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Space Crime #6 The Cooker v. Wallace

Those not up-to-date on the world of claymation and it’s pioneers, Wallace and Gromit, catch up here.
The tale of their Grand Day Out is one full of extraterrestrial . . . treaty breaking!

 (For the full list of Top 10 Space Crimes, go here.)

The Story: Wallace takes advantage of the Moon

So Wallace and his cunning pet Gromit are on the Moon. You know it’s the real moon because it’s made of cheese — “Moon-ster” most likely. On the Moon made of Moon-ster they encounter the Cooker: a mysterious vending-machine-security-guard robot planted on the Moon most likely by COPUOS, a mysterious bunch that hides behind an ominous acronym they say means “Committee On the Peaceful Uses Of Space.”
Once the Cooker is activated, it finds Wallace’s homemade rocket ship to be illegally parked on the Moon. The Cooker leaves a citation on the rocket ship.
The Cooker next spies Wallace harvesting the moon-ster moon cheese. The Cooker doesn’t like that.
Eventually, the Cooker chases after Wallace and Gromit as they board and take off in their aircraft. The Cooker attempts to stop them but fails, ripping off two pieces of metal as the ship zooms away.
Possible charges:
  • Against Wallace for wrongfully parking
  • Against Wallace for wrongfully harvesting the Moon’s resources
  • Against the Cooker for wrongfully harming Wallace’s spacecraft.

The Law: The Outer Space Treaty

As everyone knows, the main body of law governing outer space encounters is the Outer Space Treaty, more formally known as the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies.
It’s actually quite a short read.
As do many treaties, it speaks in broad, vague principles that everyone in the world can agree upon, which is necessary to get 105 different countries to sign.
For our purpose here, the Outer Space Treaty lays out five important principles.

1- Space is free for exploration

Article I of the Outer Space Treaty starts boldly: “Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be free for exploration and use by all States.” That means, exploring is fair game. 

2- No Claim-ey

But then Article II follows up with “Outer space . . . is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.” That means, a nation can explore and look, and possibly touch, take, and taste, but it can’t claim stuff in outer space as theirs.

3- Help a Brother out

The Treaty suggests in several places, most notably in Article V, that states should help out astronauts in space: “States . . . shall regard astronauts as envoys of mankind in outer space and shall render to them all possible assistance in the event of accident.” In short — help a brother out.

4- Don’t mess up people’s stuff

Ok, this is beginning to sound a little like Kindergarten. Article VII: “Each State . . . that launches . . . an object into outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies . . . is internationally liable for damage to another State.” A close reading here may suggest, this only refers to damage to people, not to objects, but we’re not going to get into that.

5- Don’t sneak

Article XI and others make it clear that it’s nice to let other states know what you are doing: “States . . . conducting activities in outer space . . . agree to inform . . . the public . . . to the greatest extent feasible and practicable, of the nature, conduct, locations and results of such activities.” Sharing is caring.

 (Space Pirates? Go here.)

The Ruling: Wallace prevails, Cooker fails.

These principles added together surprisingly get Wallace off the hook. By Article I, He and Gromit were just a couple of bachelors exploring the Final Frontier. He didn’t violate Article II by attempting to claim the Moon for his homeland Britain, he merely snatched some Moon-ster for his crackers and parked his spacecraft.
If anything, it appears the Cooker was in the wrong and violated Article V by not rendering assistance to Wallace who was a possibly needy “envoy of mankind.” It also clearly damaged Wallace’s spacecraft, likely becoming liable under Article VII. It looks like the Cooker may be heading to the Cooler.
However, Wallace may be had under Article V; it could be claimed he was acting sneakily by not letting the public know of his activity “to the greatest extent feasible.”
But that’s nothing a post-trip tweet can’t clear up. So it looks like your own private space flights with SpaceX will be super legal.
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