The University of Cologne’s Institute of Air Law, Space Law and Cyber Law reflects back on a hundred years of history, which it will celebrate from 22 to 23 May 2025. The Institute was founded a century ago as the Institute for Air Law in Königsberg and has become an important centre for research and teaching in the fields of air law, space law and cyber law in recent decades. It is the only one of its kind in Germany and is one of the few institutions worldwide that compares to similar institutes at the universities in Leiden (Netherlands) and Montreal (Canada). Professor Dr Stephan Hobe has been the institute’s director since 2001.

A major scientific symposium will be held to mark the anniversary, followed by a celebratory gala dinner at Flora in Cologne. Henriette Reker, Mayor of the City of Cologne, and Professor Dr Thomas von Danwitz, Vice-President of the European Court of Justice and Chair at the University of Cologne, will be speaking at the gala dinner. One highlight will be a presentation on space by ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, who spent around six months on board the International Space Station (ISS). He will be explaining the work of astronauts and the importance of space law.

Interested parties and press representatives are invited to take part in the celebrations. For more information and to register for the symposium and the gala dinner, please contact: Sekretariat-hobe@uni-koeln.de

The symposium will conclude on 23 May with the adoption of the ‘Cologne Manual on Space Traffic Management’. The international study is the result of a cooperation project with the German Aerospace Center, which is developing a concept for regulating space traffic. Stephan Hobe says: ‘In twenty or thirty years’ time, we can expect to see a lot of civilian traffic in space. Even transporting people and freight from one planet in the solar system to another will no longer be fiction.’ This raises the question of liability in the event of collisions in space: there is currently no legal framework that regulates the fault of the parties. ‘There is no right of way in space. Our philosophy, therefore, is to establish fixed rules for space traffic now, instead of waiting until it is too late,’ Hobe adds.

Media Contact:
Professor Dr Stephan Hobe
Institute of Air Law and Space Law of the University of Cologne
+49 221 470 2337
Secretariat-Hobe@uni-koeln.de  
Stephan.Hobe@uni-koeln.de

Press and Communications Team:
Robert Hahn
+49 221 470 2396
r.hahn@verw.uni-koeln.de

Further information:
‘Space News’ podcast in celebration of the 100th birthday: 
https://ilwr.jura.uni-koeln.de/100-jahre/podcast-space-news

Programme:
https://ilwr.jura.uni-koeln.de/100-jahre/symposium

Press Spokesperson: Dr Elisabeth Hoffmann – e.hoffmann@verw.uni-koeln.de