Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 1...

Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 17 to 26.

        Space debris is no longer a cinematic conceit but a quotidian hazard. In 2024, an ISS battery pallet tore through a Florida home; other fragments spattered Saskatchewan farmland, a separation ring landed in Kenya, and debris crashed in Poland. NASA confirmed the object’s provenance, while scientists warn of a Kessler-style cascade that could render orbits unusable. The question now is not if debris will fall but who pays when it does, and how claims are resolved. [I]

        The governing regime is antiquated. The Outer Space Treaty and the Liability Convention make States internationally responsible and liable, yet responsibility is couched in State-to-State terms that sideline private victims. On Earth or to aircraft, liability is absolute; in space, it is fault-based and difficult to prove. Claims travel diplomatic channels; a Claims Commission’s awards are only binding if pre-agreed. The solitary precedent – Cosmos 954 – settled before decision, and a curious asymmetry persists: foreigners may have stronger international recourse than a State’s own nationals. [II]

        Domestic law fills gaps – sometimes. English courts can hear cases where damage occurs, yet multi-jurisdictional litigation is ruinously expensive and procedurally arcane for ordinary homeowners. Insurance acts as a de facto backstop, yet it does not obviate the need to prove entitlement. Even when operators must carry cover, a claimant must still establish responsibility across borders, actors, and orbital uncertainties. International and domestic tracks seldom dovetail into a citizen-friendly pathway; remedies exist, but they are splintered, state-centric, and slow. [III]

        The draft EU Space Act aims to hard-wire debris mitigation, collision-avoidance, and financial responsibility into a harmonised framework with extraterritorial bite. Compliance might temper disputes through shared data and clearer attribution; however, it does not create a compensation mechanism. Hence the turn to arbitration: neutral, expert-driven, confidential, and globally enforceable under the New York Convention. With PCA space rules and industry familiarity, a binding arbitral track could finally give private parties direct redress at the speed of commercial spaceflight. [IV]

(Adapted from Taylor Wessing, “From orbit to courtroom: the legal black hole of space debris liability,” 6 Oct 2025)

Question 17. Where in the passage does the following sentence best fit?

Public awareness has shifted from awe to accountability, as each headline makes liability feel uncomfortably local.

A. [III]                        B. [IV]                                C. [I]                        D. [II]