Legal and policy perspectives on civil-military cooperation for the establishment of space traffic management

Space Traffic Management (STM) is already acknowledged as a concept for regulation of space activities by the Legal Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS). The current UN assumption is comprehensive for all space activities and facilitates this conceptualisation. However, it will obviously be necessary to find a way of meeting the respective requirements and practices. This paper particularly addresses the civil-military nexus as an emerging dynamic for space cooperation and subsequently the establishment of space traffic management. It attempts to approach this issue by providing an overview of comparative regimes: air traffic, maritime traffic and radio frequency spectrum management. Based on the fundamental principle of international cooperation, while at the same time drawing elements from these traffic regimes and the role of the international organizations involved therein, can help in the further refinement and practical negotiations of a space traffic management regime.