curiouswombat (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
curiouswombat) wrote2008-07-25 07:30 pm
curiouswombat) wrote2008-07-25 07:30 pm
Entry tags:
- d-d,
- life,
- small island,
- space
We own ur skyz, u iz payin us rent....
Daughter-dear is spending eight weeks of this summer doing a project as part of the Shell Step programme, in her case developing a database of local community organisations.
However she is having a short break from it this week to get work experience with a local law company and she seems to be enjoying every minute of this. The company, Cains is actually a major player in a number of fields, and her time there has included looking at maritime law, registering ships, a meeting of the Financial Supervision Commission to discuss the registration of a new bank, and obtaining mortgages on aircraft.
Did you know you can get a mortgage on an airplane? And that at least one big bank requires any plane mortgaged with it to have a plaque fastened to the fuselage to say so?
But the most interesting thing has been the Space Law department!
Apparently, back sometime last century, it occurred to the international community that, if satellites etc. were going to become commonplace, space needed dividing up and to belong to people. Britain, trying to own as much space as possible, pointed out that they were responsible for the Crown Dependencies, and ought to get space for them too, which the British would administer.
Except that the Manx government, in more recent years, said to the UK government "Well thanks for administering our bit of space for us, but we'll take it back now and administer it ourselves". The UK government realised that they couldn't refuse - and we now administer our own bit of space, licensing satellites etc. and earning money from it.
Now comes the really weird bit. Space was not dished out so that you own the bit above yourselves, but as a sort of patchwork to ensure reasonable bits for all. And you know which bit belongs to us? Well, if you live in the middle of the USA, just look upwards.
Yes, that's right - if you want to put a satellite into geostationary orbit over somewhere in the vague vicinity of Nebraska or Kansas you have to get it registered with the Isle-of-Man government and pay us rent!!
Now how cool is that?
However she is having a short break from it this week to get work experience with a local law company and she seems to be enjoying every minute of this. The company, Cains is actually a major player in a number of fields, and her time there has included looking at maritime law, registering ships, a meeting of the Financial Supervision Commission to discuss the registration of a new bank, and obtaining mortgages on aircraft.
Did you know you can get a mortgage on an airplane? And that at least one big bank requires any plane mortgaged with it to have a plaque fastened to the fuselage to say so?
But the most interesting thing has been the Space Law department!
Apparently, back sometime last century, it occurred to the international community that, if satellites etc. were going to become commonplace, space needed dividing up and to belong to people. Britain, trying to own as much space as possible, pointed out that they were responsible for the Crown Dependencies, and ought to get space for them too, which the British would administer.
Except that the Manx government, in more recent years, said to the UK government "Well thanks for administering our bit of space for us, but we'll take it back now and administer it ourselves". The UK government realised that they couldn't refuse - and we now administer our own bit of space, licensing satellites etc. and earning money from it.
Now comes the really weird bit. Space was not dished out so that you own the bit above yourselves, but as a sort of patchwork to ensure reasonable bits for all. And you know which bit belongs to us? Well, if you live in the middle of the USA, just look upwards.
Yes, that's right - if you want to put a satellite into geostationary orbit over somewhere in the vague vicinity of Nebraska or Kansas you have to get it registered with the Isle-of-Man government and pay us rent!!
Now how cool is that?
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Kathleen
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It sounds as if the whole of orbital space has been divided like medieval strip farming to give everyone fair shares.
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And I'm glad that DD is enjoying her time there. It sounds like very interesting work. In fact, our school just started a specialization on Space Law.
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She is fascinated by the whole thing, and they have been very good at organising things so that she saw a lot, spent time in their library, understood how the business actually runs. They don't have to do this - she just wrote and asked if there was any chance of either an internship or work-experience, and they said that although there were no internships, she was welcome to come and spend time with them.
Apparently Cains are quite well up with their specialism in space law - for such a small place, who'd a thunk?
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I knew about the plane loan-a friend of mine owns a Cessna,although his bank doesn't require anything to be attached to it. :-)
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It was the thought of the plaque that really got me about the plane mortgages, too!
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If he ever wants to put his own satellite up then 'Ise-of-Man Government' should be adequate....
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I have a bit of Manx over my head.
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I just want to know if you still have to turn around and pay that rent to Manannan, that's all.
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I think perhaps Mannanan would get the right to put up as many satellites as he liked without question, maybe!
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I've been trying to find a map online to see who owns which bits of space - but my Google-fu seems to have deserted me, I don't seem to be able to get the right search criteria.
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She is planning to go to law school when she has finished her degree - so another year to go until she has her BA, and then, hopefully, two years post-frad at law-school. Then she hopes to do corporate law.
And then she can keep me in a manner to which I'd like to be accustomed....
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