Michelle Hanlon to Oversee International Effort on Law Governing Space Solar Power

The International Academy of Astronautics has named University of Mississippi law professor Michelle Hanlon to its permanent committee on space solar power. There she will serve as co-chair of the legal and regulatory consideration subcommittee.

The International Academy of Astronautics is an independent, nongovernmental organization that seeks to develop peaceful human space travel and exploration. As countries look to develop clean, efficient forms of power, the IAA formed the Permanent Committee on Space Solar Power to advise on ways of harnessing and delivering sunlight-powered energy from outer space to markets on Earth.

“What the committee is doing is trying to show the world that this isn’t science fiction,” Profesor Hanlon said. “It can happen, and it’s something that governments should be putting a ton of work behind because not only is it clean, but it’s cheaper when you put the structures in place.”

Orbital solar power could be a clean, efficient energy source that would reduce the carbon emissions contributing to climate change. “If we are going to support this concept, we’re going to need a ton of solar panels up in GEO (geosynchronous Earth orbit) and that’s going to take up a lot of space,” Professor Hanlon said. “This is an effort that needs international collaboration.”

Professor Hanlon is the executive director of the Center for Air and Space Law in the Ole Miss School of Law and co-founder and CEO of For All Moonkind, a nonprofit corporation that is the only organization in the world focused on obtaining international legal recognition for and protection of human cultural heritage in outer space. She is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Space Law, the world’s oldest law journal dedicated to the legal problems arising out of human activities in outer space. She is also the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Drone Law and Policy, the first legal journal focused on law and regulations governing the operation and use of uncrewed aircraft in both civilian and military capacities.

Professor Hanlon received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Yale University. She earned a juris doctorate from the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., and a master’s degree in air and space law from McGill University in Montreal.