Esther Dyson (Air & Space interview, October, p.12) is showing her dot-com roots. In the day, an idea was sufficient, profit unnecessary. Unfortunately it all ended with sock puppets on Ebay. Private enterprise will really go for space when there is money to be made. Sub orbital space tourism is an example.

In order to justify the increased cost of getting to orbit there will have to be some assurance of the right to be there. That implies some laws and a venue in which to enforce them. Because of the variability of low earth orbits (LEO) the best analogy might be COLREGS, the rules of the nautical road, which were paraphrased for flight. The basic rule is avoid collision and, correspondingly, assess blame and costs on the responsible if one occurs. On earth those things are adjudicated in and by the flag states in which vessels are registered, unless there is a pollution claim that preempts them.

I'll let your imagination work on that one while I move to the big apple: geostationary orbits. Like dirt, God isn't making any more of 'em, and geostationary is a moneymaker in communications. So, who owns those positions? Is it whoever can get there first (think "hatchet rights" on the American frontier)? Who registers the ownership? How can it be transferred? Is it bankable, that is, can it be security for a loan (implying that Bank of America might end up with it)? And in what venue would any disputes be adjudicated? There is a theory that property rights attached to land on earth extend from the center of the planet without limit. Above, I think, 500' above ground level (AGL) there is an avigation servitude, similar to the navigation servitude in navigable water. But the navigation servitude does not preclude the placement of undersea cables, oil platforms, or even wind farms. Those are almost all dealt with as leases from government . Is that a model? For a geostationary centered over, say, Belize, does Belize get to write a lease to the user?

Later on, there might even be some interest in Lagrangian Points. They're an interesting hybrid, but if a drill ship can use dynamic positioning to exploit a subsea lease, then, presumably a maneuverable station at L1 could do the same. I'm personally a fan of building a parasol at L1 to simultaneously control the solar flux impinging on Earth while generating a whole lot of power. A technical approach to global warming, or cooling, whatever is in fashion.

In any event, private enterprise is unlikely to make any expensive long-term bets without some outline of how to legally defend that investment.

Cheers,

Charles B. Warren, MRICS ASA-urban real property Pleasant Hill 925.609.7241 www.charlesbwarren.com