ANGELS will guide space start-ups

Wednesday, 5 December 2018

The space industry is set to benefit from expert guidance from University of Adelaide lawyers on Australian and international laws that regulate their activities.

The Australian Navigational Guide Explaining Laws for Space (ANGELS) website will be created in a project of the same name, by the University’s Adelaide Law School and law firm, International Aerospace Law and Policy Group (IALPG). A grant of nearly $100,000 from the Law Foundation of South Australia has financed the project.

A board composed of experts from the Adelaide Law School and IALPG will oversee the project. Professor Melissa de Zwart, Dean of Law, and Professor Dale Stephens are both experts in domestic and international space law, and Mr Joseph Wheeler, Legal Practice Director of IALPG, is an expert in aviation law. The project will be managed by Duncan Blake, a PhD candidate at the Adelaide Law School and Special Counsel on Space Law with IALPG.

“Information provided on the ANGELS website will give guidance to space start-ups here in South Australia and throughout Australia to conduct their business in accordance with Australian, foreign and applicable international law,” says Professor Stephens.

“The ANGELS project and website will aim to provide an easy step-by-step online guide on what legal and regulatory requirements need to be satisfied to conduct space activities lawfully and commercially.

“ANGELS will draw space entrepreneurs to South Australia, encourage the growth of the state’s space industry and help ensure sustainable use of space for the current, next and future generations,” says Professor Stephens.

“Students at Adelaide Law School will develop the content for the website in early 2019. The site will go live later that year in September when the new Australian legislation, the Space Activities (Launches and Returns) Act 2018 comes into effect,” says Mr Blake.

“The ANGELS project will work closely with the South Australian Space Industry Centre, as well as visiting six Australian cities to meet with space start-ups to understand their regulatory needs.

“Lawyers from IALPG will handle complex legal issues associated with space activities,” he says.

Adelaide Law School has become a global hub for space law education and research including as one of the founders and leaders of the Woomera Manual project, which will be the definitive document on military and security law as it applies to space.

“The ANGELS project consolidates and confirms the important contribution that Adelaide Law School and South Australia make to the Australian and global space industry,” says Professor de Zwart.

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