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Space Law

Space Law deals primarily with activities in Outer Space. There are also many activities conducted on Earth which are concerned with space activities - the most obvious example is the launching of spacecraft. There hav been many discussions as to whether space law should concern every activity related to Outer Space, or whether it would have to be limited to Outer Space. The delimitation of space law bsed on the events taking place in space is called the spatial approach. Instead of limiting space law to the events taking place in space, there are those who want to have a limit based upon the nature of the activities. This iscalled a functional approach. Perhaps there is no conflit between the two ways in which the discipline space law is limited. It all depends upon the aim of the specific rule. One could make a comparison with air law, which is chiefly concerned with the activities in the air. All the same, an airplane is always an airplane, and should be registered as such, whether it is on the ground, or airborne, whereas the rules related to th sovereignty of airspace have got nothing to do with the rules on land or at sea. So far, no practical problem has arisen from the fact that no agreement on the legal delimitation of space exists. This situation might very well change, but some people have argued that, t least for the time being, while there is no need to have delimitation, thee is no need to change the present practice in which the laws of outer space operate without it. Considering the present scientific knowledge, outer space cannot be said to have any outer limit.

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