How do you legally protect a boot print on the moon? Scotland’s new space law camp has answers

A summer school in Glasgow this year will explore a unique legal frontier: how to protect humanity’s cultural heritage in space. Gordon Cairns reports.

Until very recently, my knowledge of space law began and ended with the extremely officious Vogons, the legislative force behind the planning application that gave the green light to the destruction of planet Earth to create an interplanetary bypass. I must admit when I heard of a summer school in space law to be held in Scotland, the image flashed across my mind of delegates arriving from the planet Vogsphere, clutching their copies of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Yet participants of this unique, week-long conference at the University of Strathclyde this June will be diving deep into something far more serious than Douglas Adams’ comic novel, addressing the question: how do we protect our shared cultural heritage when it is outwith our planet?

Held at the university’s city centre campus in Glasgow, ‘A Terra Usque ad Astra: Heritage, Human Rights and Space Law’ will welcome participants from all over the planet (Earth) to explore a wide range of subjects, including intangible heritage, our shared human right to space culture, and a presentation on the Scottish spacesuit delivered by a specially selected group of international legal experts including conference partners the University of Mississippi, the Heritage International Institute and other institutions. Each speaker will deliver only one session, ensuring the small group of participating lawyers and students will receive a breadth of learning experiences. After the conference, a policy paper will be drawn up by the contributors on how to move legislation protecting space heritage forward and presented to the United Nations.

Space-age heritage law

Course programmer Dr Mirosław Michał Sadowski tells me that human traces that remain in space constitute more than 100 historical archaeological sites on the Moon, including the crash site of Luna 2, Apollo 11’s Tranquillity Base and the tracks of Yutu. He adds they’re as much a part of a shared cultural heritage as the wreck of the Titanic. Yet how to legally protect the myriad of space objects, from boot prints left by astronauts to the camera that captured the televised Moon landing, becomes more of a pressing concern as the day approaches when walking on the Moon stops being an exercise in nostalgia and becomes reality over half a century since the last Moonwalk in 1972. To add to the sense of urgency, the next lunar landings may well be carried out by private concerns rather than nation states. Last year, the World Monuments Fund placed the Moon on a list of threatened heritage sites, owing to fears of potential looting and destruction caused by these planned commercial trips.

Mirosław says this was one of the drivers behind the Glasgow event: “The idea is to not only raise awareness, but also to teach people space law, heritage law and the human rights aspects of it all and put pressure on the international organisations to at least provide a legal framework to cover future manned missions, first to the Moon and then to Mars.”           
Future lunar developments lead to yet more legal questions: “If we’re to build a settlement, then of course the question arises of how to protect what’s already there.”

Mirosław, who will be lecturing on Heritage, Cityscapes and Peace at the summer school, explains space heritage is simply the natural progression of how we legislate heritage here on Earth: “It was only at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries that there was a more conscious effort to protect material heritage, basically built environment and objects. Then throughout the 20th century we started focusing more on the intangible aspects of heritage, such as traditions, dances, folk stories and memories.”

He adds that the legislation protecting our heritage beneath the seas is probably the best parallel to what space heritage legislation might look like in practice: “Underwater heritage sites must first be protected in situ and only excavated in particular circumstances. The Titanic is a great example – people can take tourists there to visit, but not to excavate unless under a specific licence.

“I think protection of space heritage is the next step of this evolution. It’s an attempt to pre-empt using the benefit of hindsight of what can happen,” says Mirosław.

Preserving links to humanity

I’m intrigued as to how human rights are connected to heritage when Mirosław reminds me that while we don’t have a specific human right to cultural heritage, a right to access and enjoy it is now understood as being part of the human right to take part in cultural life. He talks about the Al Mahdi case in 2016, where the destruction of historical and religious monuments in Timbuktu by the head of an Islamist militia was considered a war crime and Al Mahdi was tried in The Hague: “This cultural right is of particular importance, but is often forgotten. It is also to make the participants aware how space heritage is important because of the links to our humanity.” 

He adds: “This for me is the most perfect link between heritage and human rights. The participants will learn about space law then learn how to apply this to heritage matters.”

Dr Alexander Simmonds, whose book The Space Legislation of the United Kingdom was published last year, will be one of the space lawyers at the summer school. Alexander, who delivers an elective in Space Law at the University of Dundee, expects he will primarily be talking about this, but will also be delving into what he describes as the quirkier element of his research: communications latency in deep space operations. He explains: “If human beings were to go to Mars, the distance would be so significant that it would take radio communications up to 21 minutes to reach Earth from Mars and vice versa. With that in mind, how must that affect things like contractual formations, Acts of Parliament coming in at midnight on Earth – does that mean it will also come into effect at midnight on Mars?”

He adds: “Throwing that simple problem in puts a different spin on existing legal principles, sending a lot of things into disarray.”

Finding ways to circumvent legislation due to communications latency sounds like something the fictional Vogons would relish. Thankfully, the next generation of space lawyers will have the training to close those loopholes. Good for the future of mankind, not so good for comic sci-fi novelists.