Outer Space

This is the annual report submitted to the General Assembly by the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space on its Sixty-first Session (12-21 June 2019)

Even though the SDGs are not legally binding governments are expected to take ownership and establish national frameworks for the achievement of the 17 Goals introduced previously and presented in figure VIII. Countries have the primary responsibility for follow-up and review of the progress made in implementing the Goals which will require quality accessible and timely data collection.

Between the providers of satellite signals/data and final users there are many actors that support the final implementation of end-to-end solutions. Their overall role in offering the best value to users and citizens is critical and may have a large impact on how the space technologies eventually contribute to the SDGs. The value chains of the two European flagship programmes EGNSS and Copernicus present many commonalities despite the complementary nature of the services they provide. As highlighted in figure VI four common levels can be identified between the two value chains:

The General Assembly resolution entitled “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”3 calls for the exploitation of a wide range of data including Earth observation (EO) data and geospatial information in order to support the sustainable development of nations and regions. Space technology is one of several technologies essential for successfully implementing the 2030 Agenda. It provides data information and services that directly or indirectly contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or to assessing and monitoring progress towards achieving the Goals.

Despite the growing global economy and the technological progress observed in the past decades there are still many societal challenges that need to be overcome to enhance human development. The United Nations involving more than 190 Member States has developed the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in order to address these challenges in the form of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 associated specific targets.

The availability and performance of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) signals at high altitude is documented as the GNSS Space Service Volume (SSV). While different definitions of the SSV exist and may continue to exist for the different service providers within the context of this booklet it is defined as the region of space between 3000 km and 36000 km above the Earth’s surface which is the geostationary altitude. For space users located at low altitudes (below 3000 km) the GNSS signal reception is similar to that for terrestrial users and can be conservatively derived from the results presented for the lower SSV in this booklet.

This booklet was published by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in its capacity as executive secretariat of ICG and its Providers’ Forum. Sincere thanks to all who have helped and who recognize the in-space advantages of the SSV specification and provide leadership in developing an SSV specification for the GNSS constellations.

The Working Group B of the International Committee on GNSS (ICG WG-B) has simulated the GNSS single- and multiple-constellation performance expectations in the SSV based on the individual constellation signal characteristics documented in chapter 4. As outlined in chapter 3 navigation performance in the SSV is primarily characterized by three properties: user range error (URE) received signal power and signal availability. The focus of these simulations is on signal availability which serves as a proxy for navigation capability.

Historically most space users have been located at low altitudes where GNSS signal reception is similar to that on the ground. More recently however users are relying on these signals at high altitudes near to or above the GNSS constellations themselves. The availability and performance of GNSS signals at high altitude is documented as the GNSS SSV. While different definitions of the SSV exist and may continue to exist for the different service providers within the context of this booklet it is defined as the region of space between 3000 km and 36000 km above the Earth’s surface which is the geostationary altitude. For space users located at low altitudes (below 3000 km) the GNSS signal reception is similar to that for terrestrial users and can be conservatively derived from the results presented for the lower SSV in this booklet.