Outer Space
Registration of Objects Launched Into Outer Space
The study examines the national approaches taken to implement the registration-related provisions of the United Nations Treaties Principles Guidelines and applicable resolutions. In doing so the Registration Project aims to create a baseline understanding of national approaches to registration empower new emerging or established space-faring nations to register satellites with the UN enhance international expertise and share knowledge good practices and lessons learned from national approaches. This study can inform future capacity-building activities or topics to be discussed within expert meetings of National Focal Points on Registration.
The Space4water Project: Building Bridges for Knowledge Exchange
Today humanity faces a plethora of challenges related to water. As an effect of drought some regions’ populations see their water reserves gradually but surely emptying. Around 40 per cent of the world’s population is affected by water scarcity. Elsewhere people suffer from flash floods rising sea levels or extreme weather. Rising sea levels affect agriculture livelihoods biodiversity and coastal habitats that are home to 900 million people. The next step in fully tapping the potential of space assets to improve life on Earth is to democratize access to these transformative tools and scale their application to benefit communities worldwide. In a world riddled with inequalities we cannot let the space sector become yet another field of persistent gaps among and within countries. To advance access to space solutions for addressing water challenges the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) launched a dedicated Space4Water project at the beginning of the Water Action Decade in 2018. The Project with its three pillars of conference series web portal and community building addresses knowledge exchange between scientific communities policymakers intergovernmental organizations the private sector civil society and the public. Through these efforts we are strengthening communities amplifying the voices of Indigenous communities connecting them with professionals with the technical background to address their issues and sharing a vast range of learning opportunities at different knowledge levels.
Near-Earth Objects and Planetary Defence
Forging global partnerships and building resilient societies through better coordination are among the key challenges of the twenty-first century. Given the global consequences of a near-Earth object (NEO) impact and the considerable resources required to prevent a collision the United Nations through its Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) has been involved in the international discourse and dialogue on the topic of NEOs raising awareness and promoting global cooperation. Addressing such a hazard including the identification of objects that pose a threat of impact to Earth and planning a corresponding mitigation campaign require cooperative action in the interest of public safety on the part of the global community. Acting as a gateway to space in the United Nations system UNOOSA is uniquely positioned in intergovernmental cooperation and coordination on outer space activities and in the broader perspective of space security including the area of planetary defence. The Office supports and cooperates with two entities established in 2014: the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG). These two entities came into being through a series of recommendations for an international response to the threat of near-Earth object impact endorsed by the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and ultimately recommended by the General Assembly. The aim of these recommendations is to address the global challenge posed by NEOs beginning with their detection and tracking and subsequently deflection and planetary defence.
Contribution to the “Space2030” Agenda
This report has been prepared following the Day of 8 Billion designated by the United Nations as the day when the world population reached 8 billion people to showcase how space technologies and its synergies can help to tackle the challenges of the world increasing population and complex societies while ensuring sustainable development and bolster resilience leveraging the guidance of the “Space2030” Agenda and supporting the implementation of the global agendas. The present report has been conceived within the cooperation agreement signed between UNOOSA and EUSPA with the goal of promoting how the use of space technology data and services can contribute to achieving sustainable development in the context of an 8 billion world and how the “Space2030” Agenda establishes the priorities of Member States for the space community.
One Atmosphere: An Independent Expert Review on Solar Radiation Modification Research and Deployment
We have ‘One Atmosphere’. Everyone is a stakeholder. Since the beginning of the industrial era carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) have been accumulating in the atmosphere due to fossil fuel burning and changes in land use such as deforestation. As a result anthropogenic climate change is now affecting every region across the globe. The consequences of continued GHG emissions will be severe and long-lasting including exceedance of temperature targets; increases in the frequency intensity and persistence of extreme weather and climate events; reductions in sea and land ice snow cover and permafrost; and sea level rise. Through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and other processes the international community has been working to reduce GHG emissions. However action and current commitments are not yet sufficient to meet the Paris Agreement’s temperature goals. This situation has led to increased interest in understanding whether an operational large-scale Solar Radiation Modification (SRM or sometimes called ‘solar geoengineering’) deployment might be able to help protect humans and the ecosystems upon which humanity depends.
Geospatial Practices for Sustainable Development in South-East Asia 2022: A Compendium
Geospatial information has been providing far-reaching solutions to pressing issues facing humanity ranging from health education food security agriculture to disaster risk reduction and resilience-building. The effective integration of geospatial data existing statistics and ground-based information and exploiting new data sources analytics and tools has proven instrumental to deliver timely information necessary for governments businesses communities and citizens to make evidenced-based decisions. However despite advances in the availability and quality of geospatial information several gaps and challenges remain on the effective use of geospatial information. To address this this publication aims to provide information to countries in the development and management of their geospatial information resources to integrate new and innovative approaches for evidence-based decision-making highlighting relevant country situations and circumstances. The Compendium is the second in a series of ESCAP publications to assess progress implementing the Asia-Pacific Plan of Action on Space Applications for Sustainable Development (2018– 2030) and will explore country level geospatial practices for sustainable development in South-East Asia reflecting sub regional specificities.
Guidelines for the Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
The Earth’s orbital space environment constitutes a finite resource that is being used by an increasing number of States international intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental entities. The proliferation of space debris the increasing complexity of space operations the emergence of large constellations and the increased risks of collision and interference with the operation of space objects may affect the long-term sustainability of space activities. Addressing these developments and risks requires international cooperation by States and international intergovernmental organizations to avoid harm to the space environment and the safety of space operations
The Interoperable Global Navigation Satellite Systems Space Service Volume - Second Edition
Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) which were originally designed to provide positioning velocity and timing services for terrestrial users are now increasingly utilized for autonomous navigation in space as well. 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 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.
Exploring Space Technologies for Sustainable Development
From astronomy and aerospace engineering to satellite Earth observation space sciences and technologies have the potential to contribute both directly and indirectly to Sustainable Development. This publication highlights such opportunities proposing science technology and innovation (STI) policy options for harnessing space-enabled technologies – and the real-time information and time-series data they provide – to deliver and monitor progress on key Sustainable Development Goals. The role of regional and international research collaboration in support of these efforts is also discussed here as the achievement of ambitious global goals within widely differing local contexts requires the combination of space capabilities with detailed local knowledge. Global collaboration offers great potential to contribute to this process providing opportunities to create new knowledge and diffuse existing knowledge for increased impact.