New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez has signed legislation expanding existing liability protections for spaceflight companies in the state, on April 2. “We are not only reaffirming the major commitment New Mexicans have made to Spaceport America but we now have an even stronger opportunity to grow the number of commercial space jobs at the spaceport and across our state,” said [...]
Post Tagged with: “liability”
California Governor Signs Bill To Bolster Space Tourism
As NASA’s retired Space Shuttle Endeavour, piggybacked atop a NASA jumbo jet, flew across sunny California on Sept. 21 to its final resting place, Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed the Space Flight Liability and Immunity Act to boost private space travel industry in the state. The legislation limits the liability of space flight companies that comply with its provisions. [...]
A Primer on the Legal Issues Surrounding Space Debris Remediation, Part 1
Space debris is considered to be the prominent issue facing the arena of outer space security and safety. More than 57 years of space activities by the space faring nations have left a debris environment that is self-perpetuating and threatens to render useless the outer space environment particularly in low-earth orbit. Space debris ranges in size from fragments less than [...]
NASA/FAA Agreement May Strengthen NASA Influence on Spaceflight Safety
On June 18, NASA and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced an agreement to align commercial spaceflight requirements between the two agencies and to clarify which agency governs under what circumstances. The announcement follows from a memorandum of understanding signed by the agencies on June 4 that lays our rough working guidelines for the collaboration. The industry tradegroup Commercial [...]
Swiss Open Political Door for Space Debris Removal
The Swiss Space Center at the Swiss Federal Institute for Technology in Lausanna, announced on February 15th its plan to develop and launch a satellite to remove space debris from low-Earth orbit. The $11-million (USD) satellite, called Clean Space One, is intended to intercept and de-orbit one of two Swiss satellites currently in orbit: the Swiss-cube picosatellite, or its cousin [...]
Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251, Three Years Later
February 10, 2012 marks the third anniversary of the first ever collision between two intact satellites in orbit. The collision, which occurred between Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251 over Siberia, stunned the aerospace community and brought the realization that even though the heavens were vast, the orbital planes above the Earth are finite and there are few if any rules [...]
Proposed Law to Limit Liability of Commercial Space Flight Firms
Legislators in New Mexico, United States are considering new legislation that would protect suborbital launch vehicle manufacturers and operators from being sued by space tourists and their families in case of injury or death during a suborbital flight. The bill, which will go before the New Mexico State Legislature for debate in January, passed a vote by the Legislature’s financial oversight [...]
