Recent University of Mississippi law school graduate Caleb Dorris (left) attends the International Space Development Conference in Los Angeles with the UM Center for Air and Space Law’s Michelle Hanlon (right) and Allison Lewis (second from right). Submitted photo
Caleb Dorris presented concept at International Space Development Conference
by Clara Turnage
As the world looks to the moon for resources, habitation, and exploration, more rules are needed to protect lunar assets, says recent University of Mississippi graduate Caleb Dorris.
Dorris, who graduated from the School of Law in May, presented his recommendations at the International Space Development Conference in Los Angeles on May 23. Dorris wrote his proposal as part of a NASA externship during his final semester of college in the UM Center for Air and Space Law.
“Initially, the idea was just that we needed some way to bolster the Artemis Accords because it just isn’t enough,” Dorris said. “The Artemis Accords are a very basic template for how to not have complete lawlessness and anarchy on the moon.”
The Artemis Accords are a set of international guiding principles that shape space exploration as it pertains to the moon. The accords are not laws, but rather an agreement between nations with an interest in habitation, construction or mining on the moon.
However, the agreement does not empower members to penalize those who violate the rules. Further complicating efforts to establish a lunar base, the United Nations‘ Outer Space Treaty dictates that no company, government or person can own property in space.
“It’s hard to build a society with no property or no property rights, right?” he said. “All of human society is based around property. So, we have to try to figure out a way to allow people to mine things on the moon, to live on the moon, to have habitations on the moon without there being any sort of explicit property rights.”
Dorris’ proposal would give the Artemis Accords the teeth to hold spacefaring entities in line without violating the Outer Space Treaty. His proposal would also create an addition to the Artemis Accords for safety certificates. These certifications would show which nations, companies or governments have agreed to follow the Artemis Accords and are on good terms with other members.
“If you’ve been transparent about your research, if you’ve mitigated harmful interference, if you haven’t been causing a bunch of space debris, or if you’ve caused space debris, if you’ve been cleaning it up, if you’ve been protecting our space heritage, if you’ve been forthright and honest, a good actor in space, basically, then you receive the safety certificate,” he said.
Having a safety certificate would encourage collaboration in safety zones—areas dedicated in the Artemis Accords to research or resource extraction. In Dorris’ proposal, a violation of the Artemis Accords or another international space treaty would result in the revocation of the safety certificate.
“If you lose the safety certificate, we still can’t punish someone by not allowing them to go into the safety zone because, again, of the Outer Space Treaty, but they could be punished in other ways,” he said. “For example, they could be denied any sort of funding, or the other members of the Artemis Accords could not cooperate with that person.”
“They could make them like a social pariah, or they could lose reputation. They could lose access to any sort of support from any state in the Artemis Accords.”
By framing the certificate as an incentive to cooperate—as opposed to a punishment for not cooperating—Dorris’ proposal violates no treaty but allows members to penalize those who violate the accords.
“Caleb’s research is a shining example of the work we support here at Mississippi’s Center for Air and Space Law,” said Michelle Hanlon, executive director of the center and Dorris’ mentor for the externship. “A future of humans living and working on the moon seems distant, but it’s really not.
“Thinking about how to reduce the potential for conflict on the moon or elsewhere in space also helps us think about our terrestrial presence and traditional geopolitics. The circumstance of our human existence is about to undergo a seismic shift, and we are so proud that we have students like Caleb leading the way.”
If adopted, the safety certificates could be one small step toward a safer moon, but Dorris said there is still a long way to go.
“Ultimately in space law, this is still just beginning,” he said. “There are going to be decades and decades until there’s some sort of actual international-like system for stuff like this, but this is one baby step forward.”
