The Multilevel Regulation of Suborbital Flights: The Italian Case

Nowadays, space represents a global environment, where new economies emerge and are developed, with the aim to attain objectives of social welfare, as well as economic growth and innovation, deemed as instrumental for the economic development and competitiveness of a country. Within such a scenario, suborbital flights have been gaining more interest in institutional fora and in academic works, while initially they were conceived as a leisure activity and a form of space tourism. However, suborbital flights have not yet been regulated either at international or regional levels. By contrast, various regulatory frameworks exist at national levels. After having analysed the international and regional regulatory frameworks (specifically, the European Union), this paper focuses on the Italian experience in the space domain (particularly suborbital flights), passing through the main initiatives undertaken recently in that country.