On the 9th of December the Activities Committee of the JASON-Institute organized a lecture in The Hague about the increasing importance of space governance. The growing number of endeavors in outer space increasingly vitalize the geopolitical significance and need of legal regulation.
We were delighted to welcome outer space experts Joanna Ruiter and Dimitra Stefoudi. Joanna Ruiter works for the Netherlands Space Office as, amongst others, delegate to the European Space Agency Space Safety Programme and Project Advisor Geodata for the Agriculture and Water Programme. Dimitra Stefoudi is PhD candidate at the International Institute of Air and Space Law of Leiden University and is Adjunct at the International Space University.
Building upon Joanna’s and Dimitra’s first-hand knowledge about space governance and its’ legal framework, moderators Arianna Pearlstein and Steijn Muller focused on the current-day and future trends and challenges in outer space. With identifying the changing nature of the Space Race going on, multiple challenges and gaps in space governance were brought to the foreground. The process of making space law is highly influenced by rapid technological advancements such as anti-satellite capabilities and the involvement of private actors in space exploration. On the European level, partnerships with national and private manufacturers and research centers paves the way to the robust participation. Since only a hand full of actors have effective capabilities to explore space and since there is a limited satellite capacity of outer space, the question of equality is one to keep in mind for future decades.
We would like to thank Joanna Ruiter and Dimitra Stefoudi for their time and for sharing their expertise on the matter. Lastly, we want to thank our audience – in The Hague and online – for their active participation and their tantalizing questions during the event.