According to one person it does:
<PERSON> mission is the third manned expedition to Mars, where he resides in a NASA-built “Hab” and drives a NASA rover on the planet’s surface. In a desperate bid to survive, he eventually decides to try driving the rover to a NASA lander that was sent to Mars in preparation for another manned mission taking place roughly four years after his own.
In the meantime, he gets to thinking about Martian law: There’s an international treaty saying no country can lay claim to anything that’s not Earth. And by another treaty, if you’re not in any country’s territory, maritime law applies. So Mars is “international waters.” NASA is an American nonmilitary organization, and it owns the Hab. So while I’m in the Hab, American law applies. As soon as I step outside, I’m in international waters. Then when I get in the rover, I’m back to American law. 989
Here’s the cool part: I will eventually go … commandeer the Ares 4 lander. Nobody explicitly gave me permission to do this, and they can’t until I’m aboard Ares 4 and operating the comm system. After I board Ares 4, before talking to NASA, I will take control of a craft in international waters without permission. That makes me a pirate! A space pirate!
<PERSON> is referencing the Outer Space Treaty signed by the United States and the former Soviet Union in 1967, said <PERSON>, an <PERSON> Professor of Space Law at UNL.
“Basically agreed upon by the two giant Cold War adversaries, the idea was to prevent the historic land grabs of colonialist times from extending to outer space – thereby hopefully preventing it from becoming another battleground,” said <PERSON>, a foremost authority on space law. “It is often hailed as the Magna Carta of outer space, meaning it serves as the grand framework treaty providing the overarching legal regime for all human activity … in outer space, based on freedom for all to peacefully explore and use (it).”
<PERSON> generally agreed with <PERSON>’s interpretation of the treaty, saying that “individual space objects … can be made to fall under the quasi-territorial jurisdiction of the state of registry, just like ships or aircraft registered (on Earth).”
As for <PERSON>’s claim to space piracy?
“One could make that argument, yes,” <PERSON> said. “But I would be careful, for analogies with sea piracy are difficult here. If this qualifies as a real emergency, he might well be in his right to grab any craft that could help him out of dire straits if he is not directly endangering others.” 495