Regulating Satellite Constellations

Human space activities in the twenty-first century have undergone a series of significant and fundamental changes. Advances in the use of novel materials, miniaturisation of key technology, and a concomitant development of computing power has seen a revolution in the application of small satellites. This in turn has led to their increased ubiquity in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), and the use of a large number of satellites operating synchronously in satellite constellations. The idea to use groups of connected satellites acting as part of a collective network is not new, and dates to the middle of the twentieth century (Lüders, 1961). This idea failed to materialise, and even in the 1990s, telecoms companies such as Iridium developed ‘impressive’ plans for global connectivity via satellite constellations, but which were unsuccessful due to high costs and limited demand (Daehnick et al., 2020, p.2).