Creating a space treaty
Aotearoa New Zealand has a developing space industry that employs people from around the motu. Our space industry encompasses:
people who model atmospheric greenhouse gases and agricultural emissions
hardware and software engineers for satellites and the systems that monitor them
iwi and hapū applying concepts of kaitiakitanga, whakapapa and auahatanga to monitor and improve the whenua
satellite propulsion engineers
people who monitor and deal with space debris
companies that launch payloads into low Earth orbit.
Compared with some countries, Aotearoa is a relative newcomer to the space industry, and our national legislation about the use of space is under consideration. Some industry experts have suggested that a space treaty might be a useful way to set an agreement on how space is used, by whom and when.
Regulating space
How do we keep access to space sustainable and who is responsible for what goes into space? Space experts discuss these issues using te ao Māori and science perspectives.
Select here to view video transcript, discussion questions and copyright information.
So what might a space treaty in Aotearoa look like? How would you make a space treaty?
In this activity, students work through a series of questions and provocative statements to create a space treaty.
By the end of this activity, younger students should be able to:
discuss why we might need rules or agreements on how we use space
consider some issues they think are important for regulating space
describe and explain the expectations that might appear in a space treaty.
In addition, older students should be able to:
devise their own space treaty features
critically examine features of a space treaty.
Download the Word file (see link below).
