Sidebar: Space, the new wild west

Welcome to season three of Sidebar! You’ll want to strap in while we bring you closer to the stars as new technology and more investors bring us deeper into space. Science fiction is rapidly becoming science fact. One thing rarely discussed in your favorite sci-fi movies is the laws that govern outer space.

If billions of dollars, dozens of political manifestos and decades of Trekkie dreams come to fruition, there is nothing protecting man’s interstellar impression. Even Neil Armstrong’s footprint on the moon could go unprotected.

And what about all that space junk? Thousands of active satellites, inactive satellites, pieces of rockets, debris and uncategorized things are out there , floating around our planet. All are governed by little more than the Outer Space Treaty of 1967.

Special guests:

• Michelle Hanlon, co-director of the Center for Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi
• Kojiro Fujii, attorney at Nishimura + Asahi in Japan and executive committee member at Nishimura Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
• Skip Smith, space law attorney at Sherman & Howard
• Michael Dodge, associate professor of space studies at the University of North Dakota
• Kelli Kedis Ogborn, vice president of space commerce and entrepreneurship at Space Foundation
• Avishai Melamed, graduate student in Cornell University’s Department of Government

Sidebar tackles the top stories you need to know from the legal world. Join reporters Hillel Aron, Kirk McDaniel, Amanda Pampuro and Nina Pullano as they take you in and out of courtrooms in the U.S. and beyond and break down developments to help you understand how they affect your day-to-day life.

Kirk McDaniel produced this episode. Intro music by The Dead Pens. A transcript of this episode is available.

Editorial staff is Bill Dotinga, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

For more from us on the final frontier:

• James Webb Space Telescope finds its first exoplanet
• Scientists find newborn stars hiding in first Webb image
• Dying planet is spiraling into its sun, giving a glimpse of Earth’s fate