Abstract
This chapter describes the 1975 Registration Convention including the key provisions and main contents of the Registration Convention (Title: The Convention on Registration of Launched Objects Into Outer Space). Although currently there are 69 parties to the REGISTRATION Convention, many lawyers, professors, scientists, etc. urge states that have not yet become parties to the international treaties governing the uses of outer space to give consideration to ratify or accede to those treaties in accordance with their national law, as well as incorporating them into their national legislation. The 1976 Registration Convention, or Convention on Registration of Objects Launched Into Outer Space, which obligates parties to register launches of all objects launched into Earth orbit or into outer space with an appropriate national space agency, was considered and negotiated by the COPUOS Legal Subcommittee from 1962. It was adopted by the General Assembly in 1974, General Assembly Resolution 3235 (XXIX); opened for signature on January 14, 1975; and entered into force on September 15, 1976.
Top5.2. Current Status
The register is kept by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and includes.
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Name of launching State
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An appropriate designator of the space object or its registration number
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Date and territory or location of launch
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Basic orbital parameters (Nodal period, Inclination, Apogee and Perigee)
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General function of the space object
Key Terms in this Chapter
Launching State: “ Launching State” literally means the state that, under its command, a rocket carrying any kind of space object on board has been launched into the Earth’s orbit or beyond. Although the space law has added other supplementary explanations into this initial definition that will be scrutinized in further lines. The main objective of addressing the term of “launching state” in the body of space law documents has been to present straightforward as well as practical rules for easily identifying the state that in the event of any accident should be taken liable to remedy the damage and loses caused by the space object which it had previously launched into space.
Space Object: The term Space Object in reference to outer space was first used in 1961 in General Assembly Resolution 1721 (XVI) titled International cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space to describe any object launched by States into outer space. Professor Bin Cheng, a world authority on International Air and Space Law, has noted that members of the COPUOS during negotiations over the space treaties treated spacecraft and space vehicles as synonymous terms. The Space Object can be considered as the conventional launcher, the reusable launcher, the satellite, the orbital station, the probe, the impactor, the space telescope.
European Space Agency: The European Space Agency (ESA) is an inter-governmental organization of 22 member states dedicated to the exploration of space. Established in 1975 and headquartered in Paris, ESA has a worldwide staff of about 2,200 in 2018 and an annual budget of about €6.68 billion (US$7.43 billion) in 2020. ESA's space flight programme includes human spaceflight (mainly through participation in the International Space Station program); the launch and operation of un-crewed exploration missions to other planets and the Moon; Earth observation, science and telecommunication; designing launch vehicles; and maintaining a major spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana.