IN 1587 the English jurist(法学家) Sir Edward Coke popularised the legal principle that whoever owned a piece of land also owned the space above it “up to the heavens (and the stars) and down to hell(上至天堂下至地狱)”. Hell may yet be remote, but lately the stars have become more accessible. For much of the 20th century space exploration was a public affair handled by governments and directed toward scientific research. Increasingly it has become a private business filled with commercial aspirants(商业抱负者).
1587年，英国法学家爱德华·柯克爵士推广了一项法律原则：土地所有者对其土地之上的空间拥有所有权，“上至天堂（及星辰），下至地狱”。地狱或许还很遥远，但近来星辰已变得更加触手可及。在20世纪的大部分时间里，太空探索是由政府主导的公共事务，以科学研究为导向。如今，它已日益成为充满商业抱负的私营业务。
The industry’s top firm, SpaceX, Elon Musk’s soon-to-be-listed rocketry venture(火箭发射企业), seeks to establish a city on Mars. Others hope one day to run interplanetary(行星际的) package holidays or mine asteroids and the Moon. The commercial space sector’s annual sales could reach $1.8trn by 2035, reckons the World Economic Forum, the non-profit behind the Davos plutocrats(富豪)’ retreat. As it grows, it is set to give tax collectors a headache(让税务人员头疼). That is because existing space law was crafted for a world in which the heavens were the province(领域，管辖范围) of governments. It is less-suited for a world of space capitalists seeking profit among the stars.
该行业的顶级公司SpaceX——埃隆·马斯克即将上市的火星火箭冒险企业——正寻求在火星上建立一座城市。其他人则希望有一天能经营星际度假套餐，或开采小行星和月球。商业太空部门的年销售额到2035年可能达到1.8万亿美元，世界经济论坛（达沃斯富豪度假地背后的非营利组织）估算。随着它的增长，势必将给税务人员带来头痛。这是因为现有的太空法是为一个天空属于政府管辖的世界而制定的，它不太适应一个太空资本家在群星间寻求利润的世界。
The legal regime(体系，制度) that governs space dates to 1967, when dozens of governments signed the Outer Space Treaty. They agreed that each vessel heading into space would register with a nation, whose laws would apply to it and who would take responsibility for negative externalities(负面外部性), such as debris(碎片，残骸), its activities generated. The agreement made clear that, contrary to Coke(与柯克的观点相反), countries did not control the vertical territory above them beyond a certain point. Today governments mainly tax space companies on their earthbound(地球上的，地面上的) activities, as with America’s recently announced launch fees, which are levied on firms based on payload(有效载荷).
管理太空的法律体系可追溯到1967年，当时数十国政府签署了《外层空间条约》。他们同意，每艘进入太空的飞行器将在某个国家登记，该国法律将适用于该飞行器，并对其活动产生的负面外部性（如碎片）承担责任。该协议明确表明，与柯克的观点相反，国家对其上方超过特定点的垂直领土没有控制权。如今，政府主要对太空公司的地球活动征税，例如美国最近宣布的发射费，根据有效载荷向企业征收。