The University of Luxembourg hosted the Hague International Space Resources Governance Working Group as part of deliberations around the creation of an international framework on space resources activities.
The Hague Group aims to draft the building blocks for such a framework, involving 35 official members as well as a large group of observers. Members of the group are stakeholders from government, industry, academia and research as well as civil society. The group is hosted by a consortium of universities and research institutions from around the world. The University of Luxembourg officially joined the Consortium in January 2018.
Around 70 participants came together in Luxembourg at the end of November for the second meeting of the second phase of deliberations. The Luxembourg meeting was organised by the SES Chair in Space, SatCom and Media Law, Prof. Mahulena Hofmann. The session was opened by Faculty Dean Prof. Katalin Ligeti who commented the ambition of the group: “Your discoveries, deliberations and recommendations will help establish forms of peaceful cooperation and viable, realistic and sustainable solutions for space resources activities.”
The University of Luxembourg has been closely involved in the government’s space resources initiative launched in 2017. Legal scholars were instrumental in preparing a study on the legal frameworks of space resources activities, which served as the basis for legislation adopted in 2017. In addition, the Faculty has been involved in drafting the general space legislation for Luxembourg, which has been submitted to parliament.
In 2016, the Faculty launched the Master in Space, Communication and Media Law, one of the premier programmes in this field in Europe. With the 2019-2020 academic year, Uni.lu will add an Interdisciplinary Space Master to its study programme offer, which includes aspects of space law teaching.
“Luxembourg plays an important role in space resources activities,” commented Prof. Mahulena Hofmann. “It was a privilege for us to host the Working Group and show Uni.lu as an important contributor to the current debate. We look forward to joining the upcoming sessions and hosting our colleagues once again next year.”