……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Assignment on
“Demilitarisation of Outer Space: A Study under Outer
Space Treaty”

Course Title: Air and Space Law; Course Code: LAW-517

Prepared for
DR. PARVEZ AHMED
Chairman
Department of Law
Green University of Bangladesh

Prepared by
TAJUDDIN AHAMED
212012002
Department of Law
Green University of Bangladesh

Date of Submission: 13-09-2021

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Contents
CHAPTER: ONE ............................................................................................................................ 3
Introductory Issues ...................................................................................................................... 3
1.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 3
1.2 Objective of the assignment .............................................................................................. 3
1.3 Methodology of the assignment ........................................................................................ 4
1.4 Limitation of the assignment ............................................................................................. 4
CHAPTER: TWO ........................................................................................................................... 5
The Concept of Demilitarisation of Outer Space ........................................................................ 5
2.1 General Concept ................................................................................................................ 5
2.2 How long space can remain demilitarized? ....................................................................... 9
CHAPTER: THREE ..................................................................................................................... 11
Anti-satellite weapons – the legality of military activities in space .......................................... 11
3.1 The legality of military activities in space....................................................................... 11
CHAPTER: FOUR........................................................................................................................ 12
Conclusion, Acknowledgement and References ....................................................................... 12
4.1 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 12
4.2 Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................... 12
4.3 References ....................................................................................................................... 13

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 CHAPTER: ONE
Introductory Issues

1.1 Introduction
Outer space is a common heritage of mankind. When the thought came to human
that there are something exits beyond the earth and other celestial bodies, the
scientist has discovered a billion of things exits beyond the earth.1
The outer space sector has emerged due to the military sector. Are we moving today
towards the militarization of international space (Antarctica, outer space, or the high
seas)? Being interested in outer space implies that this environment is free but
framed (some would say limited).
Space law is based on freedom and this freedom cannot be shared for a maximum
number unless it has certain limits. The first limitation, and most important one when
space activity occurred, was the two superpowers of the Cold War and the United
Nations, the peaceful use of outer space, the deactivation of outer space, or nuclear
disarmament.
1.2 Objective of the assignment
This assignment has been conducted with the following objectives:
✓ To fulfil the requirement of mid-term assessment.
✓ To develop an understanding on Demilitarisation of Outer Space;
✓ To sketch out its effectiveness.
✓ To analyze the related laws.

1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_space (Accessed on 11.09.2021)

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1.3 Methodology of the assignment
The methods and techniques of data collection are the key components in an
assignment. The outcome of the assignment depends on methodological base, its
appropriateness and proper implementation over the whole process of the study.
The method must be consistent with the objectives of the study that can cover the
whole area of interest. In this study both primary and secondary data have been
collected. Primary data have been collected from UN Charters, UN Treaty and
secondary data have been collected from concerned books, journals, periodicals and
other materials.
1.4 Limitation of the assignment
✓ Shortage of time is one of the main limitations of this assignment
✓ Data collection, analysis of data, and interpretation of Data is a lengthy
process.
✓ No previous research I have made on this topic.
✓ There is only one source of information (Websites) for that reason it is pretty
much impossible to find out the real scenario of the topic.
✓ While choosing a finding, anonymity, and confidentiality of issues can create
hurdles.
✓ The reliability and validity of the study can be significant concerns that are
too difficult to relate to and resolve.

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 CHAPTER: TWO
The Concept of Demilitarisation of Outer Space

2.1 General Concept

When talking about the legitimacy of military activity in space, Article 4 of the Outer
Space treaty of 1967,2 separates the legal system for the entire outer space and the
special limits for the moon and other celestial bodies.
Article 4 states that “States Parties to the Treaty undertake not to place in orbit
around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of
weapons of mass destruction, install such weapons on celestial bodies, or station
such weapons in outer space in any other manner.
The Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all States Parties to the Treaty
exclusively for peaceful purposes. The establishment of military bases, installations
and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct of military
man oeuvres on celestial bodies shall be forbidden. The use of military personnel for
scientific research or for any other peaceful purposes shall not be prohibited. The
use of any equipment or facility necessary for peaceful exploration of the Moon and
other celestial bodies shall also not be prohibited.”
It states, "State parties to the treaty pledge not to carry any nuclear weapons or other
weapons of mass destruction around the Earth, to place such weapons in celestial
objects, or to place such weapons in outer space." Other celestial bodies will be used
by all state parties in the treaty exclusively for peaceful purposes, prohibiting the
establishment of military bases, installations, and forts, testing of any kind of
weapons, and conducting military tactics in celestial bodies.
The use of any equipment or facilities required for the peaceful exploration of the
moon and other celestial objects shall not be prohibited. We can also think of
environmental change strategies, e.g. The idea came from May 18, 1977,
Convention, which prohibits the use of such weapons.

2
https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/outerspacetreaty.html (Accessed on 11.09.2021)

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The Environmental Modification Convention (NNMOD),3 the convention that
formally prohibits the use of military or any other adverse environmental change
strategy, is an international treaty that prohibits the military or other adverse use of
environmental change strategies that have far-reaching, lasting, or fatal effects. It
opened for signing in Geneva on 1 May, 1 on 1 and took effect on 5 October.
The Convention prohibits climate warfare, which uses climate change strategies
such as cloud seeding for the purpose of inciting damage or destruction. The 2010
Convention on Biodiversity will also prohibit some forms of climate change or geo-
engineering.
This ban on certain weapons, especially in Earth orbit, is clearly one of the most
important for Earth's security. Note that the Outer Space Treaty 1967 was adopted
at a time when arms embargo agreements were the focus of diplomatic concern,
especially as the two superpowers (the Treaty of Tlatelolco4, signed on February 1,
1) were denuclearized in Latin America and the Caribbean. ; The Non-Proliferation
Treaty, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT5, signed on July
1, 1968, is an international treaty aimed at preventing the proliferation of nuclear
weapons and weapons technology, promoting cooperation in the peaceful use of
nuclear energy, and nuclear disarmament.
And further advance the goal of achieving general and complete disarmament; The
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)6 were two bilateral conferences and
international agreements involving the United States and the Soviet Union, the
superpowers of the Cold War, the superpowers of the Cold War, l. The two rounds
of negotiations and agreements were Salt I and Salt II and negotiations began in
November 1969 in Helsinki, Finland).
The agreement to manage the activities of the kingdoms of the moon and other
celestial bodies also provides for the total deactivation of the moon and celestial
bodies (which came into force on July 11, 1984).

3
https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-1&chapter=26&clang=_en
(Accessed on 11.09.2021)
4
https://www.un.org/nwfz/content/treaty-
tlatelolco#:~:text=The%20Treaty%20for%20the%20Prohibition,the%20Treaty%20is%20in%20force (Accessed on
11.09.2021)
5
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_the_Non-
Proliferation_of_Nuclear_Weapons#:~:text=The%20Treaty%20on%20the%20Non,to%20further%20the%20goal%
20of (Accessed on 11.09.2021)
6
https://www.britannica.com/event/Strategic-Arms-Limitation-Talks (Accessed on 11.09.2021)

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Article 3 of the Moon Agreement 19797 states that “The moon shall be used by all
States Parties exclusively for peaceful purposes. Any threat or use of force or any
other hostile act or threat of hostile act on the moon is prohibited. It is likewise
prohibited to use the moon in order to commit any such act or to engage in any such
threat in relation to the earth, the moon, spacecraft, the personnel of spacecraft or
man- made space objects.
States Parties shall not place in orbit around or other trajectory to or around the moon
objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction
or place or use such weapons on or in the moon. The establishment of military bases,
installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct
of military maneuvers on the moon shall be forbidden. The use of military personnel
for scientific research or for any other peaceful purposes shall not be prohibited. The
use of any equipment or facility necessary for peaceful exploration and use of the
moon shall also not be prohibited.”

It means States shall not use nuclear weapons in or around the lunar object or in any
other trajectory or any other type of weapons of mass destruction or space or such
weapon. Establishment of military bases, installations, and forts." The installation,
testing of any type of weapon, and the use of military tactics on the moon will be
prohibited.

There are questions about the interpretation of the word peaceful: either non-military
(broad interpretation) or non-aggressive (narrow interpretation). The United States
prefers concise explanations and argues that the right to self-defense needs to be
upheld, as expressed in both customary law and Article 51 of the UN Charter.
Chapter VII, Article 51 of the UN Charter8 on "Threats to Peace, Violations of Peace
and Measures of Aggression" states that "Nothing in the current Charter shall
infringe upon the individual or collective inherent rights in the event of an armed
attack on a member of the UN unless the Security Council Take the necessary steps
to maintain international peace and security. The measures taken by the members to

7
https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/moon-agreement.html (Accessed on 11.09.2021)
8
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/chapter-7 (Accessed on 11.09.2021)

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exercise this right of self-defense shall be immediately reported to the Security
Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the
Security Council under the present Charter. He considers it necessary to maintain or
restore peace and security.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)9 Act of 1958 also
mentions research and the peaceful purposes of outer space, stating that "Congress
declares that it is the policy of the United States that space activities should be
dedicated to peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind."
Always considered the operation of renewal satellites (a renewal satellite or
reconnaissance satellite, usually, although officially, referred to as a spy satellite, is
an earth observation satellite or a communications satellite deployed for military or
intelligence applications) both military and peaceful.
The Soviet Union, for its part, quickly defended the idea that certain activities were
prohibited, even in self-defense conditions for the state, for example, the use of
biological weapons based on the 1925 Geneva Protocol (protocol prohibits the use
of asphalt, poison, or other gases in war, and The bacteriological method of warfare,
commonly known as the Geneva Protocol10, is a treaty banning the use of chemical
and biological weapons in international armed conflicts, signed in Geneva on June
17, 1925, and in force on February 8, 1928.
The League was registered in the League of Nations Treaty Series, Convention on
the Prohibition of the Production, Stockpiling and Use of Bacterial and Toxic
Weapons Convention (Convention on the Development, Production, and Prohibition
of Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons and Their Destruction, commonly known as
the Biological Weapons Convention).
The Geneva Protocol prohibits the use or possession or development of chemical
and biological weapons) or the Environmental Change Convention of 1 May 1977
on environmental change for adverse purposes. The Soviet Union has also come to
recognize the peacekeeping work of the Reconstruction Satellite.

In short, all areas of outer space are unarmed, in this case, weapons of mass
destruction, for storage, testing, or further use; On other hands, in some regions, in

9
https://www.nasa.gov/ (Accessed on 11.09.2021)
10
https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/bio/1925-geneva-protocol/ (Accessed on 11.09.2021)

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this case, the moon and celestial bodies usually exclude all military activities: all
weapons are prohibited in all regions and certain weapons are prohibited in all
regions.
This conclusion makes it possible to develop or imagine some military activity in
outer space without being able to give a vague answer to the question of the
legitimacy of these operations.
2.2 How long space can remain demilitarized?
At the end of December 2020, Jacob Parakilas11 who is consultant, and analyst of
U.S. foreign policy and international security argued that the global arms control
system has seen better days with nuclear modernization, the proliferation of
conventional weapons, and the rapid development of new weapons divisions, taking
place in the context of perpetually sharp nationalism.

There is one area that is by far the most controlled and peaceful: space. The Outer
Space Agreement, which entered into force in October 1967, restricts the placement
of weapons of mass destruction in space and declares space a global commonplace,
governed by technical agreements to ensure security and accountability, freely
accessible to all nations. Overall, the agreement achieved those goals: plans to place
nuclear weapons in various Cold War space failed, and even as the pace of rebuilding
increased, today's military space platforms are often used for renewal, navigation,
and communications.

This does not mean that there is no space weapon capability to wait on the wings.
Both the United States and the Soviet Union have been working with anti-satellite
(ASAT) weapons since the 1960s; The United States 1 successfully tested an aircraft
launch ASAT in 2005 and demonstrated an anti-satellite capability in 2008 with a
missile launched from a guided-missile cruiser. Well-covered areas, both conceptual
documents and fictional depictions of the great power conflict of the 21st-century
that is, the use of ASATs in the early stages of conflict can blind and confuse the
adversary, which can automatically and ultimately activate the Earthbound military
structure. Freedom.

11
https://twitter.com/jparakilas?lang=en

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But there is good reason to be wary of destroying satellites. Many of these factors
come down to physics. Blow up an object that orbits the earth and it not only
evaporates or falls innocently on the earth; Instead, it creates a cloud of debris around
the planet so fast that even a tiny piece of it can cause terrible damage to anything it
encounters. This is the principle that has served - exaggerated but not entirely
fictional - as the narrator of the film "Gravity". And depending on the height of their
orbits, the danger of such debris remains months or years later, long after the end of
the collision, damaging all use in the vicinity of Earth's orbit.
Physics is of course immutable; Regardless of technological or political advances,
space debris will remain a problem. But another prediction of the demilitarization of
space is changing, and rapidly.
To the extent that a detainee was in space, it was thought that satellites were an
almost impossibly rare and expensive resource; And thanks to the order of physics,
everyone was equally weak. Although cost estimates এবং and power are highly
classified, an American spy satellite broke public awareness in the early 2000s when
members of Congress criticized its cost: about 10 10 billion. And despite their
privacy screen, the real-time location of such satellites can be tracked by any
hobbyist with a clear view of the night sky and a lovely telescope. Even the world's
superpowers do not have the resources to build a fleet of spy and communications
satellites, enough ASAT power to repel their opponents, and a backup fleet of
satellites instead of casualties.

But the cost of launching mass into Earth orbit, which has remained stubborn for
most of the space age, has made launch systems more reliable and reusable. Just last
week, an American startup company demonstrated an autonomous "first stage"
aircraft that would fly in the atmosphere above ordinary jet engines, from which a
small and relatively inexpensive rocket booster would be enough to carry a load in
orbit. Such development, combined with ever-cheaper and more efficient batteries,
solar panels, communication arrays, and sensors, demonstrates the potential to build
and significantly rebuild space-based monitoring, navigation, and communication
networks.12

12
https://thediplomat.com/2020/12/how-much-longer-can-space-remain-demilitarized/

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 CHAPTER: THREE
Anti-satellite weapons – the legality of military activities in
space

3.1 The legality of military activities in space

From a legal point of view, when the legitimacy of military operations in space is
analyzed, these weapons do not fall under the prohibition of Article 4 of the Outer
Space Treaty because they are in no way weapons of mass destruction. The Outer
Space Treaty of 1967 allowed certain military activities to continue until there was
a complete ban on weapons in outer space.
Some defensive military activities are allowed. Article 2 of the Charter of the United
Nations13 states, "The Organization and its members shall act in accordance with the
following principles. The Organization is based on the principle of sovereign
equality of all its members.
All members shall settle their international disputes in a peaceful manner so as not
to endanger international peace and security and justice. Or in any other way
inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.
All members shall assist the United Nations in taking any action in accordance with
the present Charter and shall refrain from assisting any State against which the
United Nations is taking preventive or practical action.
Protects international peace and security as far as possible For Nothing contained in
the present Charter shall allow the United Nations to interfere in any matter which
is essentially within the internal jurisdiction of a State or its members shall submit
such matters for settlement under the present Charter, but this policy will not
interfere with the implementation of applicable measures under Chapter VII. "

13

https://legal.un.org/repertory/art2.shtml#:~:text=All%20Members%20shall%20refrain%20in,Purposes%20of%20th
e%20United%20Nations. (Accessed on 12.09.2021)

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 CHAPTER: FOUR
Conclusion, Acknowledgement and References

4.1 Conclusion
Form the above discussion we can understand that demilitarisation is one of the
important factors to protect the threat, war, mass destruction etc. The second
paragraph of the article 4 of the Outer Space Treaty declared that the establishment
of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons
and the conduct of military manoeuvres on celestial bodies shall be forbidden.
This was a very necessary step has taken by the United Nations. Because without
this, the technology-advanced countries will have the authorization to establish
military base on the moon and other celestial bodies. In another word, the tech-
advanced countries will have opportunity to establish military base in the outer space
which will be a bigger threat to the security and keeping peach on the earth.
Though stated Article of the Outer Space Treaty 1967 has demilitarise in the outer
space but it has keep and exception that “the use of military personnel for scientific
research or for any other peaceful purposes shall not be prohibited. The use of any
equipment or facility necessary for peaceful exploration of the Moon and other
celestial bodies shall also not be prohibited.”
It means the military personnel are allowed to do scientific research on the outer
space. But it must be conducted peacefully.

4.2 Acknowledgement
At first, I would like to give thank to our honorable course teacher Dr. Parvez Ahmed
for giving me an opportunity to learn about something that does not exits in the earth.
I learned something really new in my life. Besides legal arena of outer space, I have
learned a lot of things about sun, moon and other celestial bodies.
Secondly, I would like to thank to UN for keeping peach in not only in the earth but
also in the moon and other celestial bodies/outer space.
Finally, I would like to thank Soviet Union and NASA for opening a new arena for
human being.

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4.3 References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_space (Accessed on 11.09.2021)

https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/outerspacetreaty.html
(Accessed on 11.09.2021)
https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-
1&chapter=26&clang=_en (Accessed on 11.09.2021)
https://www.un.org/nwfz/content/treatytlatelolco#:~:text=The%20Treaty%20for%20the
%20Prohibition,the%20Treaty%20is%20in%20force (Accessed on 11.09.2021)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_the_Non-
Proliferation_of_Nuclear_Weapons#:~:text=The%20Treaty%20on%20the%20Non,to%2
0further%20the%20goal%20of (Accessed on 11.09.2021)
https://www.britannica.com/event/Strategic-Arms-Limitation-Talks(Accessed on
11.09.2021)
https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/moon-agreement.html
(Accessed on 11.09.2021)
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/chapter-7 (Accessed on 11.09.2021)
https://www.nasa.gov/ (Accessed on 11.09.2021)
https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/bio/1925-geneva-protocol/(Accessed on
11.09.2021)
https://thediplomat.com/2020/12/how-much-longer-can-space-remain-
demilitarized/(Accessed on 12.09.2021)
https://legal.un.org/repertory/art2.shtml#:~:text=All%20Members%20shall%20refrain%2
0in,Purposes%20of%20the%20United%20Nations (Accessed on 12.09.2021)

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