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The Legal Aspects of Permanent Human Settlement on Celestial Bodies

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The Legal Aspects of Permanent Human Settlement on Celestial Bodies The Legal Aspects of Permanent Human Settlement on Celestial Bodies Aram Daniel Kerkonian Institute of Air and Space Law Faculty of Law, McGill University Montréal, Quebec October 2017 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Laws (LLM). © Aram Daniel Kerkonian 2017 Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... ii Chapter 1: Settling the Cosmos ............................................................................................ 2 Crawling Out of the Cradle of Civilization ........................................................................... 2 The Definition of Settlement ............................................................................................ 2 The Necessity of Settlement ............................................................................................. 5 The Human Species in Space and Time ................................................................................ 6 The Value of Species Survivability ...................................................................................... 7 Extinction Risks Associated with Single Settlements ................................................................ 8 Cosmological: Asteroid Collisions .................................................................................. 9 Cosmological: Rogue Black Holes................................................................................. 12 Cosmological: Coronal Mass Ejections ........................................................................... 13 Anthropological: War ............................................................................................... 15 Anthropological: Disease ........................................................................................... 16 Anthropological: Climate Change ................................................................................. 17 Preparatory Settlement Activities..................................................................................... 19 United States of America ............................................................................................ 20 Russia ................................................................................................................... 22 European Union ...................................................................................................... 23 China .................................................................................................................... 24 United Arab Emirates ................................................................................................ 25 Mars One .............................................................................................................. 26 Space X ................................................................................................................. 26 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 27 Chapter 2: Governing the Cosmos ....................................................................................... 29 Foundations of the Outer Space Legal Regime ..................................................................... 29 Background to the Outer Space Legal Regime ..................................................................... 31 Specific Provisions of the Outer Space Treaty ...................................................................... 32 Preamble ............................................................................................................... 33 Article I ................................................................................................................. 34 Article II ................................................................................................................ 36 Article III ............................................................................................................... 40 Article IV ............................................................................................................... 42 Article V ............................................................................................................... 43 Article VI ............................................................................................................... 45 Article VII .............................................................................................................. 48 Article VIII ............................................................................................................. 50 Article IX .............................................................................................................. 53 Article XI .............................................................................................................. 56 Article XII .............................................................................................................. 58 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 59 Chapter 3: Benefitting from the Cosmos ............................................................................... 62 The Paradox of Permanent Human Settlement .................................................................... 62 Absurdity and Unreasonableness in International Law ............................................................ 63 Solving the Permanent Human Settlement Paradox ............................................................... 63 Acceptable Appropriation .............................................................................................. 65 International Settlement Activities ................................................................................... 66 An International Intergovernmental Organization for Permanent Human Settlement ..................... 67 Ideological Realism ...................................................................................................... 71 Future Considerations .................................................................................................. 72 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 73 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 74 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 75 Abstract This thesis will consider the legal aspects of permanent human settlement on celestial bodies. Aside from the primal yearning to explore, humanity must soon begin space settlement activities to ensure the continued survival of the species. Chapter 1 will briefly describe the value of preserving the human genome, outline why space settlement is necessary for such preservation and discuss the various public and private preparatory activities currently underway. Chapter 2 will present, as a backdrop, the current legal regime of outer space and simultaneously apply its principles to permanent human settlement, paying particular attention to the now-fifty-year-old Outer Space Treaty. Chapter 3 will explore the apparent contradiction resulting from a contextualized reading of Articles I and II (in light of permanent human settlement) and offer a potential solution by way of a human-first international settlement organization. Given humanity’s innate desire to explore new worlds, coupled with the numerous cosmological and anthropological threats to its survival, this thesis offers a topical analysis of how a burgeoning space activity can be harmonized with a legal regime meant to ensure the exploration and use of space benefits all of humanity indefinitely into space and time. Résumé Ce mémoire examinera les aspects légaux de l’établissement de civilisations humaines permanentes sur les corps célestes. Mis à part la soif élémentaire d’exploration, l’humanité devra bientôt commencer à peupler l’espace pour assurer la survie de notre espèce. Le premier chapitre décrira brièvement la pertinence de préserver le génome humain et ainsi que la nécessité de l’établissement dans l’espace pour se faire. Il discutera aussi des activités préparatoires publiques et privées qui sont déjà entamées. Le chapitre 2 présentera, en guise de trame de fond, le régime légal actuel de l’espace et appliquera ces principes à l’établissement permanent des humains dans l’espace, en portant une attention particulière au Traité de l’espace qui date maintenant de cinquante ans. Le chapitre 3 explorera l’apparente contradiction qui résulte d’une lecture contextualisée des articles I et II (à la lumière de l’établissement permanent des humains dans l’espace) et offre une solution potentielle, soit une organisation internationale d’établissement centrée d’abord sur l’humain. Compte tenu du désir inné qu’ont les humains d’explorer des mondes nouveaux ainsi que des menaces cosmologiques et anthropologiques à leur survie, ce mémoire offre une analyse contemporaine pour harmoniser l’activité bourgeonnante dans l’espace avec un régime assurant une exploration et une utilisation de l’espace bénéficiant l’humanité indéfiniment
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