Shower Thoughts: Who owns outer space?

Have you ever been standing in the shower, when suddenly, the noise in your brain clears and in its place appears the perfect thought?

That's a Shower Thought, and RNZ's Nights is aiming to answer those unshakeable questions lurking in the back of your mind.

Tonight's question: Does anyone own outer space?

The short answer? No, no one owns outer space.

Space law expert Dr Maria Pozza told Nights it was one of the most asked questions she received, and she was sure other space lawyers around the world would frequently encounter the question, too.

But Pozza said it was a really important question - and complex.

"I like to stick with the international law that … space is free for all nations to explore and outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.

"So what I'm getting at here is no, space doesn't belong to anyone and this question does come up a lot, especially recently, because what we're seeing is a rise in more space-based activity. Because we're seeing a lot more technological development, we're seeing new and improved innovative ways that space is being utilised."

Pozza said there was such a thing as air law - and nations had complete and exclusive sovereignty over the air space above their territory.

But the problem? No one really knows how far into the sky air law ends and space law begins.

It was something Pozza said she would like to see a hard law on.

Another issue that arose with space law, relating to the increased activity, was space sustainability.

"We end up with a lot of clutter in space. Now, at the moment, it's manageable but as more and more activities are occurring in space, and as we're seeing more and more utilisation in space, there is a question now as to well, how do we ensure that space sustainability remains intact so that our future space exploration can continue?

"When we think about cleaning up space debris, we do get back to those sorts of questions - who does it belong to, should they go and pick it up?

"These are some of the big questions being considered at the international level."