IILJ Colloquium: Space and Planetary Law & Governance

Course Instructors

• Professor Benedict Kingsbury
• Professor Katrina Wyman

Course Information

Fall 2026

Tuesday 3:40-6:40 p.m.
Vanderbilt Hall, Room 202

LAW-LW.10520.001| 3 credits

Course Description

Space law was built in a flurry of UN resolutions and treaties in the 1960s and 1970s, but the inter-state process then largely stalled. Near-space and low earth orbit are now actively used by governments and private commercial actors for example for satellites, global positioning and navigation systems, and military and other purposes. Private commercial space operators are leaders in using space and space exploration in ways unimaginable when the existing treaties were negotiated, and, to some extent, private operators are governing space through their operating procedures, although they remain subject to government regulation. States and private operators interact on matters such as launches, outbound and inbound contamination, planetary defense from asteroid strikes, asteroid mining, and liability for injury to third parties. Arbitrations and other legalized dispute settlement are now appearing. At the same time, near-space is important for building better understanding of the earth and the systems that make it livable, and monitoring human actions on earth. Space also might be used to limit the warming of the earth from climate change through “geo-engineering,” such as by reflecting sunlight back into space. Multiple countries recently have landed vehicles on the moon; the U.S. and China are seeking to land astronauts on the moon in the next few years. The U.S. is encouraging other countries to sign onto the Artemis accords that it developed to establish new rules to facilitate exploration of space and some resource extraction and potentially fixed or orbiting bases. This course enables students to deepen thinking about these issues, and to participate (if desired) through research and scholarship in a major new cross-disciplinary Guarini Institute/IILJ research project on planetary and space law.