Legal Aspects of Modern Global Competition in Space

摘要

This article is dedicated to an analysis of the background, modern practice, and the likely consequences of the measures taken by the United States to monopolize the global markets of space products, which today can be considered as a new global challenge to humanity. It is concluded that the bilateral Artemis Accords, initiated in 2020 with the declared purpose of exploring the circumlunar space and the Moon itself under the leading role of the United States, have features of a future transnational space megacartel. The largest, primarily American, companies that are already working on the creation of the main elements of the program for the commercial exploration of the Moon may become participants in this megacartel. As an optimal response from Russia to the monopolization of the global space economy, the authors propose the development of an integrative model of the space economy. Such a model should combine both measures to develop competition among national entities of the domestic markets of space products and steps towards concentrating the efforts of all interested economic entities to achieve the maximum competitiveness of Russia and Russian companies in the global markets. The necessity of forming an international legal basis for combating cartels in the markets of space goods is substantiated, including the development of measures to counter the monopolization of global space markets and the establishment of control over outer space and celestial bodies.