Since the launch of Sputnik I, delimitation between airspace and outer space has been the object of passionate debate within the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, with States holding divergent views not only on the best way to make this delimitation but also on the need to define and delimit outer space. Besides a «wait and see» position, two main positions have crystallised: a «spatialist» approach in favour of a specific altitude where sovereign airspace ends and outer space begins; and a «functionalist» approach which considers that space and air activities should be assessed and regulated in accordance with their objectives regardless of where they occur. This paper discusses both approaches and analyses international practice to assess whether some fixed points can be set in what is traditionally described as the vexata quaestio of the international law of outer space.
WHERE DOES AIRSPACE END AND OUTER SPACE BEGIN?
Zannoni D.
2022
Abstract
Since the launch of Sputnik I, delimitation between airspace and outer space has been the object of passionate debate within the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, with States holding divergent views not only on the best way to make this delimitation but also on the need to define and delimit outer space. Besides a «wait and see» position, two main positions have crystallised: a «spatialist» approach in favour of a specific altitude where sovereign airspace ends and outer space begins; and a «functionalist» approach which considers that space and air activities should be assessed and regulated in accordance with their objectives regardless of where they occur. This paper discusses both approaches and analyses international practice to assess whether some fixed points can be set in what is traditionally described as the vexata quaestio of the international law of outer space.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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