On Tue, 3 Sep 2002, Adrian Tymes wrote:
> I find it disturbing that the U.S. State Department and The National
> Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration believe they are in any
> legal position to grant permission for lunar travel, especially on a
> mission that will launch using exclusively Russian facilities.
The US government claims authority over the doings of US citizens
everywhere, not just within the US.
Moreover, in current space law, it is the origin of the *payload* that
matters for certain liability issues, not who launched it. The payload
and the launch are separate issues.
NOAA in particular gets involved because the payload in question has an
imaging system, and NOAA has "shutter control" over US-owned Earth-imaging
payloads. (This particular payload will primarily be imaging the Moon,
but it *is* slated to shoot an Earth image now and then too.)
Henry Spencer
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
_______________________________________________
ERPS-list mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list
