The Woomera Manual on the International Law of Military Space Activities and Operations serves as the first comprehensive examination of the field.
The Woomera Manual analyzes all three phases of military space interactions (during times of peace, tension or crisis, and armed conflict), with relevance to both the public and private space sectors. Utilizing meticulous research and focusing particularly on state practice, it explores the interaction of different legal regimes, including space law, the UN Charter, other treaty-based regimes, as well as international humanitarian law.
In 2018, a team of researchers and international experts began examining the interaction of different legal regimes applied to military activities in space. The WoomeraManual project has been led by its Editor-in-Chief, Professor Jack Beard. Since the work began, more than a dozen Nebraska Law students have worked on the Manual providing research and editorial support.
“The six years of this Manual has involved a lot of students here at Nebraska,” said Beard. “It is unquestionably one of the biggest highlights of the Manual for me.”
In addition to research and editing support, Nebraska Law students also had the opportunity to collaborate with other law student researchers around the world. Jon Natvig, ’23, served as the Rapporteur for the Manual, and was able to travel with Beard to The Hague, Netherlands, where the Editorial Board met for three days with the representatives of 24 states to review the Manual in a consultation process hosted by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“I thoroughly enjoyed getting to be a part of a manual that is certainly the first of its kind,” said Natvig. “More importantly, getting the opportunity to work with Professor Beard, as well as my fellow students at the University of Nebraska College of Law and the experts and representatives from governments from across the world, has been unparalleled.”
The Woomera Manual on the International Law of Military Space Operations is an international research project lead by Nebraska Law, the University of Adelaide and the University of New South Wales – Canberra in Australia, and the University of Exeter, UK. Work on the Manual has been supported by experts from around the world who met in five workshops, including one workshop at the University of Nebraska hosted by the faculty, students, and staff of the College of Law. The Woomera Manual is named after a South Australian township that was the base of many Australian and international rocket launches in the 1960s and 1970s.
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty governs the use and exploration of outer space and, with its implementing agreements, serves as the foundation of international space law. The Woomera Manual builds on this legal regime by objectively articulating and clarifying existing international law applicable to military space activities and operations. The goal of the Manual is to provide assistance to those called upon to apply international law in contexts of strategic decision- making, policy- setting, and/ or military activities and operations in space. More broadly, it is designed to assist military and civilian government personnel, space operators, and practitioners involved in military space activities and operations, and other interested observers. It is hoped that the Manual may become a useful and reliable reference tool for aiding governments and military forces to avoid miscalculations or strategic error, to advance peaceful cooperation in space, and to help provide a safer and more predictable framework for military space activities and operations.
The Nebraska Space, Cyber, and National Security Law Program is globally recognized for its rich history steeped in the intersections of security, space and technology. The Program’s distinguished faculty, including Professor Beard, consult with the US and foreign governments, non-governmental organizations, corporations, and military actors. Graduates of the program work in government agencies, military organizations, and across spectrum of the space industry in the private sector.
“Working on the Woomera Manual has been one of the great experiences of my law school career,” said Matias Cava, ’24. “This is a manual that will be instructive to people actually operating in space.”
