Registration of a space object
Entry of a launched object on a national register and the United Nations register, which designates the competent state and therefore the payer of any compensation.
The Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space was opened for signature in 1975 and entered into force on September 15, 1976. It requires the launching state to keep a national register and to furnish the United Nations Secretary-General with identifying particulars of each object: its designator, date and location of launch, orbital parameters and general function. Registration determines which state retains jurisdiction and control over the object under the 1967 Treaty, and therefore which state may authorize any intervention on it. It also identifies who answers when damage is caused to a third party. The convention shows its limits when a satellite changes owner in orbit: it never contemplated the case and provides no transfer of registry. It shows them again when large numbers of small objects are deployed from an already registered carrier. For an underwriter the chain is direct. By designating the launching state, registration designates the party liable to compensate under the 1972 Convention, and therefore the ultimate beneficiary of third-party liability cover.
The register kept by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in Vienna lists objects declared by states since the convention entered into force on September 15, 1976. Constellation deployments in low Earth orbit since 2019 have opened gaps between the number of objects tracked by surveillance networks and the number actually declared.
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