Professor Matt Schaefer testified before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee’s Space Subcommittee at a hearing entitled “Reopening the American Frontier: Exploring How the Outer Space Treaty Will Impact American Commerce and Settlement in Space,” on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at the Russell Senate Office Building. The hearing examined the U.S. government’s obligations under the Outer Space Treaty and its potential impacts on the expansion of the U.S. commerce and settlement in space.
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Professor Schaefer’s article, “The Contours of Permissionless Innovation in the Outer Space Domain,” forthcoming in Vol. 39 of the Univ. of Pennsylvania J. of Intl Law (Fall 2017), is available publicly now at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2942526 It argues that the OST requires a minimal authorization regime for new on-orbit activities but that Congress can craft the regime in a manner that still comports with the spirit of permissionless innovation.