REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS FOR SATELLITES AND THE REALITY OF LARGE CONSTELLATIONS: Ensuring a symbiosis of international law requirements and practicability

The present registration practice of space objects has not kept pace with the growing number of large constellations and increasingly complex multi-cluster launches. In the past, launch campaigns were relatively simple and transparent: A launch service provider (governmental or non-governmental) launched its own or a foreign payload (space object). The situation had become increasingly complex with multi-cluster launch events, where a multitude of participants of different countries is involved, and with the launch of constellations, where the set-up is broken up into a sequence of different launch events. The registration practice should be adapted to these new realities, without abandoning the basic principles of the registration system. The chapter outlines the essential principles of the current registration system, and proposes a way forward how to adapt the registration practice. This includes an active contribution by the project management of the non-governmental actors involved.