Human Beings' Activity In Outer Space And The Law For Protection Of The Outer Space Environment

With the development of science and technology, mankind's activity has experienced the expansion from earth to the sea, from sea to the atmosphere, from atmosphere to the outer space. On Oct. the 4^th, the Sputnik-1, the first artificial satellite of mankind which is made by the Soviet Union, was successfully sent into the space. This incident opened a new era for outer space exploration.In the existing legal system of outer space, there are few regulations related to the environmental protection in the outer space, and among these few regulations , most articles are legal principals which are hard to be executed. Based on the rules and regulations related the outer space and five outer space protocols of international law , namely < Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space , including the Moon and other Celestial Bodies >,< Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts , the Return of Astronauts and Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space >,< Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects >,< Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space >,< Agreement Governing the Activities of states on the Moon and other Celestial Bodies >, this dissertation briefly describe the history, current situation and the foreseeable future development of human beings' activity in outer space , and also depicts the legal definition ,status of outer space and international disputes over the division of outer space. In addition, this dissertation analyzes the negative influences of the mankind's activities in the outer space, such as chemical pollution, biological pollution, radiative pollution, electromagnetic interference over communication , space debris and their causes. The article also describes in details the protection regulations towards outer space and their defects among the fore-mentioned five international protocols of outer space regulation, analyzes the relative compensation systems including the responsible subjects resulting in the damage in outer space, subjects who are entitled to compensation, the situation of subjects-vacancy , criterion of liability, range and method of compensation and so on. Through the explanation of this dissertation, the resource of outer space is belonged to all the human beings. But because outer space is not subjected to the sovereignty of any country , the outer space is susceptible to pollution and damage. Mankind can not afford the repeated occurrence of the same tragedy by adopting the past method of "making up after polluting". Due to the global character of activities in outer space, the protection of outer space is related to the collective interests of international community and the rights and duties of all governments. As a result, the method of protecting outer space through multinational dialogue and cooperation , namely the international legal protection of outer space, is becoming more and more imperative. I also wish that this dissertation could provide some useful suggestions which help to promote the high-level international cooperation , advance scientific and technological development, improve the relative institution, perfect current protocols and agreements, build up new regulations , so as to make my own contributions to the legal protection of outer space.