Title

Closed for Operations: Non-Interference Zones and the Cadence of the New Space Race

Authors

Christopher Hearsey

About the Speaker

Christopher Hearsey is an aerospace executive, research scientist, and space law and policy scholar who has worked in the aerospace and nonprofit industries for over ten years. Chris formerly served as the Director of DC Operations and Corporate Counsel for Bigelow Aerospace. Following a run for Congress in 2018, Chris founded OSA Consulting, LLC and the educational nonprofit The Space Court Foundation Inc., which is currently supporting the development of a YouTube show about space law titled Stellar Decisis that will launch in summer 2019.

Chris holds a BA in Mathematical Economics and Political Science from Temple University, a MS in Legal Theory from The American University, a MS in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, and a JD from the University of Mississippi with a concentration in air and space law (honors). Chris earned a fellowship at the National Air and Space Museum studying space history and served as a special assistant in the Office of Space and Advanced Technology at the US Department of State where he worked on President Obama’s National Space Policy and served on the US delegation to the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

Files

Description

This presentation will explore the concept of non-interference zones for space activities and how this concept produces an inevitable constraint on policy and decision makers planning future space activities. Generally, non-interference zones are volumes of space around spacecraft and/or space activities determined by a set of criteria that creates a location or relative position of exclusivity for the operator. The murky question of whether this idea is in accordance with the outer space treaty system and/or US law and policy is gaining some clarity. And while the legal considerations are important, the realities of physics and mathematics place a limitation on the flexibility of the criteria for non-interference zones to handle the proliferation of new operators and activities, and this raises the important question about the degree of exclusivity that is permissible and expected. This issue will have major implications for future mission and architectural designs and set the development cadence of space settlement on a celestial body. Adjusting to the space environment will be key to ensure successful operations on the Moon or other celestial bodies, but the physical limitations of the space environment highlight the need to keep discussions surrounding the cadence of this new space race ongoing because, eventually, we will run out of space.

Publication Date

2-11-2019

City

Grand Forks, ND

Recommended Citation

Hearsey, Christopher, "Closed for Operations: Non-Interference Zones and the Cadence of the New Space Race" (2019). Space Studies Colloquium. 72.
https://commons.und.edu/ss-colloquium/72