Space Commerce and Space law: Making the Twain Meet

Recent developments have caused an acceleration of business activity aimed at establishing commercial enterprise in space. While space activity for years was exclusively the province of national governments, and while even now national governments are usually involved as either a user or a provider in any space venture, space commerce through private initiative is catching up in a big way. Unfortunately the current legal regime with its idealistic principles restrains the commercialization and development of outer space, and consequently, the realization of its potentially immense economic and humanitarian rewards. The chief purpose of this paper would be to find a way to reconcile the international space law regime with commercial realities of the 21st century. This paper will explore the relevant existing law as it relates to space commerce in detail, highlight the lack of facilitating provisions and try to propose possible solutions to ensure harmonious co-existence between the two.