Exploring Strange New Legal Worlds: Navigating the Spectral Limits of Outer Space Treaty Interpretation in Light of the Moon Agreement

From valuable metals and nuclear power to scientific discovery, outer space presents profitability and power for those with the means to sail its seas. Human civilization demands the natural resource exploitation of Earth and often pursues the depletion of resources with little regard for future implications, rendering space resource exploitation an inevitable desideratum. Indeed, humanity faces the choice of allowing the pernicious and boorish consumption of space resources or of upholding international law to govern space exploitation in a peaceful manner. Five United Nations treaties dictate the proper use of space. Articles I and II of the Outer Space Treaty serve as the paramount principle within space law by affording the freedom to use space to all humankind. However, the extent of exploitation an actor may conduct remains unclear because the treaty alludes to a quasi-paradox by requiring space activities to benefit all countries, banning appropriation of space, and guaranteeing the freedom to use — commercially exploit — space. The most recent space treaty, the Moon Agreement, attempts to resolve this paradox by sanctioning lunar exploitation under the implementation of an international regime. However, the treaty lacks support from major space-faring states, rendering space a legal quagmire. I delimit Articles I and II of the Outer Space Treaty to determine the legal obligations imposed on space actors using the unaccepted overinclusive language of the Moon Agreement, concluding the Outer Space Treaty independently necessitates a regime to govern space exploitation.