Constituting Outer Space: The Governance of Planetary Settlements and Artificial Habitats

Abstract

Activities, habitats and settlements in space will inevitably be subject to human governance. The content of a manifesto, 2 proposed constitutions, and proposed US legislation for habitation and exploitation off Earth are presented and examined from a generic constitutionalist perspective, within a proposed framework for space governance based on the US model. This concerns the locus of authority, involves the rights and responsibilities of the general populace and the structure of government, with particular reference to the concepts of countervailance, of sov- ereignty and of jurisdiction, considered with reference to the peculiar characteristics of the spatial environment. The analysis leads, among other conclusions, to several possible solutions for establishing autonomous sovereign states in space with respect to international law, and shows the persistence of Earth based values and ideologies.