OneWeb, SpaceX, Blue Origin, new actors, new funding tools, new insurance policies; need for new lawyers? Following the Sputnik launch back in 1957, the Space Race of the Cold War pitted the world’s two superpowers against one another to explore what lies beyond Earth. Now anyone with enough money and enterprise can get into space. This new race is therefore not between countries – it is between companies. Technological advances are overturning traditional models for operating in space. A host of firms are promising cheaper access to space, with innovations such as renewable rockets and horizontal launch systems. Satellites are getting smaller and becoming cheaper to build. In 2017, more than 70 states, commercial companies and international organisations operated nearly 1,500 satellites in orbit (swfound.org). Investment is pouring into the space sector. In 2016, the global space economy totalled US$329bn, with 75 per cent of that coming from commercial activity – not governments. In 2017, it totalled US$383.5bn, revealing a growth of more than 15 per cent (Space Foundation Report 2018). The session will explore the legal issues behind this development, as well as insurance, financing (funding satellite as assets), regulation, commercial side of dual-use satellites, etc.