‘The Sky is Not the Limit: Towards a Sustainable Vision of Property Rights in Outer Space’
Never in history have we been closer to realize space colonies, flights, tourism, and mining. Once associated with mere science fiction, they are becoming concrete options as access to space improves. These new developments trigger new legal questions, the most prominent of which is whether states and private entities can own (parts of) planets and outer space resources.
To date, the 1967 Outer Space Treaty expressly prohibits any ownership claims on outer space. Yet, this Treaty was adopted in a time in which access to outer space was fundamentally different. Therefore, some property lawyers advocate the development of a new extra-terrestrial property law system.
To advance the existing extra-terrestrial property law groundwork, this interdisciplinary research project will combine property law with Catholic social thought to develop a sustainable property law framework for outer space.
With the support of the Niels Stensen Fellowship, Katja will carry out this research at the KU Leuven (Centre for Catholic Social Thought).
