Resources
Resources
Primary sources for space law, checked and dated. Treaty status, national legislation, regulator pages and the explainers worth reading first.
54 regulator entries5 treaties trackedChecked August 2026
Start here
Three things worth bookmarking
Each one links straight to the official source rather than to a summary of it.
Space Regulatory Bodies
Every licensing authority, treaty body and register that governs activity in orbit, grouped by region and filterable.
54 entries Treaty statusUNOOSA Status Table
The authoritative record of which states have signed, ratified or acceded to each of the five UN space treaties.
unoosa.org National lawNational Space Law Collection
A searchable database of domestic space legislation submitted by member states. The fastest route to a statute you have not read.
unoosa.orgThe five treaties
Status as at 1 January 2026
Figures from the UNOOSA status document prepared for the 65th session of the COPUOS Legal Subcommittee.
| Treaty | Entered into force | States parties | Signature only |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outer Space Treaty 1967 | 10 October 1967 | 118 | 23 |
| Rescue Agreement 1968 | 3 December 1968 | 100 | 23 |
| Liability Convention 1972 | 1 September 1972 | 100 | 18 |
| Registration Convention 1975 | 15 September 1976 | 77 | 3 |
| Moon Agreement 1979 | 11 July 1984 | 17 | 4 |
The Outer Space Treaty, the Rescue Agreement and the Liability Convention have three depositaries: the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Registration Convention and the Moon Agreement are deposited with the UN Secretary-General.
Our own
Read these before the primary sources
Plain English on the treaties, the licensing regimes and the commercial machinery around them.
Who Owns What on the Moon? Article II, the Artemis Accords and Space Resources
Nobody can own the Moon and everyone agrees on that. Whether a company owns the regolith it digs is unsettled,…
How to Build a Career in Space Law
The field people imagine and the field that hires are different. Four routes in, what actually differentiates candidates, and an…
Cross Waivers, MPL and Indemnification: How Launch Contracts Allocate Catastrophe
Everyone bears their own losses regardless of fault. Above that sit three tiers of third party protection, one of which…
Space Insurance Explained: How a $650 Million Market Prices Risk in Orbit
One bad year in 2023 wiped out several good ones and pushed the five year margin negative for the first…
How ITU Filings Decide Who Gets Spectrum and Orbital Slots
Orbital positions are not owned, they are recorded. Here is the filing chain, the seven year bringing into use deadline,…
Space Debris Liability: Who Pays When Satellites Collide
The Liability Convention applies a fault standard to orbital collisions and never defines fault. That gap is why no claim…
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