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196 Countries Agree: No Death Star Allowed (9 Fascinating Space Laws)

196 Countries Agree: No Death Star Allowed (9 Fascinating Space Laws)

As part of our ongoing tribute to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we’re featuring an interesting video that sets out 9 fascinating laws agreed upon by all 196 countries in the World (practically unprecedented).

While the movie doesn’t say so, one must wonder whether the original Star Wars movie influenced the international space laws currently in place. One overarching agreement boils down to “no Death Star or equivalent allowed”.

Watch the movie above to discover the 9 space laws all 196 countries agreed upon:

More about the above video by Amy Lane

There was a big fandango a few Christmases ago, where you could buy a star and name it after someone. Pretty cool. Especially if you thought about being able to schlep off Earth in a few decades with your trusty VW Space Cruiser, and head into your own private solar system. For around $20, you could be an INTERGALACTIC SPACE GOD. Or not. Because it turned out to be a bunch of hokey.

Sadly, one cannot just buy a solar system willy-nilly. This isn’t ‘nam, smokey. There are rules.

Sorry to burst your bubble if you’ve acquired any space property. You can sit on a deckchair and stare at it, but you don’t own it. Space law is about as murky as international maritime law. Can you pop someone in the outer nebula/mid-Pacific, and get away with it? Do laws apply in outer space?

Like death and taxes, the law is a terminal inevitability, from which there is no escape. Even in outer space. But before you start force-punching people in the throat, at least be comforted by the fact that the Outer Space Treaty was written by a bunch of freewheeling hippies who believed that we could come in peace. Kind of.

It was a time of civil and political unrest (like Star Wars. Like now.) Perhaps the world leaders of 1967 decided that since we screwed the pooch on Earth, we could do a better job next time. In space.

Thus the Outer Space Treaty was born. It had pretty rad tenements, like declaring outer space a peaceful province, where no one could crown themselves Supreme Leader. Or turn the Moon into a storage locker for a nuclear arsenal. And even nations who have zero chill (Israel and the Middle East, for example) pulled out their biros and signed the Outer Space Treaty into effect.

Now that the space race is non-exclusive to governmental agencies, the old school principles of the Outer Space Treaty might go out of the shuttle hatch. Hopefully we’ll still keep some Jedi vibes about the inevitable rewrite. But until then, enjoy the fact that at one point in history, we banded together as a planet to write something pretty awesome.

It’s all neatly explained in this video, which will make you feel a bit better about all the weird, depressing stuff happening on Earth right now. Merry Christmas, you filthy animals.

Source: Instant Checkmate

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