SPACE SOVEREIGNTY A Legal Framework for Preventing Commercial Capture of the Orbital Commons

ABSTRACTThis working paper presents a comprehensive legal framework for preventing commercialcapture of orbital space, with particular attention to space-based solar power systems. We arguethat traditional property-based governance models are inadequate for managing the uniquecharacteristics of the orbital commons, and propose instead a multi-layered “firewall” approachgrounded in ecological systems thinking, stewardship principles, and intergenerational equity.The paper introduces the doctrine of “Space Sovereignty”—not as sovereignty over space by anynation or entity, but as the collective obligation to preserve space from irreversible enclosure. Wedevelop seven interconnected legal firewall layers: ontological constraints redefining space as anecological system; reinforced non-appropriation principles targeting functional control;revocable stewardship licenses replacing property rights; anti-vertical integration rulespreventing monopolistic consolidation; orbital and energetic budget systems modelled on climategovernance; mandatory transparency requirements; and automatic enforcement mechanismsresistant to regulatory capture.Drawing on precedents from climate law, telecommunications regulation, and utility governance,this framework provides a legally grounded and practically implementable approach to ensuringthat humanity’s expansion into space serves collective flourishing rather than concentratedpower.The purpose of Space Sovereignty is not to prevent activity in space, but to prevent anyactor—corporate or otherwise—from converting early access and infrastructure deployment intoenduring structural power over humanity, reflecting a Sovereign Intellectual Project explicitlyoriented toward constraint, stewardship, and non-enclosure.KeywordsSpace law; orbital commons; commercial capture; space-based solar power; intergenerationalequity; stewardship governance; Outer Space Treaty; regulatory capture; monopoly prevention;climate governance