We Might Be Close to an International Code of Conduct for Outer Space

Outer space is getting crowded. It also could become weaponized. For these and other concerns, the international diplomatic community assembled itself at the United Nations in New York last month to refine an agreement for keeping space safe.

Their document is pragmatically titled The International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities, and would be voluntary and non-binding, according to the latest public 2014 draft.

Already eight years in the making, the Code, spearheaded by the European Union, was generally supported by most of the 109 countries in attendance, including those without any space capabilities.

Though the week's negotiations did not yield a finalized document, the Code is seen as the best chance we have for figuring out how to get along in space.

"Outer space is a limited commodity," said Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, a senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation think tank, in a phone interview. "There are more countries entering the space domain, which means outer space is only going to get more crowded."

Sixty different governments are operating some 1,200 active satellites, according to the EU, and nine countries can launch objects into Earth's orbit. Several thousand of the satellites launched since the space race have turned into space debris, which are essentially rogue floating hazards.

"The risk of on-orbit collision will increase exponentially if measures to coordinate space traffic on a daily basis are not taken," said Tommaso Sgobba, addressing the group on behalf of The International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety.

With more private actors wanting to enter space, the specialized UN agency that coordinates satellites, the International Telecommunication Union, has a mind-blowing 11,000 applications for new satellites, thousands of which are requested by groups like SpaceX and STEAM-1.

Sgobba added that space objects returning to Earth would become a daily occurrence, and any satellite parts not surviving re-entry intact could be lethal threats to aviation, and catastrophic to people on the ground.

In other words, what this Code will offer is "a kind of voluntary 'traffic rules' in Outer Space," as Jacek Bylica, special envoy from the EU's European External Action Service, said in an email, which seems similar to having international aviation traffic coordination.

But the Code is aiming to be all-encompassing by also addressing security and the possibility of weaponization in space, in its recognition of a state's right to self defense as enshrined in the UN Charter.

Currently no space weapons are deployed, though satellites often fulfill military support roles such as intelligence, surveillance, targeting and navigation, but do not attack targets directly.

Like any agreement that seeks an international consensus, states with lesser influence are worried about extending further advantage to established space powers, like the US, Russia, and China.

"Some Latin American and African countries feel there is no way they are going to support the code if there is an obvious reference to the right to self defense," Rajagopalan said. "For one thing, they wouldn't have counter-space capabilities to defend themselves."

Though the meetings in New York were supposed be used as negotiations, they were recast as consultations only, requiring the EU to examine the best diplomatic forum through which to finalize the code.

Perhaps in anticipation of these concerns from delegates, Bylica pointed to the EU's role in the recent US-Iran nuclear deal for creating political agreement outside of traditional frameworks.

"The process of developing the Space Code of Conduct has already taken almost as many years as the negotiations with Iran," said Bylica in his opening remarks. "Let's hope it can also be brought to a successful closure in a not too distant future."