Maybe it will be a jealous astronaut who decides to eliminate a rival in an orbital love triangle . Or maybe being cooped up in aspacecrafton an interplanetary flight will cause one bunch penis to pitch out and lastly lose it at a co-worker ’s irritating nose blowing . Or peradventure it will be a killing made to look like an accident , in purchase order for a co - conspirator to collect an insurance policy policy back on Earth .
But sooner or afterwards , it seems likely to happen , given humans ' aptness for committing homicidal violence against one anotherall over the world . Somebody is choke to commit a murder in space or on another planet or moon , and , when it happens , authorities will have to figure out how to catch the culprit and bring him or her to justice .
But it ’s not go to be easy . inquire a murder in space would be vastly more complicated and difficult than examine a crime on Earth . And practice of law enforcement agencies and courts may have to deal with tricky , complex jurisdictional issues that terminate up requiring talks among spacefaring companies . And until the laws are rewritten , judge will have to take legislative act and sound standards that were evolve to dish out with slaying allegations on dry land and figure out how to apply them to accusations of lethal violence in space .
Legal Jurisdiction Extends Into Space
You might be surprised to learn that Nation already have legal jurisdiction that stretch outside the confines of this planet . That ’s covered by Article VIII of the 1967Treaty on Principles govern the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space , Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies . It specifies that whenever one of the land that ’s a party to the pact launches an object — i.e. , a spacecraft , planet or outer space station — into outer space , or build one on a supernal body , that nation retains jurisdiction and restraint over it .
Thus , accord to legal experts , if a U.S. cosmonaut is accuse of killing another American while traveling in aNASAspacecraft or a commercial-grade distance vehicle launch from the U.S. , the FBI and federal prosecutors would be within their authority to arrest the aver killer and land him or her back to Earth for a trial in federal court .
Things might get a small more complicated if the murder occurs on theInternational Space Station , and the alleged killer and the victim are citizens of different countries .
" clause 22 of the1998 Intergovernmental Agreementconcluded between the party diverge from the said external treaty article and by contrast concedes jurisdiction to the province of nationality of the offender , " writesFrans G. von der Dunk , the Othmer Professor of Space Law at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln ’s College of Law , in an e-mail . However that come " with the caution that if the life sentence or safety of persons with other nationalities and/or the safety of the space station is at stake , audience should take place with these other rural area concerned on which nation should in reality pioneer criminal prosecution , which may leave in the country of nationality of the victim doing that . "
However , " that agreement only covers the International Space Station,“Michelle Hanlon , associate director of the Air and Space Law Program at the University of Mississippi School of Law , explains in an email .
What About Citizen-astronaut Crime?
Things could get even more complicated jurisdictionally , Hanlon says , if there ’s a killing on a succeeding individual - sectororbital hotel , the kind of place where she think it is more potential to happen . " If you have 400 civilian in infinite , you know crime inevitably is going to happen . We send the most disciplined and primed the great unwashed , the best of humanity , to the ISS . With a hotel , you ’re not going to be able to impose the same touchstone . You need to make money . You ’re exit to get a muckle dandy variety of mass , and you love there is going to be offence , mayhap from stealing a lookout man all the way to murder . "
Who actually qualifies as the hotel ’s " launching state " with legal power under the 1967 treaty could be murky , too , Hanlon continues . It could be nation A , which is home to the company that work the hotel , or it could be the Carry Nation B , where the installing ’s components were manufactured — or nation C , where the launch pad for the Eruca vesicaria sativa that transported the component into infinite was settle . Or body politic D , home to the company that rented the launch pad of paper . " Arguably , any of these states could have jurisdiction , " she says .
As a result , crimes in space — particularly incidents involving subject from dissimilar countries — most likely would direct to diplomatic negotiations to see who gets to take charge , Hanlon says .
Where Does National Sovereignty End?
And what if anastronauton a spacewalk decides to , say , cut another astronaut ’s leash ? The victim could spin off and possibly be drawn back into the Earth ’s ambience , where he or she would be burned to decease , a fate trace in this2013 Popsci.com clause . Who would have legal power then , since the act would have occurred outside of an object command by a land ?
" Although there is no reign outside a ballistic capsule , there are analogy to the law on ships in international waters and also to issues thatmight occur in Antarctica ; both berth with no national sovereignty,“Henry R. Hertzfeld , a research professor and film director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University’sElliott School of International Affairs , explain via electronic mail .
" So , although this is not a settled subject , my reading is that being in space and technically outside of any nation ’s reign or legal power is not sufficient to avoid being burden with a criminal offence , " Hertzfeld say . " As above , any person in space has a national citizenship , is the responsibility of the launch commonwealth or the person ’s land of citizenship for their activities in infinite and would be prove for a violation of the law in the appropriate state . Within a nation such as the U.S. , different laws might practice reckon on the nature of the criminal offence and the possession of the vehicle or place where the crime took blank space . "
We’re Gonna Need Space Cops
But allow ’s assume that the U.S. claim jurisdiction over a blank murder . Investigating the crime and build a case is going to be slick , considering that the crime scene and potential witnesses are outside the Earth . " You may have to add a whole Modern professing — outer space cop , " Hanlon says . " There ’s going to be a tremendous monetary value to send somebody into space just to investigate a murder . " In fact , it may run out imagination that would go to other things that we want cosmonaut to be doing , such as do research and explore the cosmos .
And gathering grounds in space or on another planet or moon might be especially hard . As this2018 Atlantic articleexplains , DNA — increasingly , a key means of identifying perpetrators — would age differently on Mars than on Earth , because of the increased picture to solar radiation therapy due to the red satellite ’s thinner air . Additionally , lower gravity would lead to such thing as unlike splatter patterns from thrust wound . On the plus side , the ubiquitous Martian dust clinging to the exteriors of quad lawsuit and other surfaces might provide a valuable new sort of grounds .
" It creates unbelievable complexity , " Hanlon says . But even so , she figures that investigators and prosecutors will line up a way to deal with it . " Our law developed before fingerprint and DNA . When you pursue a criminal example , you do what you’re able to with what you ’re generate . "
infinite murder may also want the motor inn to get by with Fourth Amendment issues , since astronauts are continually being monitor in unnumerable manner , including on video . " There ’s a note value to have camera in every room of a spacecraft , " Hanlon suppose . " But do you have anexpectation of privacy ? " Hanlon expects that many of these questions will be resolved by smart judges and lawyers .
But she ’d also wish to see spacefaring state derive together and work out a Modern international agreement on how to lick together on handling succeeding law-breaking in space . " What we do n’t want is an external blank space regime that has very different concept from jurisdiction to legal power , " she says . " Hopefully , we can explore space together as a species and have common understanding . "
