Space War and the Regressive Development of the Principle of Common Heritage of Humankind: Legal vs. Technological Weapons

Abstract

Deep under the waters, HMS Challenger discovered the polymetallic nodules during its scientific expeditions in the Kara Sea part of the Arctic Ocean in 1868. Whilst in the vastness of the skies above, the Clementine and Lunar Prospector indicated the existence of water ice at the lunar poles during the period of 1994 to 1999. In 2003, the SMART-1 lunar orbiter of the European Space Agency discovered the key chemical elements of the Moon. Going even further back, in 1988, NASA published a work on Helium-3 blown away by the solar wind onto the Moon, and the possibilities of harvesting it as an alternative energy source for the continuation and advancement of human race. The deep seabed and the outer space, along with their resources, are both internationally governed under the same underlying principle: the Common Heritage of Humankind. Yet, while the former has begun to take shape, the latter still has very little progress. Various factors ranging from laws to politics to economics and undeniably the advances in science and technology have hindered the development of the principle of Common Heritage of Humankind in the outer space regime. Hence, this paper is to argue on how best to reform the principle, and consequently, determining which of its elements that might be spared in order for it to eventually work in balancing the contrasting interests from diverse stake-holders: the developed and the developing countries; the sovereign and the corporations – with their respective weapons of laws or of technology.