Is Starlink Legal in Your Country? How Satellite Internet Is Licensed
Is Starlink legal in your country? Why every dish needs a national licence, what an FCC licence does not cover and what the ITU said about Starlink in Iran.
Regulatory watch
FCC Part 100, Round Two: Experimental Licences, a US Control Point and Who Gets a Vacated GSO SlotReflect Orbital’s Space Mirror: The FCC Licensed the Radio, Not the SunlightFCC Part 100: What the 7 October Guidance Means for Satellite Milestones and Surety BondsDirect-to-Device Rules: SpaceX’s 15,000-Satellite Licence and the FCC’s Plan to Rewrite SCSTraCSS and EU SST: What Their Joint Study on Sharing Space Traffic Data ShowsUpper C-Band Transition: What the FCC’s $6.3 Billion Clearing Plan Means for Satellite OperatorsFrom 25 to 456 Launches a Year: The FAA Opens Its Biggest Starship Environmental Review YetSatellite Spectrum Abundance: The FCC Opens 12.7 and 42 GHz to Satellites and Breaks From the ITU TableFCC Part 100, Round Two: Experimental Licences, a US Control Point and Who Gets a Vacated GSO SlotReflect Orbital’s Space Mirror: The FCC Licensed the Radio, Not the SunlightFCC Part 100: What the 7 October Guidance Means for Satellite Milestones and Surety BondsDirect-to-Device Rules: SpaceX’s 15,000-Satellite Licence and the FCC’s Plan to Rewrite SCSTraCSS and EU SST: What Their Joint Study on Sharing Space Traffic Data ShowsUpper C-Band Transition: What the FCC’s $6.3 Billion Clearing Plan Means for Satellite OperatorsFrom 25 to 456 Launches a Year: The FAA Opens Its Biggest Starship Environmental Review YetSatellite Spectrum Abundance: The FCC Opens 12.7 and 42 GHz to Satellites and Breaks From the ITU Table
The law above the atmosphere
Latest
What we are reading and writing this week
Amateur Rocket Laws: Is It Legal to Launch Your Own Rocket?
Amateur rocket laws explained: FAA Part 101 rocket classes, waivers and ATC notice, the 150 km ceiling, explosives rules and the UK's…
Reflect Orbital’s Space Mirror: The FCC Licensed the Radio, Not the Sunlight
Reflect Orbital's Earendil-1 licence was reissued on 9 October. Why the FCC says the mirror itself is beyond its reach, and what…
Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines Explained: IADC, UN and National Rules
Space debris mitigation guidelines explained: the IADC and UN rules, the 25-year limit, the 2025 constellation update and how regulators make them…
Planetary Protection Explained: The Rules That Keep Earth Life Off Other Worlds
Planetary protection explained: Article IX, COSPAR's five categories, the 2026 Icy Worlds update, and why private missions remain a regulatory gap.
FCC Part 100: What the 7 October Guidance Means for Satellite Milestones and Surety Bonds
FCC Part 100 guidance of 7 October 2026 explains how satellite operators can switch to new milestones, drop surety bonds, and the…
Satellite Export Controls Explained: ITAR, the EAR and Launching Abroad
Satellite export controls explained: how ITAR and the EAR split spacecraft, what counts as an export, rules for launching abroad and the…
Insights
Analysis, not press releases
Long form work on the questions the sector argues about: who owns what, who pays when things go wrong, and which rulebook applies where.
Commercial Space13 min read
ISS Retirement in 2030: The Deorbit Plan and What Replaces It
NASA still plans to bring the ISS down at the end of 2030, using a $843 million SpaceX deorbit vehicle it will own. But a Senate bill says 2032, Russia has just signed on to 2030, and the commercial replacement…
Insights8 min read
8 min
Who Owns What on the Moon? Article II, the Artemis Accords and Space Resources
Nobody can own the Moon and everyone agrees on that. Whether a company owns the regolith it digs is unsettled, and how it gets settled decides…
Insights7 min read
7 min
Space Debris Liability: Who Pays When Satellites Collide
The Liability Convention applies a fault standard to orbital collisions and never defines fault. That gap is why no claim has ever been brought for a…
Regulatory updates
What changed, and who it binds
Case notes
Where space law met a decision maker
Space law 101
Start here if the field is new to you
Plain English explainers on the treaties, the licensing regimes and the career routes into the practice.
Is Starlink Legal in Your Country? How Satellite Internet Is Licensed
Is Starlink legal in your country? Why every dish needs a national licence, what an FCC licence does not cover and what…
Who Regulates Space in the US? The Agencies, the Gaps and the New Mission Authorisation Pilot
Who regulates space in the US? The FAA, FCC, NOAA, State and Commerce each hold a piece, and a new Commerce pilot…
Nuclear Power in Space: The UN Principles, US Launch Rules and the Race for a Lunar Reactor
Nuclear power in space explained: the 1992 UN Principles, NSPM-20 launch approval tiers, Cosmos 954 and the US plan for a lunar…
Commercial space
The business of space, read through its contracts
Launch services agreements, insurance, spectrum and export control. Where the money and the risk actually sit.
Satellite Export Controls Explained: ITAR, the EAR and Launching Abroad
Satellite export controls explained: how ITAR and the EAR split spacecraft, what counts as an export, rules for launching abroad and the…
Canadian Space Launch Act: What Bill C-28 Would Change for Rocket Launches
The Canadian Space Launch Act explained: how Bill C-28 would licence launches and re-entries, who carries liability, and why the bill is…
UK Space Law Explained: How the CAA Licenses Satellites and Launches, and What Changes on 1 December
UK space law explained: the Outer Space Act and Space Industry Act, CAA licences, liability caps, and the new liability tiers from…
Opinion
Argued positions, clearly labelled
Where we think space governance is going, and where it is stuck. Signed opinion, not reporting.
Opinion13 min read
A Robot Tried to Save a NASA Telescope. US Law Still Has No Box for What It Was Doing
Katalyst's attempt to capture and boost NASA's Swift observatory was called off in August. It had every licence US law asks for, and none for the part that mattered: approaching and grabbing someone else's…
Interviews
The people doing the work
Conversations with regulators, in-house counsel, operators, insurers and academics on how the rules land in practice.
Introducing the Space Law Journal Interview Series
We are looking for regulators, in-house counsel, underwriters and academics. Here is what we ask, how the process runs, and why you…
Resources
Every space regulator worth bookmarking, in one place
A checked directory of the licensing authorities, treaty bodies, registers and primary rule texts that govern activity in orbit. Links go straight to the official page, not a summary of it.
International
UNOOSA: Space Law
The UN office that services the space treaties and publishes treaty texts, national laws and capacity building material.
www.unoosa.org United StatesFAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation
Issues launch, reentry, launch site and reentry site licences and experimental permits under 14 CFR Part 450.
www.faa.gov European UnionEuropean Commission DG DEFIS: EU Space Act
The official page for the proposed regulation on the safety, resilience and sustainability of space activities.
defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu United StatesFCC Space Bureau
Licenses satellite systems and earth stations and attaches orbital debris and spectrum sharing conditions.
www.fcc.gov IndiaIN-SPACe
The single window authorisation and supervisory body for non-government space activity under the Indian Space Policy 2023.
www.inspace.gov.in InternationalITU Radiocommunication Sector: Space Services
Records satellite frequency and orbital slot filings and runs the coordination and notification procedures.
www.itu.intSubmissions
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