I have covered the Indian space program in previous posts. While not as sophisticated or extensive as some other national space programs, India reached an important milestone with its first interplanetary mission. India's Mars probe entered orbit around Mars on September 24, 2014. The Mars Orbital Mission (MOM) or (Mangalyaan in Sanskrit) was launched in November of 2013 from the Satish Dhawa Space Center on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
My last post was an introduction to asteroid mining. I had intended to continue with that subject but there has been a bunch of space related stories in the last week so I thought I would explore some of those before returning to asteroid mining.
I have stated in previous blogs that when you consider all the different factors such as economic, political, social, technological, public health and environmental, it is obvious that nuclear energy is not a good way to produce electricity. I have often said that the only reason nuclear power is still being discussed as a viable power source is because there is so much money involved in their construction and operation.
I have been blogging about the United Nations and the body of international space law. The United Nations created the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) in 1958 to serve as a group of experts to provide advice to the new ad hoc Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. It became an agency within the Department of Political and Security Council Affairs (DPSCA) in 1962 when the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space became a permanent U.N. committee.
My last blog was about the question of private ownership of celestial bodies by firms that mine asteroids. Current United Nation international space law prohibits any such ownership. There is a new bill named the ASTEROIDS Act pending in the U.S. Congress that would at least allow asteroid mining companies to own what they mine and return to Earth. This appears to be prohibited by internal space law.
My last few blogs have been about the framework of international law under the United Nations that is supposed to govern how space faring nations conduct the exploration and exploitation of space for the benefit of all nations. I felt that this was topical because of increasing discussion of mining asteroids.
Last week I blogged about four additional International treaties that deal with the exploration of space by member of the United Nations. In light of the five international space treaties, the UN adopted five "International principles and declarations to encourage exercising the international laws as well as unified communication between countries." These five principles are listed below.
Last week I blogged about The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, the first important treaty on space law which was signed in 1967. In the same year another space treaty was signed called the Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space.
With all the talk about private space enterprise and exploring the moon, the issue of who owns what and who can stake a claim to exploit space resources has become significant. I thought that this would be a good time to post a blog entry about the main treaty that governs exploration and exploitation of space.
There are many ways that the world could end. War, volcanoes, plagues, solar flares, etc. One disaster scenario that has gotten a lot of publicity is the possibility of a big asteroid strike that would destroy civilization. There have been attempts to catalog asteroids that regularly cross the orbit of the Earth that might pose a risk. There are a lot of that type of asteroid but the probability of any particular such asteroid striking us is very small.
