The Cologne Manual on the International Law of Space Traffic Management

NewSpace as well as the growing number of states able to participate in outer space have led to an unprecedented increase in space traffic. This in turn led to an increase in risk of collision and space debris growth. Without the establishment of effective measures and regulation managing space traffic, the ensuing chaos in a congested orbital environment will, as experts highlight, endanger the sustainability of the most valuable orbits. Ultimately this scenario could lead to non-usability of Earth orbits, precluding the very access to outer space.
The Outer Space Treaty provides for the freedom of exploration and use of outer space to every state and highlights the obligation to conduct activities with due regard to activities of other space actors. It highlights the responsibility of everyone to use outer space in a manner that will allow for future use of outer space. This will only be possible through safe and secure coordination of space traffic. Currently space traffic is being managed on an ad hoc basis, but the growing number of possible conjunction alerts and some prominent break-downs in operator to operator communication and coordination, highlight that future use of outer space in increasingly congested orbits can only be guaranteed through an international and well-thought out system of Space Traffic Management (STM) that all actors will agree to abide by. While STM is a very current topic with many national and international entities developing regional approaches to coordinating their space traffic, so far, no international STM system exist.
The Cologne Manual on the International Law of Space Traffic Management [1], a cooperation project between the Institute of Air Law, Space Law and Cyber Law at the University of Cologne and the German Aerospace Center, aims to collect existing industry and state practice, as well as the expertise of more than 40 international experts, considering geopolitical and commercial interests of space actors, to develop legally and practically sound and efficient guidelines for the management and coordination of space traffic. It will aim to formulate these in a manner that can be directly implemented by international as well as national legislators, as well as non-state space actors, and place particular emphasis on three main aspects. The first, international communication, cooperation and coordination as the missing elements in existing national and regional approaches. The second, the immense importance of technology and its continual development on space activities, thus aiming to develop timeless guidelines. And the third, recognising that a clean orbital environment is the precondition for safe space activities. Each guideline will be supplemented by a commentary providing background information, a unique insight into the already established mechanisms of space actors using it as a connecting factor, as well as an intensive examination of national space legislation and policy.
The Cologne Manual therefore “aims to offer a comprehensive and well-organised blueprint for an effective and sustainable STM system.” [2] For the present as well as future use of outer space it is vital to decrease space pollution by minimising collisions and allowing for an organised space traffic. Considering the legal basis for space activities, the technical developments, physical possibilities in space traffic and the interests of different space actors, the Cologne Manual has the potential to promote STM and to support lawmakers internationally as well as nationally to draft practical guidelines or even legal instruments for the international and safe management of traffic in space.

[1] https://ilwr.jura.uni-koeln.de/cologne-manual.
[2] Reichhold, The Cologne Manual on the International Law of Space Traffic Management – Developing a Comprehensive STM System to Secure the Future Use of Outer Space, ZLW 2024, 94.