suborbital international point to point space flight and domestic suborbital point to point space flight. Listeners also inquired about L1 regional space control as a property rights issue and much more. Issues about lunar resource discoveries were addressed, especially from the point of view what the U.S. might be obliged to share with the global community. This issues was addressed from both the perspective a government mission and a privately funded mission, including doing remote sensing and surveying from orbit by a private company. We also talked about space access and property rights as an entitlement with the government and the UN blocking people from this entitlement. The issue of the entire space property rights discussion being premature came up given the economic reality of our not being able to get to the Moon at this time, let alone leave Earth in an economic fashion. The premise of this question being put the property rights discussion on hold until its relevant. To conclude the panel discussion, each panel member made a summary statement and offered us a his or her view as to what needs to be done next to move the cause of space property rights forward. To facilitate questions and comments for the panel members, you are welcome to send any and all comments to me at drspace@thespaceshow.com. If you target a question or comment to a specific panel member, I will forward your email to that panel member. If you comment or question is not targeted to any one person, I will send it to all four panel members.