Can ElonMusk Get Sued For Crashing A Rocket On The Moon?
, anyone who might be secretly living on the far side of the Moon will be experiencing their very own “Don’t Look Up” situation. That’s because a piece of a SpaceX rocket will be smashing into the lunar surface at approximately 5,700 miles per hour, where it should create a decent sized crater - one that’s got a diameter of about 19 meters.
That’s because, while there are international treaties and laws that cover liability for damages from incidents involving spacecraft, there has to be actual damage caused to generate any legal action. “It’s crashing into the Moon,” says Kaufman. “Nobody owns the Moon.” A claim on the Moon could theoretically arise if, for example, SpaceX’s booster were to crash into China’s lunar rover. In that case, two international treaties would come into play, explains Scot Anderson, an attorney with Hogan Lovells. That’s the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and Convention on International Liability for Damage Causes by Space Objects of 1972.
While SpaceX’s rocket isn’t likely to create a similar claim, it won’t be too long until the laws governing these types of claims and damages start to become more relevant, Kaufman says. That’s because there’s more and more satellites entering orbit, and as they become less useful, the potential for the proliferation of space junk becomes more likely. That’s why governments have started cracking down on debris, with regulatory bodies requiring space companies to develop debris mitigation plans.
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