Professor Frans G. von der Dunk, of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Law, is a prominent legal authority on a host of space issues, including orbital debris. Professor von der Dunk, the author of more than 130 articles and published papers, has held the Harvey and Susan Perlman Alumni / Othmer Chair of Space Law at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s LL.M. Program on Space and Telecommunication Law since January 2008.  (Read von der Dunk's view on Space Debris Liability Risk)

When asked about his role in the space law arena, Professor von der Dunk said he feels a duty that goes beyond his teaching, research and public speaking to try to influence key decision makers. Since relatively little space law has been established, compared to many other fields, Professor von der Dunk still could be considered somewhat of a pioneer in the subject matter.

“Luckily, the space law world is still small enough for me to know some people who have some influence in the international governmental and intergovernmental context, so that something might actually happen,” Professor von der Dunk said. “For the time being, I do not see a real breakthrough happening from the ground up.”

Nonetheless, many of his articles and published papers can be accessed easily at the University of Nebraska's DigitalCommons, allowing full-text downloads. He has given upward of 140 presentations at international meetings and was a visiting professor at more than 30 universities and other academic institutions throughout the world on the subjects of international and national space law and policy, international air law and public international law.

In addition, Professor von der Dunk has organized or co-organized roughly 20 international symposia, workshops and other events. He also has been editor or co-editor of a number of publications and proceedings. Since 2006, he has served as editor of “Studies in Space Law.”

Professor von der Dunk has served as adviser to the Dutch government, several foreign governments, the European Commission, the European Space Agency (ESA), the United Nations (UN), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Dutch National Aerospace Agency (NIVR). He also has advised the Japanese Space Exploration Agency (JAXA), the German Space Agency (DLR), the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB), the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) and the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), as well as a number of companies.

He further was a member of an advisory group to the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) on the drafting of Optional Rules for Arbitration of Disputes relating to Outer Space. Such advisory work dealt with an array of issues related to space activities, including space policy, international cooperation in space, national space law, privatization of space activities, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as Galileo, satellite communications, radio astronomy, and earth observation.

Professor von der Dunk also took a key role in a number of studies that focused on European Commission projects, such as on European space policy, Galileo and GNSS, satellite communications, the Global Monitoring for the Environment and Security (GMES) project and earth observation. Much of his recent work has delved into issues such as space tourism, planetary protection, the legal status of the Moon, other celestial bodies and the “sale-of-lunar-estate hoax.”

He also established his own space law and policy consulting firm, Black Holes BV, of Leiden, The Netherlands. Previously, he was co-director and later director of Space Law Research at the International Institute of Air and Space Law at Leiden University.

Among his list of honors, Professor von der Dunk was awarded the Distinguished Service Award of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) in Vancouver in October 2004. In addition, he received the Social Science Award of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) in Valencia during October 2006.

More recently, he was nominated in the summer of 2008 as the first lawyer to become a member of the European Space Sciences Committee (ESSC) of the European Space Foundation (ESF).

He defended his dissertation on “Private Enterprise and Public Interest in the European ‘Spacescape’” in 1998. Among other roles, Professor von der Dunk is director of public relations of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL), member of the board of the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL) and a member for the Netherlands in the International Law Association’s (ILA) Committee on Space Law.

Professor von der Dunk holds memberships in the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), American Branch of the International Law Association (ABILA), International Bar Association’s (IBA) Section on Business Law (SBL) and Committee Z on Outer Space Law. He also is a member of the International Policy Advisory Committee (IPAC) of the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and Centro de Investigacion y Difusion Aeronautico-Espacial (CIDA-E).

Paul Dykewicz is a seasoned journalist who has covered the development of satellite television, satellite radio, satellite broadband and hosted payloads.