We are pleased to announce our call for individual presentations, special sessions, round table discussions, and other creative contributions. This conference aims to bring together scholars and practitioners on the commons in space. We will cover topics from space debris, congesting orbital space due to increasing satellites, protection of dark night sky, mining of celestial bodies, earth-space sustainability, diverse perspectives on space as a global commons, going beyond Antarctica and deep seabed regulations as models for space law, and much more.

The increasing use of space, from billionaire tourism to exploration of the Moon and Mars, as well as the increasing near-misses with space debris, has made many of us aware of space as a shared resource. How can the use of outer space be governed, providing opportunities for private actors but also protecting the rights for current and future generations that have not yet the means to participate in space exploration? How do we ensure the long-term sustainability of space exploration activities, as well as the safe use of Earth’s orbit?

As a virtual conference organized by the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC), we will facilitate a discussion between space scholars and scholars studying more traditional commons. What can we learn from governing shared resources on Earth to derive fair and productive outcomes when governing shared resources in space? And what can commons scholars, working on local and regional scales, learn from space commons that face governance on a scale beyond planet Earth? How can commons scholarship provide models for diverse stakeholder groups to have agency and voice as humanity takes important steps towards a sustained human presence on the Moon, Mars, and beyond?