Yes it is still valid today. Nearly all countries are signatories, including all space faring states and aspiring space faring states (including N. Korea).
It's the one law we have for activities in space. It's the reason we don't have military bases on the Moon, or nuclear weapons in orbit and the reason we don't need to be concerned that the US, Russia, China, India, Japan or any other country will lay claim to the Moon or other solar system objects. It's also the basis for the interplanetary measures we take to protect other places in the solar system from Earth life (e.g. the reason Dawn has to go into orbit around Ceres because of the impossible to assess risk of contaminating it with Earth life if it crashes) and Earth from introduced life from other planets (should that exist).
This map shows all signatories in green, signed (first stage of passing it into law) but not ratified in yellow, and non signatories in red.
It was quite an achievement. Attempts to pass space laws since then have usually failed. E.g. the Moon treaty, has only a few signatories.
Without it, I think our world would be a rather different place now. Main reason that countries can, confidently, do peaceful exploration of the solar system, I'd say.
It's not easy to get all the countries to agree on a treaty!
It's the one law we have for activities in space. It's the reason we don't have military bases on the Moon, or nuclear weapons in orbit and the reason we don't need to be concerned that the US, Russia, China, India, Japan or any other country will lay claim to the Moon or other solar system objects. It's also the basis for the interplanetary measures we take to protect other places in the solar system from Earth life (e.g. the reason Dawn has to go into orbit around Ceres because of the impossible to assess risk of contaminating it with Earth life if it crashes) and Earth from introduced life from other planets (should that exist).
This map shows all signatories in green, signed (first stage of passing it into law) but not ratified in yellow, and non signatories in red.
Without it, I think our world would be a rather different place now. Main reason that countries can, confidently, do peaceful exploration of the solar system, I'd say.
It's not easy to get all the countries to agree on a treaty!
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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