Space Manufacturing and Trade: Addressing Regulatory Issues

Abstract

ABSTRACT Space manufacturing is an expectation since the rise of the space age. Because of shifts in both national and global space policies, along with accidents and loss of human life in space missions, the idea of space manufacturing was postponed. Today, it is viable due to the maturity of efficient reusable launch technologies and an emergent space renaissance in the commercialization and privatization of space activities. Manufacturing in space carries a promise of new products and improved articles of manufacture. At the same time, there are legal problems to address prior to capital investment in space manufacturing. The problems stem from the lack of proper regulation, and the duality of the two legal systems of international space law and patent law. Both systems are crucial to the development of a framework for space manufacturing operations, which are currently in an early experimental phase. The author argues that international space law requires the creation of new doctrines that aligns with patent law, ensuring proper recognition of products manufactured and traded in outer space, especially those that are manufactured using space resources.