UN Office for Outer Space Affairs

The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is the United Nations secretariat office responsible for promoting international cooperation in the peaceful use and exploration of outer space. Headquartered in Vienna at the UN Office at Vienna, it serves as the secretariat for the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and its two subcommittees (the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and the Legal Subcommittee).

UNOOSA traces its origins to a small expert unit created in 1958 within the UN Secretariat after the launch of Sputnik. It was upgraded to the Outer Space Affairs Division in 1968 and renamed the Office for Outer Space Affairs in 1992, when it relocated from New York to Vienna. The Office is led by a Director who also acts as Secretary of COPUOS.

Core functions include:

• Treaty implementation: maintaining the Register of Objects Launched into Outer Space under the 1975 Registration Convention, and supporting the five core UN space treaties (Outer Space Treaty 1967, Rescue Agreement 1968, Liability Convention 1972, Registration Convention 1975, and Moon Agreement 1979).
• Capacity-building: running the UN Programme on Space Applications, supporting Regional Centres for Space Science and Technology Education, and the Access to Space for All initiative with partners such as JAXA, ESA and Sierra Space.
• Disaster response: operating UN-SPIDER (UN Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response), established by General Assembly resolution 61/110 in 2006.
• Coordination: secretariat support for the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG) and the Inter-Agency Meeting on Outer Space Activities (UN-Space).

UNOOSA also publishes guidance on long-term sustainability of outer space activities, including the 21 LTS Guidelines adopted by COPUOS in 2019, and on space debris mitigation. With the growth of commercial space, megaconstellations and lunar activity, the Office has expanded its role on space traffic coordination and norms of responsible behaviour, working alongside processes such as the UN GGE and OEWG on space threats.