This summer, I made substantial revisions to my paper on “Outer Space Auctions“, and I just posted my revised work to SSRN (see here). Among other things, a Canadian colleague had recently brought to my attention an important international organization called the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which plays a pivotal role in the allocation of property rights in outer space; see here, for example. Specifically, once the FCC has parceled out an orbit for a satellite, it must then submit its proposed orbit and radio-frequency allocations to the ITU in accordance with the provisions of the international treaty governing the use of radio frequencies, called the Radio Regulations. The ITU not only allocates radio frequencies for every radio-transmitting or radio-receiving satellite in outer space; it also records these allocations in a Master International Frequency Register or MIFR. In addition to allocating radio frequencies in outer space, the ITU also allocates orbital positions for GEO satellites as well as orbital characteristics for non-geostationary satellites in order to avoid signal interference among different satellites in outer space as well as “guarantee equitable access to spectrum and orbital resources for each country.” So, why not auction off those orbits instead of giving them away for free?