The deployment of
mega-constellations, as a significant advancement in space technology and
commercialization in the twenty-first century, calls for a comprehensive
regulatory framework. This article examines the existing legal and policy landscape,
identifies regulatory gaps and puts forward suggestions on how to come up with
a cohesive international regulatory regime for mega-constellations to ensure
the long-term sustainability of space activities. Given the difficulty of
achieving a binding legal regime, a pragmatic approach should be adopted at the
current stage in enacting guiding principles or concrete guidelines for the
responsible deployment and operation of mega-constellations in the interim,
laying a solid practical foundation for a binding regime in the future.