UNOOSA

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is the UN Secretariat office responsible for promoting international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space. Headquartered in Vienna at the UN Office at Vienna (UNOV), 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 within the UN Secretariat in 1958, following the launch of Sputnik. It was reorganised as the Outer Space Affairs Division and, in 1992, became the Office for Outer Space Affairs. Since 1993 it has been based in Vienna. The office is led by a Director, who also serves as Secretary of COPUOS.

Core functions include:

• Servicing COPUOS, which negotiates the main UN space treaties such as the Outer Space Treaty (1967), the Rescue Agreement (1968), the Liability Convention (1972), the Registration Convention (1975), and the Moon Agreement (1979).
• Maintaining the Register of Objects Launched into Outer Space, mandated by the Registration Convention.
• Operating UN-SPIDER, the platform for space-based information for disaster management and emergency response, established by General Assembly resolution 61/110 in 2006.
• Running capacity-building programmes such as the Access to Space for All initiative, the UN/Japan KiboCUBE programme for CubeSat deployment from the ISS, and the network of Regional Centres for Space Science and Technology Education.
• Promoting implementation of the Long-Term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities Guidelines, adopted by COPUOS in 2019.

UNOOSA does not regulate space activities or enforce treaties; states retain sovereignty over their space programmes. Its role is convening, normative, and technical, making it a key reference point for delegates handling agenda items on space debris, lunar governance, and the militarisation of outer space.