LEX LATA IN ORBIT: A CRITICAL RE-EVALUATION OF THE OUTER SPACE TREATY IN THE AGE OF KINETIC ANTI-SATELLITE WEAPONRY

AUTHOR – YUG RAMAN SRIVASTAVA, STUDENT AT RAJIV GANDHI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LAW, PUNJAB

BEST CITATION – YUG RAMAN SRIVASTAVA, LEX LATA IN ORBIT: A CRITICAL RE-EVALUATION OF THE OUTER SPACE TREATY IN THE AGE OF KINETIC ANTI-SATELLITE WEAPONRY, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPACE LAW AND POLICY (IJSLP), 3 (1) OF 2025, PG. 01-07, APIS – 3920 – 0014 & ISSN – 2584-1955

Abstract

This paper conducts a critical jurisprudential analysis of the corpus juris spatialis in the context of the escalating threat posed by debris-generating anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons tests. Using India’s 2019 ‘Mission Shakti’ as a central case study, this inquiry interrogates the efficacy and interpretative boundaries of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. The central contention is that while the Treaty’s primary arms control provision, Article IV, contains a significant and debilitating lacuna concerning conventional kinetic weapons, a purposive and evolutive interpretation of its principles of international cooperation and environmental protection, particularly within Article IX, offers a viable legal pathway for constraining such destabilising activities. Through a meticulous textual analysis, the paper demonstrates that the traditional, narrow construction of Article IV, which prescribes only weapons of mass destruction, is manifestly inadequate for addressing the contemporary reality of ASAT technology. Subsequently, it proffers a contemporary hermeneutic of Article IX, arguing that the obligations of ‘due regard’ and the prohibition on ‘harmful contamination’ must be construed to encompass the deliberate creation of orbital debris. This analysis posits that such an interpretation is not only consistent with the teleological objectives of the Treaty but is also mandated by general principles of international law, including the ‘no-harm’ rule. The article, through using a new legal framework by understanding the concept of space law, which is relevant and necessary, discusses and attempts to apply the existing space law principles, eyeing emerging issues in space security, which stands to develop a more robust regime of responsibility related to space operations.

Keywords: Anti-Satellite Weapons (ASAT), Space Debris, Outer Space Treaty, Article IX, Mission Shakti, Space Law, Due Regard, Harmful Contamination.