SPACE LAW
WATCH THIS SPACE: THE CRUCIAL ROLE THAT LAWYERS WILL PLAY IN THE SPACE INDUSTRY JOHN CARUSO, PARTNER, TINDALL GASK BENTLEY
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pace, it has been said, is infinite, and the opportunities for South Australia – and its lawyers - in the rapidly-growing space industry are much the same. Our State is open for business as evidenced by the fact the South Australian space industry has grown substantially in the 12 months since it was announced that the Australian Space Agency (ASA) would be headquartered in Adelaide at the old Royal Adelaide Hospital site located on North Terrace named Lot 14. This article will look at the role lawyers will play in the rapidly developing space industry and will also provide some background to the space industry and the enormous opportunity we have for growth in South Australia if we can channel our rich resources of highly skilled, innovative and motivated leaders of tomorrow to embrace the broad opportunities the space industry offers. The role for lawyers in the space industry was neatly described by Deputy Premier and Attorney-General of South Australia, Vickie Chapman, who has also recently completed a one-week intensive Strategic Space Law course at the University of Adelaide by stating: “We’re going to be the centre of space, so space law needs an army of people who are going to know about contract law in space, the rules of engagement in the defence world, the surveillance rules, and the launching and permit processes for satellites,” she said. “Every new industry comes with an army of
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regulation and rules, we need to be prepared for it and I want South Australians in the legal world to provide that service.”1 President of the Law Society of South Australia, Tim White recently made the following similar comments on the topic: “While the space industry has the potential to be a key employer for South Australia in the not too distant future, there are legal issues around this evolving industry and we need to keep ahead of it to ensure growth.”2
WHAT TYPE OF WORK WILL THE SPACE LAWYERS OF TOMORROW FOCUS ON? I expect the three main areas for lawyers to become involved in the space industry to be: • the commercial space industry; • alternative dispute resolution for commercial disputes in the space industry; and • implementation and interpretation of Australian space laws and international treaties, government advisor roles and Australian Defence Force space capabilities.
COMMERCIAL SPACE INDUSTRY The largest of the three areas in terms of size and volume of work will be for corporate and commercial lawyers working in the commercial space sector. This is a very broad category which encapsulates any commercial law requirements concerning the space industry. This would
include, but not be limited to, commercial contract negotiations, insurance, mergers and acquisitions, corporations’ law, intellectual property and business transactional law. To understand the role that current and future lawyers will play in the developing space industry, we must first have some background to the structure of the industry and the global space economy.
STRUCTURE OF THE SPACE INDUSTRY – THE GLOBAL SPACE ECONOMY The world relies on a wide variety of space-related technologies which are used in virtually every sector of the global economy. We are witnessing a real transformation in the global space economy. Space technology is getting smaller, access to space is becoming cheaper and innovation cycles are becoming shorter. The space industry has become a fast-growing and fiercely competitive commercial sector. The falling costs associated with satellite launches together with the unprecedented levels of private funding flowing into the industry have pushed the market entry price lower than ever. The space industry is no longer restricted to government agencies with enormous government budgets. This means companies ranging in size from global multi-nationals to medium-size national companies including SMEs, all the way down to small start-ups, have
