Washington - The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is closely monitoring all developments regarding Nasa’s concerns that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk plans to put 30,000 small satellites in orbit, UNOOSA Director Simonetta Di Pippo told Sputnik.
Nasa has warned that Musk plans to put 30,000 small satellites in orbit by 2028 to create a new global communications network, but such a network could create dangerous risks for the International Space Station (ISS), US media reported last week.
“The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs is not positioned to evaluate the activities of the member states, nor the entities established in these countries,” Di Pippo said.
“However, we closely follow all space-related developments. These feed into our work and shape the future deliberations convened and advanced by the United Nations.”
Di Pippo noted that the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) has served as the main intergovernmental platform for space affairs since the early stages of the space era.
“UNOOSA, as an entity of UN Secretariat, leads the preparations of the annual gatherings of COPUOS and its subcommittees, which are the main international forums for exchanging on recent developments in space, their implications and potential challenges from a variety of standpoints,” she said.
“The current session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee, taking place from 7-18 February, is actively addressing current issues.”
Di Pippo also said that in its role as a convener, a UNOOSA amplifies the voices of non-state stakeholders in order to ensure that all perspectives are considered in the process of developing the future governance of space activities.
“The United Nations at large assigns utmost importance to the responsible conduct of operations in the space environment and advocates that all activities take into consideration the long-term sustainability of outer space as articulated by the UN Secretary-General in his report ‘Our Common Agenda,’” she said.
“Outer space dialogue will strive to forge a global consensus through a multi-stakeholder approach and reinvigorated multilateralism.”
Di Pippo explained that the process aims to culminate with the Summit for the Future in 2023 and will seek the development of political agreement on the peaceful, secure and sustainable use of space as well as achieving progress toward a global regime to coordinate space traffic and an agreement on the principles for the future governance of outer space activities.
If implemented, Musk's plan could also interfere with programs to monitor space for the threat of potentially catastrophic asteroid strikes on Earth, NASA said in comments officially filed with the US Federal Communications Commission.
On January 15, Musk announced that SpaceX had already activated 1,469 mini-satellites in its Starling program and said 272 of them were already being directed into operational orbits.
In 2021, two SpaceX satellites almost collided with China’s space station and in one of the incidents, a Starlink satellite came within 2.5 miles (4 kilometres) of the space station. The Chinese government issued a memorandum on December 6 and filed it with a UN committee that oversees space programs.
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