Is the Revision of the Outer Space Treaty Necessary? – A Theoretical Approach

The beginnings of the space race in the middle of the 20th century are well known and documented. But not many people know of the very beginnings of the idea that the use of outer space should be regulated. Its roots do not go deep in the past, as humans could only venture far enough in the 20th century, and therefore, there was no need to establish any kind of rules prior to that period. One of the most common examples used to describe the birth of such an idea is in fact the quote attributed to Theodore von Karman, a rocket scientist at Caltech, who saw the need to establish some ground rules for human activities beyond Earth way back in 1942, more than a decade before the first satellite ever was launched: “Now, Andy, we will make the rockets – you must make the corporation and obtain the money. Later on you will have to see that we behave well in outer space... After all, we are the scientists but you are the lawyer, and you must tell us how to behave ourselves according to law and to safeguard our innocence.”1This article will attempt to give insight into two crucial questions that may be identified: what changes and challenges does the space law bring to the domain of public international law as a whole (1) and, closely related to the previous question, how should, if at all, the cornerstone principles of space law itself, as they are according to the current OST, be reinvented (2).