United Nations charter. To underscore this view, the U.N. during the celebration on May 3, 1978 of “Sun Day" issued a statement through its Director of the Environmental Programme, dramatizing the immediate possibilities of the “solar option.” Specifically, the U.N. Secretary-General, through his Under-Secretary-General for Public Information, stated the following: “The United Nations have long been interested in the possibilities of solar power and alternative energy sources, including the extent to which the sun could provide the basis for international cooperation in the exploitation and development of this abundant energy resources.” He further stated “that the U.N. have been striving to improve the living conditions of the peoples of the world, and that governments have begun to realize the importance of the human environment in their search for new energy sources. Governments of the world community are now beginning to view solar power technology as an inexhaustible and safe source of clean energy environmentally attractive and technologically feasible" (8). President Carter of the U.S. told participants at the Sun-Day rally in Golden, Colorado, in 1978 that he had authorized additional expenditure of $100 million for research and development on solar power projects, and had directed his cabinet to formulate a “national solar strategy.” He concluded his speech with “nobody can embargo sunlight” and that “no cartel controls the sun, and its energy will not pollute our air or poison our waters. It is free of stench and smog. The sun's power needs only to be collected, stored and used” (9). Solar satellites have to be placed in the geostationary orbit. The geostationary orbit is a circular orbit at a distance of approximately 35,871 km over the earth’s equator. A satellite placed in orbit turns within the same period as the earth itself and remains stationary in relation to the underlying point of the earth. There are two problems linked with this geostationary orbit. The first one is the Bogota Declaration of the Equatorial States claiming sovereignty (10). On 3 December 1976, eight equatorial states declared “that the geostationary synchronous orbit is a physical fact linked to the reality of our planet because its existence depends exclusively on its relation to gravitational phenomena generated by the earth and that is why it must not be considered part of outer space.” These states claimed the complete and exclusive sovereignty about the corresponding air and cosmic space segment of the geostationary orbit (11). The general opinion expressed in several meetings of the U.N. Legal SubCommittee on space law is that this claim of sovereignty is against the text and the spirit of the Treaty of 1967 (12). Art. 1 of the Treaty of 1967 declares that outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies shall be free for exploration and use for the benefit of all. The Bogota Declaration considers the geostationary orbit as a natural resource. About the contents of the term “natural resources” there still exists no consensus, even if the term has been used several times in the recently concluded Treaty on the Moon and other celestial bodies. The second problem is the limited availability of the geostationary orbit. Solar power satellites are included in geostationary satellites. The United Nations mentioned that the saturation of the geostationary orbit is determined by the number of communication channels (13). Because of the limitation of the radio spectrum, the International Telecommunication Union has been entrusted with the regulation of the spectrum’s utilization. Closely related with this topic is the problem of the definition and the delimitation of air and outer space. The U.N. Legal Sub-Committee on Outer Space treated this subject in April of this year (14). During the discussions it became clear that some
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