Live long and prosper ... and may the dialogue continue ...

It was such fun last week to meet the Chinese students who travelled to Oxford, Mississippi for the US - China Student Space Law Symposium 2010 at Ole Miss.  I loved photographing the students at the various parties and I know from their many thank you emails that they had a fabulous time here during their brief visit.  They were all so dear as to invite everyone they met to come visit them in China.  Professor Gabrynowicz said, as she described our participation in this symposium, "We've all made the world just a teeny-tiny bit better."

Here's to the hope for continued dialogue with our Chinese friends, in all matters of the world, for the planet Earth and in space.  (Cue the final frontier soundtrack - these are the voyages of the starship Enterprise...)

This is, indeed, a very interesting time for space law, with the problems of man-made space debris, satellite imaging, and the militarization of space coming into focus as truly serious issues.  It was even more interesting that the news of the Chinese space station was revealed to the U.S. media during the symposium.

China plans to launch an 8.5 ton military space station, Tiangong-1, in late 2010.

Photo Credit: TV Grab - image televised during a national Chinese New Year broadcast.

To learn more about the topics discussed during the US - China Student Space Law Symposium 2010 at Ole Miss, read these blog posts from Res Communis,  the University of Mississippi School of Law's blog on the legal aspects of human activities using aerospace technologies:

U.S. – China Student Space Law Symposium: Welcome

U.S. – China Student Space Law Symposium: China and Non-weaponization of Outer Space

U.S. – China Student Space Law Symposium: Enlightened State Interest – A Legal Framework for Protecting the “Common Interest of All Mankind” from a Hardinian Tragedy

U.S. – China Student Space Law Symposium: Prospects of Chinese Space Tourism and Proposals for Its Legislation

U.S. – China Student Space Law Symposium: The March of Science – Fourth Amendment Implications of Remote Sensing in Criminal Law

U.S. – China Student Space Law Symposium: Criminal Jurisdiction in the International Space Station

U.S. – China Student Space Law Symposium: Studies on Legal System of Chinese Satellite Communication

U.S. – China Student Space Law Symposium: Some Issues on International Remote Sensing Law

U.S. – China Student Space Law Symposium: An Insurer’s Dilemma for Insuring Commercial Human Space Flight

U.S. – China Student Space Law Symposium: Legal Issues on Militarization in Outer Space and Space Debris