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, opened for signature in 1975 and in force since 15 September 1976, 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. This is not administrative housekeeping: registration determines which state retains jurisdiction and control over the object under the 1967 Treaty, therefore which state may authorize any intervention on it, and it identifies who answers when damage is caused to a third party. The convention shows its limits when a satellite changes owner in orbit, a case it never contemplated and for which no transfer of registry is provided, and when large numbers of small objects are deployed from an already registered carrier. For an underwriter the chain is direct: registration, by designating the launching state, 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 15 September 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.
registration convention, convention sur l'immatriculation, registre des objets spatiaux, état d'immatriculation