Michael Listner has the current state of play of US participation. And yes, election-year politics are probably involved. That we aren’t signing on is good news as far as it goes, but there are doubtless other shoes to drop.
2 thoughts on “The EU Code Of Space Conduct”
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Given the lack of interest by the vast majority of voters in space, especially in a complex issue like this one, I don’t think its an election year issue. More likely the White House, after listening to input from different groups decided that the EU agreement would be inconsistent with American space interests.
The Administration has consistently said that it didn’t want to sign onto the EU space code of conduct, even as it was ALSO trying to figure out how to modify said code of conduct and adopt it as its own.
Part of the problem is that, by labeling it the “EU Space code of conduct,” the Europeans ensured that states such as India and China, nobody’s lackey, were never going to sign on. This was something the Administration was trying to work around, as it sought to modify said code for itself.