Key Takeaways
- The 1967 Outer Space Treaty contains no express obligation to avoid creating space debris or to clean up dead satellites.
- International debris mitigation guidelines, such as those endorsed at the United Nations in 2007, are recommendations rather than binding law.
- National regulators, including the FCC, now make debris disposal plans a condition of a license, a practice that may help build customary international law over time.
Thousands of dead satellites, spent rocket stages, and fragments circle the Earth at high speed. Is it against the law to leave them there, and does anyone have to clean them up?
In this TalksOnLaw Brief, Frans von der Dunk, the Harvey and Susan Perlman Alumni and Othmer Professor of Space Law at the University of Nebraska College of Law, explains why international law says surprisingly little about space junk, and how national licensing rules are starting to fill the gap.
A Treaty Written Before Space Junk
Professor von der Dunk explains that the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 contains no legal obligation about space debris because, at the time, it was not seen as an issue. A few spent rocket stages floating in orbit did not worry anyone. As a result, he says, the treaty's articles do not even provide an obligation not to spoil outer space. He points to India's 2019 anti-satellite test, in which India destroyed one of its own satellites and created a large cloud of debris. Other nations objected, but legally, he notes, no rule prohibited the test. Nor is there an international duty to clean up after yourself by moving a satellite out of the way at the end of its life. Space, in his words, is not like a national park where hikers are expected to pack out every sandwich wrapper.
Guidelines That Become Rules
What has emerged instead are guidelines. Professor von der Dunk explains that states have agreed on recommended practices, such as planning for the disposal of a space object at the end of its life. These guidelines are not legally binding. But several countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, now write them into the licensing regimes for their private operators. In the United States, he says, an operator seeking a license for a launch or space operation must present a disposal plan, and if the regulator is not satisfied, there is no license. At the national level, the guidelines have already become binding legal obligations.
The Path to Customary Law
That national practice matters internationally. Customary international law forms when states consistently act a certain way out of a sense of legal obligation. Professor von der Dunk suggests that as more countries treat end-of-life disposal as a legal requirement, the practice may harden into customary law that binds all states. He hopes, and believes, that this process is underway.
What to Know Now
The trend Professor von der Dunk describes has continued. In 2022 the Federal Communications Commission adopted a rule requiring operators of satellites in low Earth orbit to dispose of them within five years after their missions end, replacing the older 25-year guideline, and in 2023 the FCC reached its first enforcement settlement over debris, a $150,000 penalty against Dish Network for failing to move its EchoStar-7 satellite to the planned disposal orbit. Concern about debris also grew after Russia's November 2021 anti-satellite test created more than 1,500 pieces of trackable debris. In December 2022 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution, supported by 155 states, calling on countries not to conduct destructive direct-ascent anti-satellite missile tests; it is not binding, though dozens of states have made national pledges. In Europe, the Commission proposed an EU Space Act in 2025 that would require debris mitigation and end-of-life disposal plans, and negotiations continue. There is still no binding global duty to remove debris, but the national and regional rules that can shape customary law are multiplying.
