who owns the moon and the oceans?
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Who owns the Moon and the Oceans?. The area from 100-1000 miles above Earth has become very crowded. Over 400 military and civilian satellites in orbit This position is ideal for bouncing communications. Keppler Syndrome. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Who owns the Moon and the Oceans?
The area from 100-1000 miles above Earth has become very crowded. Over 400 military and civilian satellites in orbit This position is ideal for bouncing
communications
Keppler Syndrome One collision could cause enough
shrapnel to endanger all other satellites. “Domino effect”: shrapnel hits one satellite,
causing more shrapnel, etc. Could make space exploration impossible Space Surveillance Network is already
tracking 18,000 pieces of space junk
Near-Miss Last summer, the International Space
Station was nearly hit by an unidentified piece of debris Crew forced into escape capsule Missed by only 1000 feet. Travelling at over 17,000 mph
Collision Old Russian military satellite collided with
a Iridium Communication satellite. Now have to track 700 new pieces of debris
fanning out in an 800 mile radius Highlights the problem, but what is to be done
about this crowding?
Regulation Ironically, the collision happened while
the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space was meeting. States can voluntarily register their satellites,
but not required to No international oversight of all orbits
France has suggested a system Private program SOCRATES downloads public
info, but didn’t know about the collision.
Discuss Which of the 5 Themes does this fall
under? Why is this important?
Who Owns the Moon? Nobody. 1967 Treaty designates the
moon as the “province of all mankind” and forbids military use
India, China and Japan have spacecraft orbiting the moon U.S. will join them next year Google Lunar X Prize: $30 million to first
private team to send a robot to the moon and send data back
Moon Treaty? No laws, so look to the seas
Some say Lunar laws should be based off of laws governing international waters
Others say that it should be first come, first serve for property and resources
1979 Moon Agreement forbids exploitation of resources by any one nation, but no one has signed it
Going Beyond• Scientists want a permanent scientific outpost like
the one in Antarctica How will we ever get to Mars if we can’t set up on
the Moon? “Arrive, survive, and thrive”
Discussion Do the benefits outweigh the costs of
using the moon? For settlement? For research? For resources?
Who Owns the Oceans? Command of coastal areas has been
important to governments. 20th century - countries began to come
together to discuss a standardization of maritime boundaries.
Ancient times through the 1950s- countries established the limits of their jurisdiction at sea on their own. Most countries established a distance of 3
nautical miles. These territorial waters are considered part of a country, subject to all of the laws of that country.
Expanding claims 1930s -1950s, the world began to realize
the value of mineral and oil resources under the oceans. Individual countries began to expand their claims
to the ocean for economic development. In 1945, U.S. President Harry Truman
claimed the entire continental shelf off the coast of the U.S. (which extends almost 200 nm off the Atlantic coast).
In 1952, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador claimed a zone 200 nm from their shores.
UNCLOS The international community realized
that something needed to be done to standardize these borders. A series of United Nations Conferences on the
Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) began in 1958 UNCLOS III Treaty (1973) specified that all
coastal countries would have a 12 nm territorial sea and a 200 nm Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Each country would control the economic use
and environmental quality of their EEZ.
Problem areas Countries closer than 24 nm apart draw a
median line boundary between each other's territorial waters
One controversy over the EEZs has been to determine what constitutes enough of an island to have its own EEZ. The UNCLOS definition is that an island must
remain above the water line during high water and may not just be rocks, and must also be habitable for humans.