Discussion Post
U.S. space law is an attempt to balance many competing values. Some of those values include: incentives to further commercialize space, safety, recouping costs for support to commercial businesses, mandating insurance coverage, international relationships with allies, complying with international law, enhancing the economy, ensuring no single business gains a monopoly, preserving national security, preserving open access to outer space and celestial bodies, maintaining law through criminal or regulatory penalties, encouraging scientific discovery, providing guidance and limits to federal agencies, and maintaining the U.S. leadership role in space activities. This is not a complete list, but it gives you some idea of the factors involved. The prominence of each value varies depending on which space activity is being regulated.
For your discussion post, pick one of the space activities discussed in your readings or the instructor notes: launch, remote sensing, human spaceflight, communications, other operational uses of space, or something from the miscellaneous category. Discuss how three of the values listed above (or others you think are important but are not listed) are balanced in that activity. Assess whether the balance is appropriate and whether the law needs to be modified to achieve a balance more suitable to the commercial development of outer space.