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international

“Space is a key Science fiction-inspired inventions are now
growth area for part of your life. The Star Trek “communicator”
future global is today’s mobile phone. “Every phone call you
economy. made, every global positioning system route
The space that guided your journey, every weather forecast
economy is that helped you pack – all of it depended on
about US$ 600- space, “ UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J.
700 billion and Mohammed said last June in the UN Committee
expected to grow on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS)
to $2 trillion in Vienna.
by 2035”
This year, 110 COPUOS member states continue
access to resources, the “future of the Internet” to meet alongside UN entities, corporations
and the ability to defend against security threats, and civil society to engage in space dialogue
according to Elizabeth Economy, Stanford and cooperation. Since 1958, the UN has had
University scholar. COPUOS as a forum for multilateral space
negotiations and the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and
Militarized and commercialized space has subsequent treaties in the 1970s as international
driven national security policies and postures, space law.
from Greenland to the Indo Pacific.
Mirroring geopolitics, a current shift in UN
Space, which begins some 100 kilometers space diplomacy has been the rising role of the
above Earth surface, has been a core discourse middle powers -- the current and aspiring ones.
of military planners, policymakers and world Italy, Mexico, Thailand and the United Arab
affairs students. As in geopolitics, space race has Emirates, this year, lead discussions in COPUOS
become multipolar. and its subsidiary bodies on peaceful space uses,
space law, governance, safety and sustainability.
Besides the great powers, middle powers and
more than 40 countries of the “global south” now Today, the UN, through COPUOS supported by
have dual military-civilian space architecture UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA),
with satellites and space launch capabilities. is reframing peaceful space uses, linking them
with sustainable development, disaster response,
More than 90 countries launch satellites. In agriculture, education, health and humanitarian
all regions, countries are investing more in operations.
dual-use space technologies. A chilling reality:
space technologies are now mass produced “Space is not a distant dream. It’s already a
with AI capacity to decide on human death or shared reality. And if we work together, it can
target killing at industrial scale – with limited help us solve Earth’s most pressing challenges,”
or no human input. Bigger fear: Weaponized said UNOOSA head Aarti Holla-Maini.
autonomous AI could go rogue. We do not
clearly understand how AI can override human Vienna-based UNOOSA helps countries,
operators, experts say. especially developing countries, “to have access
and leverage” space benefits for sustainable
The 2023 reported — and later denied — military development. It focuses on preserving space for
simulation in which AI disobeyed and killed its scientific discovery, engaging the private sector
human operator is no science fiction. and strengthening international law and policies
for space use.
Third, beyond the space-for-war realm, a
parallel universe exists: space diplomacy and the The UN is broadening space dialogue to engage
peaceful uses of outer space. And you are part of corporations, academia, NGOs, youth and
it, United Nations (UN) diplomats argue. women.

Billions, the UN says, are using space daily -- But what happens at the UN often stays at
peacefully and personally. the UN. Not all COPUOS members welcome

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