Who Owns Outer Space?

by Michael Byers

From Space debris to asteroid strikes to anti-satellite weapons, humanity's rapid expansion into Space raises major environmental, safety, and security challenges. In this book, Michael Byers and Aaron Boley, an international lawyer and an astrophysicist, identify and interrogate these challenges and propose actionable solutions. They explore essential questions from, 'How do we ensure all of humanity benefits from the development of Space, and not just the world's richest people?' to 'Is it possible to avoid war in Space?' Byers and Boley explain the essential aspects of Space science, international law, and global governance in a fully transdisciplinary and highly accessible way. Addressing the latest and emerging developments in Space, they equip readers with the knowledge and tools to engage in current and critically important legal, policy, and scientific debates concerning the future development of Space. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

428 pages, Paperback

Published April 13, 2023

About the author

Michael Byers is the author of the story collection The Coast of Good Intentions, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the acclaimed novel Long for This World, winner of the First Novel Award from Virginia Commonwealth University. Both were New York Times Notable Books. A former Stegner Fellow and Whiting Award winner, he teaches at the University of Michigan.

Reviews

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dense but very insightful look into how Space is and should be regulated. I highly recommend to anyone interested in the future of regulations in space.

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note that this book is OPEN ACCESS, available online, to download as a PDF file.
I have only read up to the end of chapter one so far, but in Section 1.9 the authors highlight the impact of space flight, and particularly "space tourism" on the earth's climate. When the tour company flies passengers to either sub-orbital or actual space locations, the rockets use fuel that produces 'black carbon'. This material is thousands of times worse than carbon dioxide or methane on heating up earth's atmosphere. This fact has not been used yet, according to the authors, in evaluating the impact of space flights on individual, or national, or world, climate costs. These space flights are having a huge impact! I am continuing to read this free access on-line book.