China violates Spain’s sovereignty with uncontrolled rocket reentry
Earlier today, large parts of the airspace in Spain were closed because a 20-ton missile part had reentered the atmosphere over Spain. The space debris was part of the Long March 5B rocket that had been launched by the People’s Republic of China a few days ago in order to complete the construction of its space station.
Space debris is an increasingly important problem and space companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin have developed reusable rocket systems that return to Earth. For non-reusable spacecraft, controlled deorbiting is quickly becoming normal. Already for decades, many spacecraft, including Russia’s former Mir space station, have been deorbited intentionally, leading to the emergence of an underwater junkyard of spacecraft at the bottom of the ocean in a remote part of the Pacific. China is the only major spacefaring nation that continues to engage in such dangerous forms of uncontrolled deorbiting of large spacecraft or parts thereof - a practice already used for earlier flights for the construction of its space station. In recent years, China has made significant progress in the realm of space operations, but no other spacefaring nation allows the uncontrolled reentry of space debris in such a manner. There is an understanding among space operators that, although there is no deorbiting requirement for all types of space debris, such uncontrolled crashes are not acceptable. We are in the process of seeing the emergence of a norm of customary international law to the effect that uncontrolled deorbiting is no longer permissible.
But even if such a norm of customary international law does not exist yet today, China has violated Spain’s sovereignty. By letting the rocket stage fall to Earth in such a way, it has forced Spain to take action that it would otherwise not have taken - the closure of its airspace. This means that Spain’s sovereignty was restricted in this regard. This is not compatible with international law and Spain can bring a claim for compensation against China for the financial damage suffered from this behaviour. Existing norms of space law provide for compensation in such cases, but the disaster risk reduction dimension of space law appears insufficient if a powerful state can violate international law without any repercussions.
This is not the first time the PRC has engaged in such reckless and irresponsible behaviour that is not befitting a spacefaring nation. Today’s violation of the sovereignty of Spain taints the successful work of the many experts that have contributed to China’s increasing role in outer space activities. Unless the Chinese government embraces the emerging global consensus on deorbiting obligations, such situations are likely to be repeated. It remains to be seen if and how Spain and the European Union will react to this violation of Spain’s sovereignty. The EU’s reaction to China’s anti-satellite test in 2007 might serve as an indicator, but in that case, the concern was global, in this case, a member state is affected directly. Outer space is a common resource the use of which is regulated by international law. If anything, the latest incident highlights the need for more effective global regulation to safeguard access to outer space and protection against damages from space operations. This is not limited to creating more norms but also to enforcing existing norms more effectively.