The document is published on 1 June 2022, the opening day of the 65th session of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). The report points out the importance of international organizations for engaging more nations in the ‘space club’ with an eye to promote applications improving the overall standards of living, education and well-being of people.

In 2021, UNOOSA established a project entitled “Awareness-raising and capacity-building related to the implementation of the LTS Guidelines”. UNOOSA gained insight into the experience of implementing the Guidelines, identified the challenges of introducing them into routine workflow, and chalked out measures to facilitate working with the Guidelines by anonymously surveying COPUOS member states and intergovernmental organizations having observer status within the Committee.

The respondents appreciated the COPUOS Guidelines as a milestone in space policy and space diplomacy, hailing them as a major step towards protecting outer space and ensuring equitable access to the benefits it provides. They have noted the growing focus on safe and sustainable space activities, including the framework of national space laws and policies.

The experts recognized that it is the continuously expanding international cooperation, such as open and seamless exchange of information and free instruments, especially between intergovernmental institutions, that turns the Guidelines into reality. The respondents also believe that such a cooperation contributes to building trust within the global space community and scaling up the outreach targeted at potential users of space technologies across the globe. Space is no longer a niche application: it has extended well beyond the conventional limits and at present influences the everyday life of people worldwide, which entails greater social responsibility of decision-makers. The report places great emphasis on the ongoing international coordination between regional and global organizations that should be streamlined.

“The global and all-embracing use of space technologies is the reality we live in today,” says Ksenia Drozdova, Director General of Intersputnik. “The sooner their implementation becomes truly international, and the sooner the world community fulfils the principles of equal cooperation in their development, the sooner the population of the Earth will receive full and non-discriminatory access to all the benefits that the peaceful use of outer space offers.”

The respondents voiced serious concern over the problem of space debris and called for elaborating the orbital ‘rules of the road’. One solution that could reduce the total number of launched satellites to reasonable figures is to design satellite deployment projects on the so-called cooperative, i.e. shared, or joint basis, promoted by Intersputnik. This suggests optimized sharing of the orbit and frequency resources when developing and launching joint satellites in the interests of multiple Member Countries and Signatories of the Organization. Intersputnik pays serious attention to this problem, which encouraged the Organization to be among the first signatories to the Space Industry Debris Statement in October 2021 https://intersputnik.int/content/news/international-cooperation/intersputnik-is-among-the-first-signatories-to-space-industry-debris-statement/

Competency enhancement in the field of space activities is another important issue. Propelling young talents to choose STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) professions was called in the report one of the main tasks of those countries willing to deploy their own space programs, as well as to introduce space technologies into the everyday life of their peoples. Intersputnik has been doing a lot of work in this direction by organizing for its Members and Signatories, as well as for a wide professional audience, thematic events on current satcom issues, including annual international conference NATSATTEL, and conducts internships for young specialists. Intersputnik is determined to keep on sharing its impressive 50-plus-years experience with the aim of boosting the creative potential of space industry professionals.

Please find the complete version of the UNOOSA report here https://spacesustainability.unoosa.org/sites/spacesustainability.unoosa.org/files/files/documents/2022/May/lts_guidelines_stakeholder_study_report_may_2022.pdf

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