Rules of the Road for Space Traffic

Abstract

After almost 50 years of space flight, time has come to think about standards for navigation of space vehicles in outer space, “rules of the road”. But since space navigation is not the first means of navigation, such rules exist already. Rather than re-inventing the wheel, this paper examines, in a comparative approach, air law principles for their suitability to traffic in Outer Space. While considering the absence of national airspace and the characteristics of orbital dynamics, the attempt is made to establish prototype standards for space traffic and navigation including the use of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) for space vehicles.