4 ms·
> I don't particularly like the precedent we just set especially in view of the fact that the upper limit of sovereign airspace is not defined by international
by aragonite 4y ago
> I don't particularly like the precedent we just set
especially in view of the fact that the upper limit of sovereign airspace is not defined by international law. In fact there are proposals to treat the 18-160km zone as a transitional region of reduced sovereignty akin to EEZs.
https://iaass.space-safety.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2021/07/IAASS-near-space-the-quest-for-a-new-legal-frontier.pdf https://iaass.space-safety.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2...
> Legally however, it is an indistinct region where it is not clear whether the operations that take place are covered by aviation or space conventions and treaties, in particular with reference to the freedom of overflight that applies to space orbital operations
Also:
> Although outer space is free, if states are allowed to claim vertical sovereignty up to the point where orbital dynamics are possible, other states will be precluded from having free access to space
> John A. Johnson, General Counsel of [NASA] and [of USAF], said in 1964 "there should therefore be no legal basis for protesting, merely on grounds of unpermitted presence, the overflight of national territory by ascending and descending spacecraft, regardless of altitude."
https://scholar.smu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1126&context=jalc https://scholar.smu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1126&con...
Also see:
https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/43439/is-there-a-height-limit-to-national-airspace https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/43439/is-there-...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_sovereignty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_sovereignty
- prox 4y agoWhile that’s an admirable goal, in practice this is an operation above or in US airspace, which seemed to be unannounced by another nation state. There is little wiggle room for an honest blunder. China could have send out a press release their balloon was out of control or whatever.
- aragonite 4y agoI agree the visibility makes it worse, but my sense is that stratospheric balloon overflight is something that happens fairly frequently and most of the time does not cause diplomatic incidents (which explains why we heard nothing about it the 4-5 times it happened in the past several years). Another instance is this Google balloon that recently fell out of the sky in the Congo: https://twitter.com/kambale/status/1621811081206439937 https://twitter.com/kambale/status/1621811081206439937