on the legal issues surrounding Starlink and large constellations from 7 May 2020 (in German) can be watched here.

On the applicable law to persons on the ISS, hear the interview of Prof. Stephan Hobe from 6 May 2020 taken by spiegel.de.

Whether space tourism, satellite applications or space resources utilization: human activities in space are steadily increasing on the basis of technological progress and increasing commercialization; not to mention military interests.

The new book "Space Law" by Stephan Hobe stands out through an in-depth and in the same time concise approach to all relevant legal aspects of space activities. After the basic astrophysical background of space exploration is given and the history of space travel is outlined, the legal concepts are examined in detail with reference to the most important space applications. In addition to international space law, the elements of national space legislation are described and examined. In 13 chapters, the book gives a profound overview of the past, the present and the future of space law and analyses issues of growing importance such as space transportation, space debris mitigation and remediation, space traffic management, the expansion of humanity on other space bodies as well as NewSpace and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. In addition, the reader will find the five UN space treaties as well as the UN GA Resolutions and Principles on space law annexed.                                                                           

Numerous graphics, illustrations and short summaries for each chapter facilitate a quick orientation and make the book an ideal companion for students and doctoral students as well as for practitioners.

The book can be found in the Nomos Shop.

We are proud to announce that Professor Dr. Stephan Hobe was awarded the degree of Doctor honoris causa by the Rector of St. Kliment Ohridski, University of Sofia

An der diesjährigen Telders International Law Moot Court Competition haben insgesamt 23 internationale Teams teilgenommen. Das Kölner Team hat sich in der internationalen Vorrunde gegen den Gastgeber der Universität Leiden (Niederlande), die Nationale Universität Kiew-Mohyla-Akademie (Ukraine), Honourable Society of Inner Temple (England) und die Universität von Lettland (Lettland) durchgesetzt und das Finale im Friedenspalast in Den Haag erreicht.

Im hochspannenden Finale, geleitet von den Richtern James Crawford, Giorgio Gaja und John Dugard, plädierte das Kölner Team als Beklagte gegen das Klägerteam von der Demokrit-Universität Thrakien (Griechenland) und konnte den Wettbewerb am Ende für sich entscheiden. Das Kölner Team wurde darüber hinaus für den besten Beklagtenschriftsatz mit dem Carnegie Preis ausgezeichnet und insbesondere von Judge Crawford für den herausragenden Schriftsatz gelobt.

Wir gratulieren dem Team herzlich zu seinem Sieg!

At its Board Meeting on 25 September 2017 in Adelaide, Australia, the Board of Directors of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) agreed, that, based on the report presented by the IISL Working Group on Cyber Law headed by Prof. Dr. Stephan Hobe, cyber law should be an item of research of the IISL insofar as the questions of space law are affected. The IISL Colloquia on space law should, beginning with the 2018 International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Bremen, regularly contain one session on cyber law. The full report and can be accessed on the IISL website at: http://iislweb.org/iisl-working-group-on-cyber-law/.

Cyberspace: A New Frontier of Law. 2017 Report of the IISL Working Group on cyber law.

Prof. Dr. Stephan Hobe, Director of the Institute of Air and Space Law in Cologne, IISL Director and Head of the IISL Directorate of Studies, gave a talk entitled “Space law and cyber law: a comparison” at the European Interparliamentary Space and Entrepreneurship Conference (6-7 November 2017) in Tallinn, Estonia which illustrated the development, the legal nature and the common characteristics of space law and cyber law.

Link to the Lecture