I've now published a short new section of the New World Rising story. In the background I'm toiling away on the next part of the main storyline, but for some context we are skipping back millions of kilometres to Earth, and to a U.N. conference centre, where we eavesdrop on a couple of conversations.
Nowal No'man Saiid, the CEO and majority shareholder of Sabir Space Industries, is acting as a delegate at the negotiations to update and re-write what is known as the Outer Space Treaty, or more formally as 'Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies'.
You can read the actual treaty, which was developed through the 1960s, on this U.N. website. The initial page is a summary and introduction, but the first link in the text should give you the complete text. It's not light reading!
The legalities of what is and isn't allowed above the Earth's atmosphere is a real concern. There is even an International Institute of Space Law.
In this short piece of writing, I imagined what it would be like when this treaty is finally updated to align with the present realities of space exploration.
Here it is; it will be followed fairly soon by a much larger amount of writing, following the SSI team on the surface of Mars. So far, you can access these pieces via 'History Makers'.
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