Tra Marte e gli spazioporti: qual è la linea dell'Italia?

The commercial exploitation of resources in celestial bodies and suborbital tourism are among the main developments which are likely to affect space activities in the years to come. In both areas, public and private projects are being developed, and national laws are adopted in some countries with a view, inter alia, to enabling the birth and growth of new market opportunities. In the area of space resources, the US sponsored Artemis Accords are an attempt to promote these policy objectives on a wider scale. The international legal framework does not provide clear guidance in either field. While there is a need for new international rules to safeguard fundamental public interests, the risk is that of a rush to a unilateral far west. At best, international efforts will produce non-binding guidelines. Italy is contributing to deve- lopments concerning both the commercial exploitation of resources and suborbital tourism: questionably, however, it does so by means of nearly hidden governmental decisions and technical regulations, while a national space law is long overdue.