Frans Von Der Dunk and Fabio Tronchetti, Handbook of Space Law, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar, 2015

With the emergence of novel space technologies and new space actors, space law is currently challenged more than ever. However, while space activities enter new phases of development, the relevant legal regime remains unchanged. In fact, space law, the body of law that governs space activities, was created during the 1960s, when the main space activities were comprised of the launch of artificial satellites and their use for communication purposes. Nevertheless, since then, novel space realities, such as the possibilities for human spaceflight, the emergence of microsatellites, plans for extraterrestrial space settlements, and the prospects for extra-terrestrial resources exploitation are posing new challenges to the traditional concepts that are reflected in the existing space law regime. The Handbook of Space Law, edited by Frans von der Dunk and Fabio Tronchetti, offers a valuable overview of the current state of space law and places it within the new challenges it is called upon to address. The book uses a fact-based approach to address these challenges and to answer what is the role of space law in mitigating them. By dividing the chapters into thematic segments based on the various types of currently existing space activities, the editors of the book provide a clear-cut understanding of the caliber of space activities and their governance by the existing space law provisions. The methodology of the book is carefully selected to address the issues in a pragmatic manner by connecting the factual circumstances of space activities to the legal challenges and issues at hand. The book begins with an overview of the historical background of space law by Peter Jankowitsch (chapter one). This chapter explains the history of space law’s genesis and its political context. The author of this chapter sets the scenery for the rest of the book and enables the reader to understand the origins of today’s space law regime and, as such, its objectives and principles. The second chapter of the book, authored by Frans von der Dunk, introduces the reader to the actual provisions comprised in the corpus juris spatialis by exhaustively presenting the five United Nations space treaties combined to more recent legal instruments mainly of a soft law nature. The author of this chapter manages to demonstrate the evolution of space law from a consent-based approach to one of voluntary participation and flexibility. The next chapter, chapter three, outlays the relationship between international and national space law. The author of this chapter, Irmgard Marboe, offers an extensive overview of national space laws by focusing on selective issues such as national authorization of space activities, registration of space objects, and responsibility and liability. The fourth and fifth chapters of the book address two topics complementary to each other: the creation of European space law and the emergence of international organizations. These two chapters, both authored by Frans von der Dunk, constitute a broad overview of the organizational structure of the “management” of space activities. The fourth chapter mainly focuses on the European Space Agency and its successful cooperation with European space projects such as Galileo and Copernicus. The fifth chapter furthers the discussion on the organizational structure of space activities at the international level. Through this overview, the chapter makes the reader realize that the biggest part of successful space international organizations has been either initiated or later built up by private initiatives. In addition, this chapter sheds light on the role of private actors in forming international space law through institutional agreements and multilateral cooperation schemes. The sixth chapter of the book, authored by Fabio Tronchetti, provides an overview of the regulation of the military uses of …