I promised you all a quiz a few weeks ago on Daniel Suarez’ Delta-V. You don’t have to have read the book to do well on the quiz, but I told you it in advance in case you wanted to read it first to avoid spoilers. Well, the quiz has arrived! With a prize! Only four of you (my analytics show me numbers, not identities) clicked on the link when I announced this, so if you are the one person to answer, you have a good chance of winning one of my books or stories in the available format of your choice. Not to mention the glory. Lots of glory. The comment period closes at 5 p.m. Eastern on September 10.
I know. I know. Your excitement knows no bounds.
Here’s how this works. First, read the passage below. Next, please address what changes in the law or the sociopolitical landscape will have to have taken place between now and the 2030’s for this conversation to occur, and what likely has remained the same? Points will be awarded for accuracy and cogency. Do, however, feel free to address only one of the issues raised because this is not actually a law school exam.
The set up for this passage is that two tycoons have just discovered that they have both sent their mining ships to the same asteroid — Ryugu — and need to work out how not to do damage to each other. Nathan Joyce, an American, has sent human miners, and Goff, also an American, sent robots. The scene is told from the point of view of Lukas Rochat, a young Swiss space lawyer.
Delta-V, Chapter 34 (hardback), Titans:
“You need to reprogram your mining robots to avoid–”
“It’s already done.”
“You’ve made sure there’s no danger for the Konstantin or her crew?”
“No danger from me. I’ve instructed my engineers to revise the operating perimeter of the mining craft. They will remain on the sunlit side of the asteroid — for now.”
Joyce visibly unclenched. “Good. Thank you.”
“There wouldn’t have been any danger to begin with if someone had notified us there were going to be spacecraft at Ryugu.”
Joyce took several moments to answer. “Neither was paperwork submitted concerning any robotic mining missions to Ryugu.”
“That’s because the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg doesn’t own outer space. We’re operating under the US Space Act of 2015. We have a commercial space transportation license from the FAA.”
Joyce scoffed. “The FAA.”
“You did think to check other licensing authorities to ensure your secret — and illegal — activities wouldn’t conflict with other lawful operations, I trust.” Goff didn’t wait for an answer. “No? That’s a surprise. But then, you have the world’s youngest attorney to help keep you keep track of things. I would think he’d have boundless energy.”
Rochat burned with humiliation. He couldn’t believe he had failed to monitor filings at the FAA. Could he even have done that? He didn’t know, and that made him feel all the more out of his depth.
Goff continued. “It’s interesting that you bring up legal filings, because my people have been unable to discover under what lawful instrument you are mining Ryugu. You’ve submitted detailed proposals and permit applications — which were very informative. And yet, your much-publicized mining ship, the Konstantin, has no legal right to exist. Not yet. Nor has it been cleared for human space flight — which isn’t surprising, since it looks like something the Wright brothers glued together. Where did you find the poor souls unwise enough to climb aboard it, much less sail it to the far side of the Sun?”
Comment period ends: September 10, 2019, 5 p.m. Eastern.
(I believe I have fixed the issue with leaving comments. You should be able to leave your comment without any delay if you have commented before. If you haven’t, I’ll get an email to approve you, which could take a few minutes. If the issue isn’t fixed, this really will be the slowest pop quiz ever, but your comments will appear.)
First of all, full disclosure – I haven’t read the book (yet). I tried to check it out from our online library but it was already checked out.
Goff is correct that Luxembourg does not own space, but it is a party to the outer space treaty of 1967, and is responsible for authorization and continuing supervision of the activities of its citizens (non-governmental entities) in outer space.
There should have been some kind of notice to the state parties to the OST concerning the nature, conduct, location and results of the mining activities so the state parties could notify the UN. That evidently was not done so either the OST was scrapped, the mining operators couldn’t determine who to report to, or they just didn’t bother.
Goff claims to be operating under FAA authority, but the FAA, as everyone knows, only has authority to license launch or reentry operations (or operations of spaceports). Anything that happens after reaching orbit – after payload deployment or the first steady state orbit – is not the FAA’s problem. So, by the time this conversation takes place, Congress would have had to pass legislation giving the FAA authority for on orbit and all other deep space activities to meet the US Government obligations under the OST for reporting and continuing supervision. ( And additionally increase the staffing and resources for AST to take on that mission!)
The main point I wanted to address is Goff’s claim that the Konstantine is not “cleared for” human space flight. Basically the only “requirements” for a spacecraft to carry human beings is to have a breathable atmosphere and a smoke detector. (Actually you also need a fire extinguisher, some human factors and a restraint system for crew and cargo.). Now, “cleared for” sounds an awful lot like “certified” and we all know that imposing any certification standards or design criteria on spacecraft is anathema to the space industry. That would be an enormous sociopolitical upheaval in the industry to allow that to happen. Even the recent NPRM for streamlining launch and reentry regulations did not venture into design standards or certification. The story would have to be set in the 2070s or 2080s for that to happen!
Goff is also incorrect about the unwise souls traveling on the Konstantine. They obviously would have been briefed on the ship and it’s safety history as part of the required spaceflight participant briefing.
Finally, here is a what if. If the FAA had it’s current authorities, and assuming that the Konstantine is assembled on orbit (which seems logical given Goff’s description – it probably would not survive a launch), who has authority for the operations of the ship? The FAA would only be responsible for the component parts reaching orbit, but not any assembly or operations in orbit or in deep space. Also any of the meager FAA requirements for human occupancy would not apply since the Konstantine is not a launch vehicle. While the US has some notional responsibility for supervision under the OST, there doesn’t seem to be any government agency with the capability to supervise deep space missions or take any meaningful enforcement actions out on Ryugu.
So once all the parts are delivered, it seems the Konstantine can go and do whatever they want to.
Thanks for participating. I’m going to say you’ve set the bar nice and high, Scott.
And I think we have a winner! Scott, start thinking about which book you would like as your prize. You can see them here: https://www.amazon.com/Laura-Montgomery/e/B00CNR15U2/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1