Differences of opinion on an international space station about a change of course lead to a serious collision with space debris. A spaceship is damaged, and an astronaut dies. Eventually, the participating states bring claims against each other before the International Court of Justice.

This scenario provided the basis for lively discussions between teams of students from numerous universities around the world at the annual international Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court.

Conflict between two states

Regional Rounds determined the winners from Europe, Asia, Africa and North America who competed in the World Final. The students' task was to find legal arguments for both parties to the dispute and to submit them for assessment in two formal pleadings.

The oral presentation of these arguments followed in the Regional Rounds before experts in international law who acted as judges. The European Regional Round was organised by the University of Vienna this year. Due to the restrictions connected to the outbreak of the Corona virus, they were conducted online at the beginning of June. The team of the University of Vienna was declared winner and Hristina Talkova from the University of Vienna won the Best Oralist Award.

University of Vienna won the second place as well as the price for Best Memorial and Best Oralist 

Due to the pandemic the World Finals were also held online on 23 October. The team of the University of Vienna, consisting of Katharina Harreiter, Rosanna Hoffmann und Hristina Talkova, won the World Semi-Final against the University of Pretoria (South Africa) and moved on to the World Final, competing against the team from the National Law University Delhi (India). Both teams brought forth strong arguments, and in the end, the judges from the International Court of Justice, Peter Tomka (Slovakia, President), Joan Donoghue (USA) and Kirill Gevorgian (Russia) declared the team from the National Law University Delhi (India) to be the winners. The University of Vienna received the World Best Memorial Award, and Hristina Talkova was again crowned as Best Oralist. 

The team was coached by Mag. Clara Baumgartner and Mag. Michael Friedl, who themselves participated in the Space Law Moot Court a few years ago. Since then, they have been supporting the following teams, this year as university assistants within the framework of a joint course. The University of Vienna has been participating in this competition since 2012 on the initiative of ao. Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr.  Irmgard Marboe from the Section for International Law and International Relations. After reaching the finals of the European Rounds last year, winning second place in the World Final is the most successful result so far