Treaties Affecting Outer Space

The Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963

Escalating tensions and the growth of nuclear armaments during the 1950s had caused talks between the United States and the U. S.S. R to commence in 1955 over the issue of the test­ing of such weapons. Radiation fallout from atmospheric tests by both sides had accidentally contaminated people and areas far removed from the test sites. Apprehension over the cumulative effect of contamination of the environment and possible genetic damage to the population was shared by most civilized countries.

The United States and the Soviet Union both had actually detonated nuclear devices above the Karman line, the highest at 540 kilometers (335 miles). The effects of these explosions were varied, and their visual effects were quite spectacular, but the destruction of the electronic components of satellites in low earth orbit by electromagnetic pulses was a common result. During the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962, both the United States and the Soviet Union deto­nated several high altitude devices as a show of force. The most significant, destructive effects of nuclear detonations in space occurred during this time, on October 22, 1962, when the Soviets exploded a device at an altitude of 290 kilome­ters. Electromagnetic impulses at ground level in

Kazakhstan fused 570 km of overhead telephone line, started a fire that burned down a power plant, and shut down 1,000 km of buried power cables.

The next year, in 1963, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to prohibit nuclear weapons tests “or any other explosion” in the atmosphere, under water, or in outer space. The inclusion of outer space in this essentially ter­restrial agreement created a benchmark for future agreement on outer space.

The General Assembly of the United Nations created the Committee on the Peace­ful Uses of Outer Space, COPUOS, in 1959. Although it was not involved in the bilateral Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963 between the United States and the U. S.S. R., its purpose was to review the scope of international cooperation in peaceful uses of outer space. It has two sub­committees, the Scientific and Technical Sub­committee and the Legal Subcommittee.

COPUOS has been central to the develop­ment of existing international law regarding space. It has, in fact, drafted all international treaties that now exist dealing with outer space, some five in number that were adopted between 1967 and 1979. The Committee was composed of just 24 members when it was created as a permanent body in 1959, which facilitated its work since the Committee is operated on the basis of consensus (agreement), not majority vote. It is now composed of 71 mem­bers. We will now look at the five treaties that have been adopted out of COPUOS.