Our media liaison assists the press in exploring this weighty subject - 19 September 2011 

Just part of the plumbing in our daily lives – that’s what space has become in the 21st century. “Space is ubiquitous, so integrated that it’s almost unnoticed in our daily living!” so says Peter Martinez, Chairman of the South African Council for Space Affairs, the Space Council. Think of the areas that touch your lives every day – ATM’s; cell-phones; GPS; radio and television; stock-markets and exchange-rates; the internet; weather forecasts. The economic impact of space is virtually incalculable.

Martinez likes to compare modern-day space and space technology with the infrastructure of the Industrial Revolution. Then you had canals, railways, roads, and such – the emphasis was on moving people and things, facilitating trade. In the Information Age it’s about the flow of information, and space is the infrastructure. It’s not in the interests of any country to be a consumer and at the whim and control of others. Better to be a producer, a contributor. But how should a country like South Africa manoeuvre to be in a favourable position in the world of space?

Part of the answer lies in stimulating industry and technology development, but it also lies in having the right government involvement, regulatory and legal frameworks in place.

Principles of Space Law
Space by its very nature is transfrontier and global. But there has to be regulation and law. Unlike national airspace, which is seen as ‘belonging’ to a specific country because it turns with the rotation of the earth, outer space is the domain of the entire planet, and there is no ‘preferred’ position or area. Spacecraft and artificial satellites in earth orbit pass over all parts of the earth all the time.

The body that defines space law is the United Nations, and the principal instrument the UN Treaty Governing the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) was concluded in 1967. Special considerations embodied in the Treaty are non-appropriation – space is for all, and there can be no national sovereignty over planets, moons or asteroids; and non-militarization. Although the military of various nations make use of space there is a prohibition on Weapons of Mass Destruction.

S A Space Regulation
South Africa has enacted space legislation – the Space Affairs Act of 1993, and this forms the legal framework. The SA Council for Space Affairs reports to the Minister of Trade and Industry, and has a licensing function, and earlier this year the SA National Space Agency was instituted (SANSA). In July Rob Davies, Minister of Trade and Industry, launched the SA National Registry of Space Objects, and approved the  appointment of councillors to the SA Council for Space Affairs. This is a robust entry into the world of space, backed by government and by an emerging space science community.