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
Science and te ao Māori experts consider the issue of regulating space. Although the first Outer Space Treaty was signed in 1967, access to space is changing and becoming easier as the commercial sector grows.
Questions for discussion:
Should regulations be similar to air traffic control? Or should they be more complicated?
Should governments be responsible for satellites launched from their territory? Or should the business who launched the satellite be responsible?
Why do Sarah and Philipp think it might be less complicated to have an aerospace business in Aotearoa than in other places?
David says that space regulation is an unfolding question for all New Zealanders. What do you think he means by this statement?
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).
