Only by fostering trust between parties can compromise and substantive agreements truly be made. As for the United States, key issues should center around ensuring fair competition and geographically secure gateway locations. Thus, the U.S. needs to examine competitive practices in the domestic market as they relate to non-U.S. satellite services and all licensed routes those systems use to provide international service. As gateways are expected to service multiple countries, the U.S. should strongly recommend that their geographical placement be within defensible boundaries of countries willing to enter multilateral agreements with all concerned countries using that gateway. Additionally, countries petitioning for gateways within their boarders should have good current and historical standing with organizations such as the United Nations so that international consensus on adverse gateway management has an immediate forum for international resolution.
Issues concerning space debris are inherently problematic.
While the Outer Space Treaty requires registry and retained jurisdiction over objects launched into outer space, those very requirements create limitations to effectuate greater responsibility on spacefaring nations. The central problem is three fold. First, there is no general consensus as to the definition of space debris. Second, only a small percentage of the thousands of objects currently being tracked can be identified to an owner. And third, liability cannot legitimately be asserted without an identified responsible party.