Private enterprise liability for space servicing

Abstract

Following the tradition of Public International Law of interstate liability, it is important to note that non-governmental entities could be free of direct liability, even when many of them have economic conditions to pay for damages. Treaties impose the civil liability only when the action is for fault, in opposition to the premise that, in the activities generating the risk, the responsible agent for the damage should be in charge on the base of the developed activity, and not just on the basis of eventual negligence. On the other hand, treaties, while in charging only the state in terms of by fault actions, oppose the premise that in activities which cause the risk, the responsible agent for the damage should be charged on the basis of developed activity instead. In this sense it is worth thinking of a clear separation line between private and public liability in front of the powerful control of the world big corporations, in particular those of the civil aircraft sector. In spite of the expenses related to space, coming mostly from public source or governmental decisions (apparently state-sovereignty decisions), those decisions are often taken under strong pressure of private enterprises where particular interests triumph over the public benefit, which should in principle be closely linked to the technological development and the associated return. A corollary of these comments above is the need to analyze and discuss the implications of geostationary satellites as well the space tourism servicing activities related to when space operations are under private business liability.