An Exegesis On Space Law:

The increase in human’s exploits in exploration of the world is indeed one of the foremost developments of the 21^st Century. Man has from time immemorial, explored and exploited the realm of seas and oceans to a considerable extent. Even as claims of the ocean being largely unexplored persist, maritime law is relatively a developed jurisprudence across all countries having any sort of identity with seas and oceans. In the same vein, man has focused his attention to the exploration and development of the outer space. Ever since Yuri Gagarin’s first contact with the space, man has not looked back in his pursuit of establishing life in the outer space. In 1962, AT&T, together with Bell Telephone Laboratories, funded NASA’s launch of what may have been the first commercial satellites in the outer space known as the Telstar 1 satellite. Only about two years later, the Hughes Aircraft Company developed the Syncom 3 satellite, which was a geosynchronous communications satellite, and leased same to the department of defence. Similar developments have followed suit, and as expected, the exploration  of the outer space has become largely a subject of territorial acquisition and claims for ownership, both by States and private individuals alike.

As at today, numerous Countries operate agencies in the space (including 14 capable of launching payloads) as well as private entities who are on the quest to establish themselves as market forces providing space-related services. As a result, there’s a fast growing interest in the legal regime of space exploration, making space law one of the fast emerging areas of law.

Telstar 1 is a communications satellite launched by NASA on July 10, 1962, it allowed the first live broadcast of television images between the United States and Europe.

A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches Earth’s rotation on its axis, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (one sidereal day).