United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)

At Number 9 on the #UNOOSATop10 highlights, we got the work of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG) to which UNOOSA serves as Executive Secretariat. This year, the ICG agreed to establish a new, 5th Working Group on Lunar Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT); the work of which will be closely coordinated with the Action Team on Lunar Activities Consultation (ATLAC), also established in 2024. Lunar PNT will be required for: 🚀 Vehicles in transit between the Earth and Moon. 📡 Accurate navigation for landers and rovers. 🌚 Mapping the Moon's Surface. 🏘👨🚀👩🏿🚀 Supporting Lunar infrastructure. ⛏️ Resource exploration and utilisation. ⏰️ Timekeeping. 👥🌐 The ICG has also agreed on the necessity to work more closely with private sector companies, who are also Low-Earth Orbit PNT providers, to maintain the standards for compatibility of GNSS systems and protecting spectrum. ICG Working Groups will organize workshops and other efforts related to LEO PNT in 2025, focused on promoting the development of standards for performance specifications and interoperability. 🇦🇺🇳🇿🇺🇳 Finally, we were grateful to the support of Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand and Geoscience Australia for co-hosting the Eighteenth meeting of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems from 7 – 11 October 2024.

It’s that time of the year where we celebrate our #UNOOSATop10 highlights! 3...2...1... 🚀🤩 At number 1️⃣0️⃣, we've got MANY new resources (e-learning, toolkits, videos) that will introduce you to space and the work of UNOOSA and the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (#COPUOS):   1️⃣🇺🇳 The #UNOOSA101 video explainer series, available on our YouTube channel: https://lnkd.in/ddcBGtCz   2️⃣ Space Law   📚 eLearning Courses on Space Law - Jumpstart your knowledge with our comprehensive online courses in space law and policy: https://ow.ly/XcN550Rbis0   🗃 ASTRO Database - Access a wealth of space law resources and national laws and policies: https://ow.ly/bM0A50RbirY 📖 Treaty Booklets - Get your hands on our PDF version of the five space treaties and five sets of principles: https://ow.ly/io6V50RbirZ   3️⃣ Space Sustainability   ♻️ Case studies and training videos on awareness-raising and capacity-building related to the implementation of the Guidelines for the Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities (LTSGuidelines): https://lnkd.in/evFxEUXY   🌌 60-minute interactive training consists of 26 lessons on the essential role of space activities, the growing space sector and the associated challenges for sustainability, and the #LTSGuidelines: https://lnkd.in/equKGEN3      4️⃣ Space Economy   🪙💪 Three 45-minute modules that support countries in kickstarting and scaling up their indigenous activities to deliver strong and sustainable national space economies: https://lnkd.in/dEJrcnp      5️⃣ Space for Disaster Management, Emergency Response, Climate Action and Water   🌊🏜🏝🌪the UN Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER) Knowledge Portal – which also contains collection of real-life case studies that have used remote sensing for land, water, and disaster applications - https://lnkd.in/dGQdrQYb   💧#Space4Water, a collection of projects, case studies, tools, webinars, and publications on water-related challenges and space-based solutions - https://lnkd.in/eQgqcgdg      🗺️ The Space for Climate Action website, which showcases how space capabilities, such as satellite communications and geo-spatial positioning, are helping countries adapt and become resilient to climate change - https://lnkd.in/efTMSk8u      6️⃣♀️ #Space4Women Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit for the Space Sector: https://lnkd.in/ddgW6b4e   #COPUOS2024 #Space4SDGs Aarti Holla-Maini

🤩🇺🇳 To all of you who helped make 2024 a success by joining us on our space voyage, the team here at the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) would like to wish you a happy holiday season. We’ll be rolling out our 2024 #UNOOSATop10 highlights campaign from Monday, so stay tuned.   💪We also celebrated some long-time service awards for Juan-Carlos VILLAGRAN DE LEON, Lóránt Czárán, Shafa Gadimova and Natercia Rodrigues. You’ve been amazing standard bearers for the Office and the United Nations over the last 15-25 years! Aarti Holla-Maini Driss El Hadani Nina Kickinger Matej Siget Xing Yi Ang Takemi Chiku Francesco De Bellis Anne-Claire Grossias Nathalie Ricard Khrystyna Ladenhauf-Kleindienst Andrew Peebles Rodrigo Lordelo Rosanna Hoffmann Markus Woltran Martin Stasko Matthew Miller

2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣4️⃣, you were a star! 🤩🌠🚀 Here's your UN-wrapped.

🌍🚀 Reflecting on an action-packed 2024 World Space Forum in Bonn 🚀🌍 #WSF2024 drew attention to Action 56 of the Pact for the Future, agreed by States in September, which noted the importance of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (#COPUOS) to take concrete, impactful actions related to space traffic, space debris and space resources. Full text here: https://lnkd.in/gQjZMj6D 🌐Participants noted that Space Situational Awareness (SSA) is a vital issue for the global space community, and implementation of the #LTSGuidelines and data-sharing go to the heart of this. Effective coordination relies on States to speak to, and coordinate with, one another, and #UNOOSA is committed to supporting SSA workshops and simulations to address collision avoidance and enhance expertise amongst COPUOS experts. As we look ahead to the mid-term review of the Space2030 Agenda, we’re reminded that space technology plays an indispensable role in providing global solutions for global challenges. The review will identify the space solutions, the needs of countries, and will highlight UNOOSA’s impact as a capacity-builder and in helping States to implement #Space2030. 🌌 We are entering a new era of space activity, driven not by a few, but by a diverse range of global actors. The rapid evolution of this multistakeholder sector fosters innovation, boosts the space economy, and holds the promise of a better future for all. ✨ A special thanks to German Aerospace Center (DLR), Agencia Espacial del Perú - CONIDA, and the UAE Space Agency for hosting this year’s WSF and for making it a success. Next major milestone will be the Scientific and Technical Sub-Committee of COPUOS from 3-14 February 2025. #Space #Sustainability #SpaceDebris #SpaceLaw

🌍 Space Sustainability: From Paper to Practice. Day Two of the World Space Forum addressed Space Safety, sustainable and lunar exploration.  Here are some of the key takeaways: ✨Space sustainability is a complex, multi-faceted issue, from space debris and collision risks to environmental impacts. 🚀 Space Debris: The risk of collisions is growing, but private sector investment in Active Debris Removal (ADR) is stalled due to a lack of market demand. UNOOSA is working with Member States to address this challenge and encourage action without forcing commitments. 🔄 Debris: Not all space debris is from new satellites; most are legacy objects from governments. Misunderstandings on this front creates unnecessary obstacles, and UNOOSA is helping clarify these issues, e.g., our role in maintaining the UN Register of Objects Launched into Outer Space helps identify these objects and upcoming events in 2025, which will raise awareness and collaboration among Member States. ⚡ Collision Risk: While the risk increases, many operators aren't sharing data with systems like the Space Data Association and EU SST, despite the Guidelines for the Long-Term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities urging data sharing in Guidelines B1, B2 and B3. UNOOSA is supporting Member States to implement these guidelines and encourage better data sharing. 📊 Data Sharing & Trust: The lack of common understanding and trust around data sharing is a major obstacle. UNOOSA is working to enhance knowledge, particularly among COPUOS delegates, to foster transparency and stronger legal frameworks. Global challenges require global solutions and multilateral cooperation is crucial. No national or regional system can provide a unified global solution. Trust, transparency, and robust legal frameworks and coordination is needed, and the private sector must play a key role. In January, UNOOSA will continue supporting COPUOS with workshops and simulations on Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and collision avoidance. Get your copy of the Guidelines for the Long-Term Sustainability of Outer Space here: https://lnkd.in/gNB9sgf #SpaceSafety #SpaceSustainability #SpaceDebris #COPUOS #UNOOSA #WSF2024 #LTSGuidelines Photo Credit: Felix Oprean/DLR

🚀✨ World Space Forum 2024 blasted-off this morning in Bonn, Germany! 🌌🌱 Keynote speaker Aarti Holla-Maini, Director of #UNOOSA, said “without sustainability in space, our ability to deliver on the 2030 Agenda is bleak. This forum is not just about identifying these kind of problems – it also about fostering the necessary partnerships and dialogue required to find solutions”. The #WSF2024 will address: 🌍🤝 The outcomes of the Summit of the Future & the Pact for the Future 🚮 Preserving the Space Environment - Space Debris Mitigation & Space Debris Remediation 🌐 Ensuring Space Sustainability - How to Implement Space Traffic Coordination 🌖 Sustainable Lunar Activities - Information Sharing & Balancing the Needs of Science and Industry 🌍 SDG 17 - Partnership for Sustainable Development Goals & Collaborating with Science and Industry to Tackle Climate Change Want to listen in? We’ve got you covered with the following link: https://lnkd.in/eG3WJG7J German Aerospace Center (DLR) Deutsche Raumfahrtagentur im DLR Agencia Espacial del Perú - CONIDA UAE Space Agency

♀️🇰🇪🌌 The Annual #Space4Women Expert Meeting just wrapped up in Nairobi, Kenya! When 50% of the world’s population are women, achieving gender equality and parity is not only the right thing to do, but it’s also the smart thing to do.   #UNOOSA is playing our part by inspiring women and girls to take up STEM education and rolling-out our ‘Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit for the Space Sector Toolkit’!   🌟 Here are some of the takeaways of the Expert Meeting:   💪🏾Countries came forward to champion the implementation of the Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit over the next year.   👩🏽Initial consultations took place to elaborate a toolkit to bring STEM education to women and girls in underprivileged areas.   🌐 Our Space4Women Network, of national and local focal points, expanded and will carry out more regional and national work in the future.   🏫 Participants called for more funding opportunities for women and girls, including scholarships and mentorship programmes.   🫶🏿 Finally, a massive thanks goes to the Kenya Space Agency for your efforts in hosting the meeting; the meeting did a lot to connect key stakeholders across Africa.   👉 See the Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit, funded by Canadian Space Agency | Agence spatiale canadienne, here: https://lnkd.in/dxtSyBTs   👉 And the Landmark Study on Gender Equality in the Space Sector, funded by KASA, here: https://lnkd.in/dWngkxW9   Director Aarti Holla-Maini said: "Gender biases, limited access to education, policies and attitudes that hold women and girls back, lack of mentorship – these obstacles are not going to go away with the wave of a magic wand. We will not wake up one morning to a new world with a blanket of change draped over us. We need to weave that blanket together. Education, especially for girls and women, goes to the very heart of sustainable development." Photo Credit: Kenya Space Agency

📢🛰🌌 UNOOSA & Exolaunch are offering the opportunity to deploy up to two 1U-3U CubeSats with Exolaunch’s EXOpod deployment system. Don't miss out on your opportunity to kick-start your countries' space ecosystem and economy. 💻 🌟 Lucky awardees will not only develop and deploy their satellites, but they'll receive targeted support from the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) on registration, space sustainability, and engagement with national policymakers. The application deadline to apply is 31 December 2024. 🇺🇳 Director of UNOOSA Aarti Holla-Maini said: "UNOOSA has directly supported four countries in launching their first satellites. Payload hosting and deployment opportunities, such as this, serve as catalysts for the establishment of national space ecosystems, the creation of space agencies, the registration of space objects, creation of indigenous satellites, and new national laws. We’re grateful for Exolaunch’s valuable contribution to UNOOSA’s Access to Space for All initiative and are confident that this will help countries on their space-faring journey.” See the project page here: https://lnkd.in/d6BqAtjb For more information, see the recent press release on the joint project: https://lnkd.in/dD_zD4G2 #UNOOSA #Space4ALL #Space4SDGs #Exolaunch #EXOpod

🌍💧 Interested in applying space solutions to real-world water challenges? Join UNOOSA as an intern to support innovative projects on water resource management using Earth observation. ✨🚀   As an intern, you’ll:    🛰 Conduct research on space tech for water resource management.   📊 Work with remote sensing data and geospatial analysis.   ✍️ Write articles and outreach materials.   💻 Contribute to the Space4Water Portal, see here: https://lnkd.in/eQgqcgdg   💡 Gain hands-on experience tackling one of humanity’s greatest challenges—water management—while advancing your skills in geospatial analysis, outreach, and data-driven solutions using cutting-edge space technologies. Work in an international organization and collaborate with diverse experts committed to making a global impact.    🔗 Learn more and apply: https://lnkd.in/dSdUhdS3   #SpaceJobs #UNJobs #Internship