COPUOS and the Long-term Sustainability of Space Activities

On Monday morning, discussion continued on open agenda items from the previous week.  One item, briefly discussed Friday, but in greater detail Monday, was spin-off benefits of space technology.  A number of countries spoke about how they have taken technologies developed for space activities and adapted them to terrestrial use.  In addition to the statement that the US delegation made under this agenda item, a representative from NASA gave a technical presentation on NASA’s spin-off technologies the following day.  

Monday afternoon at COPUOS was a little unusual.  Rather than continuing the discussion of the full Committee’s agenda, the session was devoted to a meeting of a working group of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee (STSC).  In February, the STSC created a working group to take up a multi-year consideration of long-term sustainability of space activities.  This long-term sustainability concept was initially proposed in 2007 by France’s Gerard Brachet, a former Chair of COPUOS.  Recognizing that an increasing number of players are attempting an increasing number of activities in space, the initiative seeks to develop a set of best practices for space activities, which would address issues like space debris and space operations.  These “rules of the road” would be developed with input not only from member States, but also from nongovernmental organizations and the growing number of commercial space companies, and would incorporate existing efforts, such as the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee.  In 2009, after a series of informal consultations on the subject, long-term sustainability of space activities was refered at COPUOS to the STSC for more detailed study.  Towards the end of the February 2010 STSC meeting, the Subcommittee formally set up a working group and elected Peter Martinez of South Africa as its chair.  Because of the importance they attach to this issue, the STSC also took the unusual step of asking the full Committee to set aside time during the June session for one meeting of the Working Group with interpretation in the six UN languages.  At that meeting, on Monday afternoon, the Working Group considered a paper from Mr. Martinez that proposes the how the group will conduct its work.  

CSIS will be at COPUOS until Wednesday – please check for future updates.

Ashley Bander
Research Associate, Space Initiatives