Space Law and Policy Course (CPD) Open for Enrolment

Tuesday, April 8th, 2014

ISPL is pleased to announce that enrolment is now open for the 2014 Space Law and Policy Course.

Prospectus

The Course will comprise lectures and interactive case studies. Participants will have access to the IALS Law Library during the course. Those considering a post-graduate degree at ISPL will also be able to informally discuss their interest with the Director.

The Course will provide an introduction to:

• The space environment and space technology

• Orbits, their characteristics and management, and types of spacecraft

• Spectrum management

• The law governing space activities: principles & sources of space law, including conventions and treaties, national law and policies

• Comparison between space law and other legal regimes: Antarctic, maritime and air law

• Peaceful use of space, military activities & arms control

• Sovereignty

• Property rights

• Risk, liability and insurance

• The law as relates to specific applications: telecommunications and broadcasting, remote sensing, scientific experiment and exploration, manned activities including the International Space Station, unmanned activities

• Space policy and the institutions that implement them



The Course will be of interest to policy-makers, legal professionals, space sector executives and engineers, officials of government and international bodies, academics and post-graduate degree candidates.

The course is designed to be accessible to those in legal, technical or business training or employment. Previous knowledge of law or policy is not required. It will be particularly appropriate for those working in the space sector who wish to increase their knowledge of the current legal and policy framework, in order to take full advantage of the available opportunities and to create new ones.

The Course will be valuable for a variety of individuals.


• Satellite manufacturing or operation team members seeking an understanding of legal issues relating to design, manufacture or provision of space products and services

• Law, business and technology post-graduate students interested in the field

• Insurers and executives who want the tools to evaluate legal aspects of risk and liability

• Managers and team leaders of space operations who wish to better understand the legal and policy issues they encounter, and to be able to plan more proactively

• IGO and space agency team members concerned with national and international issues arising from activities in space, such as earth observation, and their regulation

• Lawyers and jurists whose practice brings them into contact with space law through legal evidence from satellites, contractual matters or international commerce


Note: Undergraduates please register for our short course in space law later this year.

CPD

The course qualifies for 15 hours CPD for Solicitors (SRA) and for Barristers (to be confirmed). Other professionals: please contact your respective professional bodies about whether the course will qualify for CPD.

ISPL Faculty Member to Judge Google Lunar XPrize

Tuesday, October 8th, 2013

Derek Webber will be one of the eight judges of the Google Lunar XPrize.  With a long and distinguished career in the space sector, Derek is an expert in space tourism, and an ISPL faculty member.  Derek is the author of ‘The Wright Stuff – The Century of Effort Behind your Ticket to Space.’

The prize will be awarded for the safe landing of a man on the moon for the first time since 1973. A private company must safely land, travel 500 meters above, below or on the lunar surface, and send back two broadcasts to Earth.

In addition, there will be Bonus Prizes for achievements such as surviving the lunar night or exploring lunar artefacts. These Prizes may win prize money in advance by completing terrestrial or space milestones. The deadline for the competition is 31 December 2015.

The Google XPrize follows the Ansari XPrize of 2004 for the achievement of regular sub-orbital flight, and the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander XChallenge, whose prize money was claimed in 2009.

David Swanson will Chair the judging panel, which includes Professor Alan Wells, Professor John Zarnecki, Dr Charles Reynerson, Dr Derek Lang, John Jay Kurtz. Elisabeth Morse is Vice Chairwoman. The panel will review technical achievement, launches and prize awarding for the competition.

For more information about the judges and the competition, including who will compete and how they intend to achieve their goals, see the Google XPrize website.

The Future of Manned Space Flight

Monday, May 20th, 2013

ISPL Faculty member Derek Webber has proposed a way to break the log-jam in manned space flight.

In the 40 years since the last Apollo mission to the Moon, nobody has been any further than low Earth orbit. The key to future interplanetary journeys is to get routinely, reliably, and at relatively low cost, out of Earth’s gravity.  Once there, only relatively small amounts of delta energy (and therefore money) are required to go anywhere else in the solar system.

One solution is to establish a Gateway that can be used for entry and return of any future interplanetary vehicles.  Possible locations are discussed, including the proposed ‘Spaceport Earth’  –  at or near geostationary orbit.

Read the article here.

Derek Webber is the Director of Spaceport Associates, and directed three landmark studies in commercial space business planning that established the existence of a space tourism market. He has provided testimony to the President’s Commission on the Future of the US Aerospace Industry, and has been recognized at the Space Tourism Society’s Orbit Awards for his contributions to the formation of the space tourism industry. An active member of the Reusable Launch Vehicles Working Group and the Launch Operations Support Working Group of the Federal Aviation Authority’s COMSTAC Committee, is a Senior Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society.

Derek’s career began as a launch vehicle and satellite engineer in the UK in what is now EADS/Astrium Space Systems. He became Head of Procurement at the satellite service provider Inmarsat, (responsible for contracting for over a billion dollars worth of communications satellites, their launch vehicles and ground segment), and Managing Director of Tachyon Europe (providing satellite broadband and Internet access across the continent). Derek holds Degrees in Physics and Mathematics from Newcastle University (UK), and postgraduate qualifications in Space Science from University College London (UK).

Space Law Short Course (CPD)

Tuesday, February 12th, 2013

ISPL offered an introduction to space law and policy in a short course in April and May 2013. Non-lawyers and lawyers in other fields found it of interest, as did professionals and students in many disciplines.    Details of the Spring 2013 course are available here.

The Space Law and Policy course is intended for professionals desiring a good understanding of national, European, and international space law, and for students interested in broadening their education. It is a requirement for non-lawyers wishing to pursue a higher degree with ISPL.  ISPL is a CPD provider for Barristers and  Solicitors.

Future Space Law Courses will be advertised to those on our Events Notification list, and to those who have expressed interest in attending.  Please fill in our Events Notification Form if you would like to be notified of future courses.

Space Tourism at King’s College London

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Space Tourism Module for KCL

The Institute has agreed to provide a taught module on legal and policy aspects of space tourism for the Space Physiology & Health MSc course at King’s College London. “We are very pleased to have been asked and look forward to greater cooperation with King’s College. This collaboration is a great example of how we can contribute to the education of the next generation of space professionals,” said the Director.

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