United Nations
COPUOS/T.524
Committee on the Peaceful
Uses of Outer Space
Unedited transcript
524th Meeting
Monday, 7 June 2004, 10 a.m.
Vienna
UNREVISED ADVANCE COPY
Chairman: Mr. A. A. Abiodun (Nigeria)
The meeting was called to order at 10.10 a.m.
The CHAIRMAN:
Good morning
distinguished delegates, I now declare open the 524 th
meeting of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of
Outer Space. And before doing so, I hope all you had a
good weekend. There are new faces amongst us. There
are some who are just coming in. We want to work
very hard and accomplish a lot of objectives at this
session so we are looking forward for your support.
This morning, we shall continue consideration
of agenda item 7, Implementation of the
Recommendations of UNISPACE III, and agenda item
8, Report of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee
at its Forty-First Session.
We will begin our
consideration of agenda item 9, Report of the Legal
Subcommittee at its Forty-Third Session.
At the conclusion of this morning’s meeting,
we will hear a presentation by Mr. Kosmas from
Greece on “Refuelling Satellites in Orbit: ‘Space
Tank’”. I would like Mr. Kosmas to note very
carefully that all presentations at this session of the
Committee are limited to 20 minutes and that goes for
all other official presentations as well. We have too
much to do so limit the presentations to 20 minutes.
I then intend to adjourn this morning’s
meeting at approximately 12.00 p.m. in order to ensure
that the Working Group on UNISPACE III + 5 will
have sufficient time for its fourth meeting.
And depending on the progress that the
Working Group makes in the preparation of this report,
we may allocate an additional 45 minutes before the
Industry Workshop this afternoon for the Working
Group’s fifth meeting.
And finally, if there are still any other
delegations intending to address the Committee on
agenda item 7, I would like such delegations to note
that this morning we will close the list of speakers. So
if you intend to make any statement on agenda item 7,
please let the Secretariat know before we adjourn this
morning.
That is our schedule of work for this morning.
Are there any questions?
If not, I have before me here a statement that
says that the Working Group on the Use of Nuclear
Power Sources in Outer Space is currently holding
informal consultations in Room C0713, under the
chairmanship of Mr. Sam Harbison of the United
Kingdom. The consultations are open to all interested
delegations.
Implementation of the recommendations
UNISPACE III (agenda item 7)
of
Now we shall proceed to continue our
consideration of agenda item 7, Implementation of the
Recommendations of UNISPACE III.
And the first speaker on my list this morning
is the distinguished delegate of Syria on behalf of
Action Team Number 1, that is Environmental
Monitoring Strategy.
Mr. Koudmani, will be
addressing us on behalf of that Action Team. Mr.
Koudmani, you have the floor please.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
In its resolution 50/27 of 6 December 1995, the General Assembly endorsed the recommendation of the
Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space that, beginning with its thirty-ninth session, the Committee would
be provided with unedited transcripts in lieu of verbatim records. This record contains the texts of speeches
delivered in English and interpretations of speeches delivered in the other languages as transcribed from taped
recordings. The transcripts have not been edited or revised.
Corrections should be submitted to original speeches only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the
record and be sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned, within one week of the date of
publication, to the Chief, Conference Management Service, Room D0708, United Nations Office at Vienna,
P.O. Box 500, A-1400, Vienna, Austria. Corrections will be issued in a consolidated corrigendum.
V.04-56425
Mr. M. KOUDMANI (Syrian Arab
Republic): (no microphone) … Recommendation of
UNISPACE III on the Development of a
Comprehensive Worldwide Environmental Monitoring
Strategy. The symbol and logo of that General
Organization for _____________ (illegible) from
Syria, the Iranian Space Agency from Iran and from
the Russian Federation, Sovio(?) Intersputnik.
As you know, UNISPACE III was held in
Vienna in July 1999.
Then established 33
recommendations. What about our Action Team about
studying and recommending the implementation of an
integrated operational global system especially through
international cooperation to develop a comprehensive
Worldwide Environmental Monitoring Strategy.
The first Action Team had many meetings and
started in 2002 until now. Many Member States
participated with the Action Team, approximately 24
countries, and 10 organizations. Here are some
examples about environmental issues. As you know,
there are many satellites hovering in space monitoring
our planet.
Video presentation
“Solar orbiting satellites view a different part
of the Earth’s surface on each overpass as the Earth
turns beneath. In this way, they gradually build up a
picture of the whole globe.”
End of video presentation
As __________ (illegible) the first examples
about air pollution and dust storms, as you know,
millions of tons of sand moving north of Africa in
many directions, to the Middle East, Africa, India,
China and also in the United States. As you will see,
thousands of tons of sand hovering or moving in many
directions. Here is an example about dust storms in the
Middle East. We complain of breathing or such
________ (illegible) and about drought and
desertification because of global change, global
warming. Many countries complain of drought and
desertification. We can monitor the soil, water,
erosion, soil wind erosion and soil salinization,
rangeland monitoring and also by satellites from a
vegetation imager, we can see a change of NDVI, in
other words, to see how desertification is moving and
drought in the place and we can monitoring directly
from this satellite.
About earthquakes as a hazard and such
environment, we can see one million earthquakes or
shocks hit the Earth with different magnitudes by using
radar data by Radarsat or even remote sensing we can
distinguished the place of the earthquake and with
good communication we can inform such civil
authorities to take arrangements. The last earthquake
in the Middle East was a magnitude of 5.6 on the
Richter Scale and hundreds of earthquakes every year
along this world and all the world. As you heard about
the _________ (illegible) earthquakes, 50,000 people
were killed in that place and the last earthquake maybe
two weeks ago.
What about forest fires? Because some with
intention and some by natural forest fires in all the
world, in the United States, in South America and
South Africa or East Africa, West Africa, in the Middle
East, China and Australia.
As you see here, the forest fires occur or
happen with _____________ (illegible) and many
environmental relating to forest fires are fewer in the
world.
For example, biomass burning in Sudan.
There were images taken for this and also in the south
of Turkey and North-West Syria, we can see the forest
fires north of Syria and south of Turkey. And also we
can use new technology for monitoring as early
warning by an unmanned aviation vehicle, with
directly receiving to screens and to take the necessary
arrangement for fighting forest fires. And also new
technology about Sky(?) or Black Widow. This
smaller plane with 20 something metres by 20
something metres. It takes flight to 50 kilometres and
then to monitor all the world or maybe a regional area
and direct receiving data to operations data. And then
we can work with it day and night with infrared and
_____________ (illegible). With the rotated cameras
we can monitor the forest for 40 kilometres and to the
operation centre and then to the extinguishing(?) group
to take the necessary arrangements for fighting the
fires.
Also about the floods, as you heard, every
year there are many floods and severe storms occur in
the world. I heard again the storm, hurricane and it
takes place in different places in the world.
Like the dam break in Syria because such a
problem before flooding and within the flood knows of
Syria (illegible). And also in Morocco and many
people were killed before the flood and after. And also
in Tunisia, before and after. And also in Sudan, we can
see, and seven(?) people were killed.
What about landslides? Because of heavy
rain, we can see many areas complain of landslides and
some people were killed because of this issue.
What about oil spills also because of oil
of non-governmental oganizations and local personnel
in environmental monitoring.
tankers.
(illegible - microphone interference) … Also
an oil spill in the Arabian Gulf, an oil spill in the Strait
of Tunis. We can see the oil spill. And also in Spain.
And also an explosion of an oil pipeline in the south of
Iraq. And this image was taken by a cosmonaut on the
International Space Station. We can monitor by those
facilities.
And about volcanic eruptions with active
volcanoes around the world like Etna. We can see that
explosion.
And also of that because of the global
warming, we have got such an ice sheet moving from
the north and south of ___________ (illegible) and we
can see such ice there or ice sheet moving because of
global warming.
And ozone depletion because of using
_____________ (illegible) and that will affect ozone
depletion.
And
WMO,
Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission, IOC, of UNESCO, CEOS
and other members of the IGOS partnership, as well as
the entities involved in implementing the GMESD and
the Ad Hoc Group on earth Observation should be
invited to joint the efforts to implement the Work Plan.
In order to promote regional cooperation on
critical environmental issues, geo-information centres
could be established with the aim of providing modern
technological tools for transforming data sets into
information and knowledge with particular attention to
regional and environmental problems.
Testing most modern informational and
computational at regional sites for their further
improvement. Within this NGO information system,
we will establish the first Centre in Tehran, in
cooperation with Syria and the Russian federation for
establishing the first Geo-Information Centre, and to
work together and to solve such problems about
environmental issues.
And thank you very much for your attention.
Video presentation
You can see ozone depletion.
End of video presentation
Last October, we complained of sun flares and
affected communication and such satellites like the
Japanese Earth resources satellite. Various global
initiatives working like GMES and IGOS and the Work
Plan and to expand international cooperation to
increase the effectiveness of national, regional and
international efforts towards launching the Worldwide
Environmental Monitoring Strategy.
The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer
Space with the assistance of the Office for Outer Space
Affairs should coordinate the efforts at the global level
to implement their Work Plan proposed by the Action
Team which, of course, action to implement a preoperational system, assess and adapt a relevant
technique for environmental monitoring and provide
guidelines
for
effective
implementation
of
environmental monitoring, support capacity-building
for local staff in environmental monitoring, enhance
partnerships
between
relevant
national
and
international institutions, and support the involvement
The CHAIRMAN: I thank the distinguished
delegate of Syria, on behalf of Action Team 1 for his
presentation and this is different from a statement of
Members, he is acting on behalf of the Action Team
and has presented us with views and recommendations
of this Action Team and their Work Plan, so to speak.
I find a major correlation between what you are doing
and the disaster people.
The question is, do we have any questions for
him or do you have any questions to help his Action
Team?
The question I have is very simple. Is there an
inter-connectivity between your work and that of the
Action Team on Natural Disasters? Are you working
together or are you consulting?
Mr. M. KOUDMANI (Syrian Arab
Republic): Of course, we are cooperating with Iran
and the representative of the Iranian Space Agency and
also Mr. Alexei(?). We are working together to solve
such a problem now as there may be at the beginning
of next year, we will work together after approval of
the Action Team from the General Assembly. We will
get data from the receiving station from Iran and
Russia and I hope to work together with other
international entities to solve such a problem about the
environment.
The CHAIRMAN: I understand that Action
Team 7 is dealing with natural disasters. That is what I
mean. I would like you, and I think the Committee
will appreciate if a connection between the two
Committees so as to enhance the quality of the work of
your Action Team. OK?
Any more questions?
The next speaker on my list is the
distinguished delegate of France, Mr. Trebaol. Is that
pronunciation correct? Thank you.
Mr.
J.-Y.
TREBAOL
(France)
(interpretation from French):
Thank you Mr.
Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as we already had a chance
to say previously, the year 2004 is a decisive year for
drawing up the upshot of everything accomplished
since UNISPACE III in 1999. France has followed
with great interest the activities of various Action
Teams and has been particularly involved in the work
of Action Team Number 7, which it chaired jointly
with China and Canada. The objective of this Group
has to do with setting up a global integrated system for
managing natural disasters. This area is constantly in
the forefront of our work since this is about the type of
space applications that can directly improve the
conditions of life, well-being and the development of
nations.
This Working Group has reported on the
results of its work. It has put forward three specific
recommendations which can be implemented
immediately if and when they are approved.
In summary, number one, we suggest setting
up a small international coordination unit for managing
natural disasters.
Number two, we suggest setting up special
funds to provide sustainable resources for this effort.
Number three, we suggest encouraging
Member States to assign to the use of space technology
and the development of space technology as part of
their resources for natural disaster management.
And finally, in each country, a point of
contact should be set up for external cooperation at
times of natural disasters.
France, of course, subscribes to these
proposals and, if they are accepted, is prepared to
actively participate in their implementation.
Parallel to this effort, it is important to recall
the efforts and the results obtained by the operational
application of the International Charter on Space and
Major Disasters. The use of this Charter has made it
possible in three years to provide, free of charge, to
civil defence authorities in various countries, satellite
data and imagery which have been used 45 times to
save human lives in natural disasters.
France is prepared to continue this effort over
the years until the system has become truly global
through an initiative put forward by the European
Union on putting in place a Global System of
Environmental Monitoring and Security, GEMS, and
the International Group of Earth Observation, GEO.
We have already stated that in our intervention at the
time of the general exchange of views.
Furthermore, at the request of India, Canada,
China, Colombia, France, Indonesia, Morocco and
Nigeria, a new Work Plan for the next three years has
been proposed. It includes exchange of information on
the research and development activities on earthquake
prediction, based on satellite data, setting up
recommendations, of course if they are accepted by the
Committee, the recommendations of Group Number 7
for their application, involving satellite operators for
telecommunication satellites in natural disaster
management, the use of the Charter experience and
every phase of disaster management and mitigation and
take into account, in a cooperative manner, a global
system for disaster management using small
constellations of satellites envisaged by various
countries.
France reasserts its commitment to the Work
Plan.
Mr. Chairman, I thank you.
The CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much for
your statement, distinguished delegate of France, Mr.
Trebaol.
I now invite the distinguished delegate of
Canada, Mr. Parashar. Mr. Parashar, you have the
floor please.
Mr. S. PARASHAR (Canada): Thank you
Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Canadian delegation
is pleased with the progress made with the
implementation of the recommendations from
UNISPACE III. Much effort has been put, in the past
few years, towards achieving concrete results. Yet, we
recognize that work is ongoing and there remains much
to be accomplished.
The Canadian delegation wishes to take this
opportunity to thank the Secretariat which has provided
unwavering support, in spite of limited resources, as
well as Member States, which generously donated their
time and energy to the Action Team process.
Canada agreed, in 2001, to co-Chair the
Action Team on Disaster Management, jointly with
China and France. This Action Team was mandated to
study and recommend the implementation of an
integrated operational system, especially through
international cooperation, to manage natural disaster
mitigation, relief and prevention efforts through Earth
observation, communications and other space-related
services, making the maximum use of existing
capabilities and filling gaps in worldwide coverage.
With the assistance of 41 countries, seven
United Nations agencies, three intergovernmental
organizations and several ad hoc and private sector
groups, various meetings were held, including six
plenaries, leading to the recommendations contained in
the Action Team’s report.
The work was completed through a phased
approach, starting with evaluating the user needs,
national capacities and existing and planned disaster
support systems, to studying the gaps in existing
services and actual needs, to identifying potential
solutions/recommendations that would lead to the
establishment of an integrated operational global space
system for disaster management through all phases of a
disaster.
Allow me, Mr. Chairman, to briefly
summarize the key findings from this research. These
are that:
Current use of space operations is limited to
response and recovery and needs to be expanded to
longer term prevention and preparedness.
Disaster management in most countries is
spread over several responsibility centres, which is not
helpful for the integration of space technology.
Public-private sector partnerships can be used
as one of the funding mechanisms for a global system.
Disasters such as floods, earthquakes, fires, oil
spills, droughts and volcanic eruptions indiscriminately
affect all parts of the globe, thus coordinated
international effort is required to minimize the impact.
Disasters require timely and up-to-date
situational analysis in a cost-effective way through the
full cycle of mitigation, preparedness, response,
recovery and link to local geo-social and thematic
databases.
Space technology (Earth observation,
communications, positioning) can provide the
necessary information to help in disaster management.
Considerable investment has been made globally in
space technology and systems for disaster management
application.
However, a more integrated and coordinated
approach to space-based disaster management is
needed to reduce the gap in all areas of space
technology application.
From these findings, Mr. Chairman, the
Action
Team
has
proposed
three
main
recommendations.
First, to establish an international space
coordination body for disaster management so as to
ensure that the concept of universal access, client needdriven affordable services and timely support are
applied to all the phases of disaster management.
There are some notable international efforts,
such as the International Charter on Space and Major
Disasters, CEOS, IGOS, now GMES and GEO, and
others, to promote the use of space-based information
for disaster and natural resource management.
Second, to establish a fund to provide
sustainable resource to support international disaster
management efforts, particularly in the developing
world.
In order to facilitate the use of space data and
their acceptance by the user, information service
pathways need to be established. Simply facilitating
access to data would not serve the purpose.
And third, to encourage Member States to allocate a
portion of their disaster management/relief and
environmental security funds to using space
technologies and appoint single points of contact.
Space-based disaster management support
should be a common endeavour among all the
stakeholders.
In the draft report of UNISPACE III + 5, it is
being proposed that the study should be conducted on
the possibility of creating an international space
coordination entity so as to move forward with these
recommendations.
We are in support of this
undertaken as it would allow the Secretariat to fully
describe the coordination entity through the expert
support and contributions from the Member States.
Most of the countries have little or no
exposure to space-based disaster management,
therefore, local capacity-building is important.
The Canadian delegation wishes to thank the
Secretariat for its assistance in defining the way
forward and hopes that Member States will be able to
support the recommendations now contained in the
document being reviewed for UNISPACE III + 5
Report to the General Assembly.
Mr. Chairman, the Canadian delegation
wishes to thank once again the many member countries
of COPUOS and the organizations that have supported
Action Team 7’s work these past three years. We look
forward to continuing this work in the coming years,
through the proposed study, and opportunity for
additional exchange under the Scientific and Technical
Subcommittee three-year Work Plan dealing with
disaster management.
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN: I thank the distinguished
delegate of Canada for his statement.
And I invite the distinguished delegate of Iran,
Mr. Shafti. You have the floor Sir.
Mr. H. SHAFTI (Islamic Republic of Iran):
Thank you Mr. President. All topics of UNISPACE III
are indeed essential and important. However, it seems
the effort to implement them requires a different kind
of emphasis. For example, implementing some items
are more dependent on continuity and long-term
ventures(?), while in some others, urgency and priority
are dominating among other considerations. It seems a
few of the topics are also of a top urgent and priority
nature. These are the topics which causes loss of
human life every day. My country, for example,
during the last six months witnessed several
earthquakes causing several thousands of loss of
human life. The last earthquakes, although not from a
major magnitude, took place during the last 48 hours.
We firmly share, Mr. Chairman, the opinion
that natural disaster is indeed a critical challenge to
sustainable development. We were pleased to hear
from the President of the fifty-eighth session of the
United Nations General Assembly, His Excellency Mr.
Julian Hunte, in the opening of the session that the
issue of natural disasters is among the list of priorities
he has set for the Presidency of the fifty-eighth session
of the United Nations General Assembly.
Mr. President, it seems it would serve a well
deserved purpose if we also look into the practical
ways
and
means
of
implementation
of
recommendations of UNISPACE III in this respect.
We listened with interest to the report of the
distinguished delegate of France and I would like to
stress along with him a top priority nature of
requirements for implementation of recommendations.
My country is prepared to participate and cooperate in
this effort. Thank you.
The CHAIRMAN: I thank the distinguished
delegate of Iran for his statement.
And that concludes the list of speakers for this
morning on agenda item 7. Does any other delegation
want to take the floor on agenda item 7 before we
move on?
The distinguished Ambassador of Chile. You
have the floor.
Mr. R. GONZÁLEZ ANINAT (Chile)
(interpretation from Spanish): Thank you very much
Mr. Chairman. With regard to the agenda item
currently before us, I would like to recall a statement
we made at the start of this session. At the time, we
spoke about convening an International Congress in
Chile under the auspices of the United Nations Office
for Outer Space Affairs to discuss the application of
space technologies to promoting sustainable
development. That Congress has taken place. We
have the records, the minutes, some of the participants
in the Congress are here and could testify to the
important debate that took place.
And this is
something that happened within the framework of
implementing the recommendations of UNISPACE III.
This was our contribution towards the international
community’s effort at taking up one of the major
challenges of our time, sustainable development,
improving the lives of people in the developing
countries, matters that should be at the forefront of our
efforts.
At the Congress, the Austrian Ambassador to
Chile made an excellent presentation addressing such
matters as the energy crisis, the need for greater supply
of drinking water, desalinization and related issues
where space technologies can be used for the benefit of
humankind.
My country, Chile, has thus made what we
think a significant contribution to the implementation
of UNISPACE III recommendations. The results of
this Congress give us a chance to face the future, better
informed, better armed to tackle the objectives
proclaimed by the United Nations in meeting the
challenges of this millennium.
Last week, we reported on certain important
events that have followed the Congress in my country
and around the world. Specifically, just recently, a
workshop was held in Santiago de Chile which focused
on the use of space technologies for promoting human
health, economic prosperity and sustainable
development in the countries of our region. We have
excellent experts who could, if invited to speak to this
Assembly, provide greater detail. And, of course, we
will hand over to the Secretariat a summary of the
measures undertaken by my country’s authority in the
framework of implementing UNISPACE III
recommendations.
In 2005, we plan to have another workshop
with national and international attendance which will
be a training forum for experts tackling natural disaster
management around the world. We have the necessary
funds and necessary resources but we also count on the
support of the United Nations Office for Outer Space
Affairs in that important initiative. The Office for
Outer Space Affairs has already demonstrated its great
interest and its effective participation in the various
actions undertaken by countries around the world with
a
view
to
implementing
UNISPACE
III
recommendations.
On 24 and 25 July, another seminar is being
planned. This time it will be hosted our friends in
Colombia and we plan to work very closely together
with the Colombian authorities because the seminar
again will be discussing issues affecting all countries in
our region and, for that matter, around the world. Our
world is not an ideal world. There are many problems.
There are many challenges and we can only tackle
them through cooperating, working together. We also
plan to work with our German colleagues on a project
called TIGOR(TIGER?). It has been mentioned here a
couple of times already. It focuses on the same area
and it is being funded by German authorities.
However, a lot of the field work within the framework
of the TIGOR(TIGER?) project actually happens on
the ground in Chile, in Chilean territory. It will be too
long to explain the scientific details of that project but
it is a project that has enormous potential benefits for
my country.
Likewise, I have been to some international
centres I have had an opportunity to visit. Last week, I
spent 24 hours at one of them which is why I was not
here and that is the Centre of Trieste for High
Technology.
Indeed, what we are doing and this is what I
wish to convey publicly to the members of the
Committee and to the international community as a
whole, we are making significant efforts to take a
holistic or integrated approach, institutionally
speaking. In other words, the purpose is to be
consistent with our stance, the stance we have had
always, to do the following.
First create a critical mass, in terms of public
perception, using all channels available to the United
Nations systems and to international organizations and
the idea is to increase public perception of the
importance of space applications and here the
implementation of UNISPACE III, more specifically.
And then from the point of view of content,
we would like to be extraordinarily focused on what
the current challenges are, that is the current challenges
for the international community in the context of the
global agenda. You cannot establish a global agenda
without taking into account the interest of developing
nations without also including science and technology
in general and in this instance, space science and
technology. So in that context, therefore, we have
made two efforts, starting way ahead of time, and as I
have said, they have been very successful,
extraordinarily successful and I am sure that anyone
that is present here today can be witness to the success
of the Seminar on Space and Water and, thus, we can
also be willing to be available to any other country,
such as Colombia that will be holding a seminar soon
and other countries in the region that will be holding
seminars. Because, and I think this should be very
clear, we have a mandate by the General Assembly to
do this and amongst the documents that were
distributed to me, I have the General Assembly
resolution in which one of the paragraphs, and I do not
remember which one, I do not have time to go through
it, but one of the paragraphs refers to the achievements
of 2002, the meeting in Colombia, and there is the idea
of a desire to institutionalize the Conference of the
Americas. And, as usual, before a General Assembly
resolution, there are two options, two approaches one
can take. One is to assume the resolution as a mandate
and see it as something which is binding, and it is
binding, a General Assembly resolution is binding
when it has the status of customary law, in other words,
when a certain amount of time has elapsed. What does
this concretely mean, this paragraph? It means that we,
the countries of Latin America, can they ignore that
paragraph? Unless somehow we are prepared to erode
what we ourselves have built. Or if we are prepared to
stop structuring an edifice to which we are very
committed, not only in a global sense but also in that
we are beginning or wish to continue with this path,
first of all, because it is our natural environment, that is
the region of Latin America is a natural context in
which to work.
I believe all these elements that I am putting
on the table for you, Mr. Chairman, are concrete and
self-evident. They reflect political commitment, legal
and scientific commitment and a technical
commitment. And around these four elements we need
to have a holistic approach or an integrated approach in
terms of taking on the challenges which compel the
international community, that is we are compelled to
tackle these challenges if we wish to deal with our
main enemy which is poverty. Thank you.
The CHAIRMAN: I thank the distinguished
Ambassador of Chile for his statement. I am sure that
members of this Committee fully appreciate the efforts
being made by Chile to address the implementation of
UNISPACE III at the national level and I am equally
sure that Member States of GRULAC are very aware
of the points raised by the Ambassador and that they
will take care of these in collaboration with Chile.
Your Excellency, you have the floor.
Mr. R. GONZÁLEZ ANINAT (Chile)
(interpretation from Spanish):
Thank you Mr.
Chairman. I apologize for taking just one more minute
of your time but I just want to make sure that my
statement should as clearly as possible be reflected in
the report of this meeting and especially with regard to
countries’ obligation, that is especially Latin American
countries’ obligation to continue with the process of
Space Conferences of the Americas and that it should
refer to the paragraph in the General Assembly
resolution pertaining to this matter that I referenced. If
it could please be reflected in the report Sir. Thank
you.
The CHAIRMAN: I thank the Ambassador
of Chile for his statement. And that brings to the end
our deliberation on agenda item 7 this morning.
We
shall
suspend
henceforth
our
consideration of agenda item 7, Implementation of the
Recommendations of UNISPACE III until tomorrow
morning if there is any further statement from any
delegation. I hope that is satisfactory.
That being the case, I would urge delegations
that intend to speak on agenda item 7 tomorrow
morning to please approach the Secretariat this
morning and let us know accordingly because that will
be the final opportunity to address us. That is
tomorrow morning, it will be the final opportunity.
Report of the Scientific and Technical
Subcommittee at its forty-first session (agenda item
8)
Distinguished delegates, I would now like us
to resume our consideration of item 8, Report of the
Scientific and Technical Subcommittee at its FortyFirst Session, to this session of COPUOS. In this
connection, and our omission we did not do it so I
apologize to my friend and colleague from Romania,
the Chairman of the Scientific and Technical
Subcommittee. I have asked him this morning whether
he wanted to make any statement to summarize in his
own words as Chairman of that Subcommittee what his
Subcommittee accomplished and he said agreed so I
am giving the floor to His Excellency Ambassador
Dumitru Dorin Prunariu of Romania to give us a brief
summary statement on the work of the Scientific and
Technical Subcommittee at its last session. Your
Excellency, you have the floor please.
Mr. D. D. PRUNARIU (Romania): Thank
you very much Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman,
distinguished delegates, the forty-first session of the
Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of COPUOS
gathers an attendance of 49 Member States and five
observers, six United Nations entities and 13
international organizations as observers.
After adoption of the agenda, pursuant to
General Assembly resolution 58/89 of 9 December
2003, a Symposium on the theme “Smaller Size, Wider
Use Small Satellite Applications in Agriculture, Health
and Human Security” was held on 16 and 17 February
2004 to strengthen the partnership of the Subcommittee
with industry.
After considering the various items before it,
the Subcommittee at its seventeenth meeting on 27
February adopted its report to the Committee on the
Peaceful Uses of Outer Space containing its views and
recommendations. I just want to express some of
them.
The Subcommittee noted with appreciation
the efforts made by the Chairpersons and members of
the 12 Action Teams established by the Committee on
the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space at its forty-fourth
session and by the Scientific and Technical
Subcommittee at its fortieth session in making progress
in the implementation of the recommendations of
UNISPACE III for which they were responsible. In
accordance with the same resolution of the General
Assembly, the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee
continued its considerations of agenda item 5, United
Nations Programme on Space Applications, of agenda
item 8, Space Debris, in accordance with the Work
Plan adopted at its thirty-eighth session, of agenda item
9, Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer Space under
the Work Plan adopted at its fortieth session, agenda
item 10, Space-system-Based Tele-Medicine under the
Three-Year Work Plan adopted at its fortieth session,
agenda item 11, Geostationary Orbit and Space
Communications, as a single issue item for discussion,
agenda item 12, Implementation of an Integrated
Space-Based Global Natural Disaster Management
System, as a single item for discussion, agenda item
13, Solar Terrestrial Physics, as a single issue for
discussion, as well as the recommendations made by
the Working Group of the Whole and some other
Working Groups.
In accordance with paragraph 19 of the
General Assembly resolution 58/89 of 9 December
2003, the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee
reconvened the Working Group of the Whole under the
chairmanship of Mr. Nasim(?) Shah of Pakistan. The
Working Group of the Whole held 11 meetings. It
considered the United Nations Programme on Space
Applications,
the
implementation
of
the
recommendations of the Third United Nations
Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of
Outer Space and the draft provisional agenda for the
forty-second session of the Subcommittee to be held in
2005.
During the review of the progress made by the
Action Teams, the Chairman of the Working Group of
the Whole was assisted by the Chairman of the
Working Group established by the Committee to
prepare a report for submission to the General
Assembly in order for the Assembly to review and
appraise at its forty-ninth session in 2004 the
implementation of recommendations of UNISPACE
III.
Here I want to thank very much Mr. Niklas
Hedman for his very difficult work done to prepare the
report UNISPACE III + 5.
At its 611th meeting on 24 February, the
Scientific and Technical Subcommittee established a
Working Group to consider comments from Member
States on the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer
Space on the proposals on debris mitigation presented
by the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination
Committee to the Subcommittee at its fortieth session.
The Working Group held one meeting under the
chairmanship of Mr. Claudio Portelli of Italy and five
meetings under the chairmanship of the Acting
Chairman, Mr. Petr Lála.
The Scientific and Technical Subcommittee
reconvened its Working Group on the Use of Nuclear
Power Sources in Outer Space under the chairmanship
of Mr. Sam Harbison from the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Mr. Chairman, this is a short summary of the
actions we took and of the activities of the Scientific
and Technical Subcommittee of COPUOS who held its
session during 16 to 27 February 2004. Thank you
very much Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN: I thank the distinguished
Ambassador of Romania for his statement on the work
of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee at its last
session and I am sure delegates are appreciative of the
work that the Subcommittee has done and which we
are now considering. Thank you very much Sir.
Now we shall continue our deliberation on
this item and the next speaker on my list is the
distinguished delegate of Nigeria, Dr. Joseph
Akinyede. Dr. Akinyede, you have the floor please.
Mr. J. O. AKINYEDE (Nigeria): Mr.
Chairman, I thank you for giving my delegation an
opportunity to comment on the report and work of the
Scientific and Technical Subcommittee at its forty-first
session. My delegation noted the continued and
remarkable progress made by the Subcommittee over
the past years, especially during its forty-first session.
Many thanks to the Subcommittee’s Chairman,
Ambassador Dumitru Dorin of Romania, for piloting
the deliberations at the forty-first session with such a
remarkable accomplishment. The programmes of the
Subcommittee have been carefully packaged and
skilfully implemented to provide scientific and
technical knowledge and inspiration to the space
programmes of Member States in the developing
countries. More lights are thrown to the various areas
of benefits derivable from space technology through
newly introduced agenda items such as space-systembased tele-medicine and terrestrial physics.
Among
the
Subcommittee’s
notable
programmes at the forty-first session is the Industry’s
Symposium and its technical presentation on the Small
Size, Wide Use of Small Satellite Applications in
Agriculture, Health and Human Security.
The
presentations highlighted the affordability of
microsatellites, thus opening up the opportunity for
developing countries to appreciate the mechanisms of
participating in space programmes. Relating this to the
recent experience and efforts of the Disaster
Monitoring Constellation, DMC Partners – Algeria,
China, Nigeria, Turkey and the United Kingdom –
which culminated in the building and launching of the
four of the DMC microsatellites, including NigeriaSat1. My delegation is of the view that rapid progress can
be made in bridging the digital divide between
industrialized and developing countries. The DMC
initiative has been a major contribution to global
efforts in disaster management, an evidence is the
donation of satellite data for the management of the
recent flood disasters in the Dominican Republic and
Haiti. We also believe that the experience gained can
further be used for knowledge-sharing and
collaboration among Member States. The experience
will also be brought to bear on our near future plan to
build and launch African Resource Management,
ARM, constellation satellites in partnership with
Algeria, South Africa, and other interested African
countries. The ARM initiative is part of the priority
project of the New Partnership for Africa’s
Development (NEPAD) Science and Technology
Programmes to develop African human resources by
means of joint participation and knowledge-sharing.
When launched, the ARM satellites will provide
valuable, real time and reliable data for the mapping
and management of the enormous and relatively
untapped resources of Africa, as well as for the
environmental management and disaster early warning
prevention and management.
Mr. Chairman, my delegation also takes
particular note of the remarkable progress made by the
global community in space-system-based telemedicine, which was brought to light during the fortyfirst session. My delegation shared the belief of
Member States of the Subcommittee that rapid public
and rural health care delivery can be achieved through
space-system-based tele-medicine. A sufficient portion
of the problems facing the developing countries in the
health sector can be solved through the integration of
tele-medicine/tele-health services into the existing
health care delivery. For instance, the creation and use
of space-based techniques and initiatives to enhance
surveillance and control of guinea worm, denge/rift
valley fever, cholera, meningitis and other diseases in
Africa have been very effective.
We also join the call for the trend towards
lower prices for such items of equipment to make the
practice of tele-medicine more attractive to the
developing countries. Nigeria will encourage a broader
international cooperation in the area of space-systembased tele-medicine projects, particularly in the shortterm of using transponders from the existing
communication satellites and in the long-term of
providing services based on Nigeria-owned
communication satellite.
Mr. Chairman, you will recall in our earlier
statement that the Nigeria Government has approved
the launching of a communication satellite in 2006.
Some of the spin-off benefits to be realized include
tele-medicine and tele-education, to make health care
delivery accessible to a large population of Nigerians
living in the rural and remote areas, as well as bringing
qualitative education to the doorsteps of millions of
Nigerians who cannot afford the cost of formal postsecondary education.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, we recognize
and commend the work and effort of Mr. Niklas
Hedman and his Working Group on the preparation of
the report of UNISPACE III + 5 Review. The
Working Group’s report on the work accomplished by
the various Action Teams would go a long way to
provide the way forward, with appropriate and concise
recommendations to the General Assembly, bringing
into sharp focus the socio-economic benefits that can
accrue in the implementation of the work of the Action
Teams.
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
Mr. P. TARIKHI (Islamic Republic of Iran)
(Chairman): I thank the distinguished representative of
Nigeria for his presentation.
And the next speaker on our list the
distinguished representative of Canada. You have the
floor Madam.
Ms. M. LAROCQUE (Canada): Thank you
Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Canadian delegation
was pleased with the election of Dr. Dumitru Dorin
Prunariu of Romania as Chairman of the Scientific and
Technical Subcommittee and to welcome the new
Expert on Space Applications, Dr. Lee, to the Office
for Outer Space Affairs to this year’s session of the
Scientific and Technical Subcommittee.
We are pleased to note the progress being
made with the various Action Teams from UNISPACE
III with respect to the preparation of the report to the
General Assembly this fall. We are particularly
pleased with the progress made by Action Team 7 on
Disaster Management. This Action Team, jointly coChaired by China, France and Canada, benefited from
large representation of the COPUOS membership with
41 Member States, as well as a variety of international
organizations, participating in the work of the Team.
We have taken note that some of the
recommendations discussed during the Scientific and
Technical Subcommittee have raised a few questions
and, therefore, take this opportunity to thank, once
again, the Secretariat for seeking to reach a
compromise solution acceptable to all. We look
forward to discussing these recommendations at this
plenary session.
We are also pleased with the adoption of a
Three-Year Work Plan on Disaster Management,
which will ensure the work of the recommendations of
the Action Team is further studied and provide an
opportunity to share additional information on other
areas of interest, such as earthquakes, integrating
satellite communication technologies into existing
efforts and other issues.
The announcement by United Nations ISDR,
the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, of a
World Conference on Disaster Management, to take
place 18 to 22 January 2005 in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan,
will undoubtedly assist in raising the profile of the
benefits of space assets for disaster management. The
Canadian Space Agency, as a participant to the
International Charter on Space and Major Disasters,
remains committed to this important work.
The space debris agenda item, which has led
to the creation of a Working Group at this year’s
Scientific and Technical Subcommittee session, has
provided an opportunity for Member States to share
their views and comment on the guidelines. The
review of the IADC Guidelines is, we believe, a
positive steps towards maintaining a safe space
environment. The Canadian delegation is, therefore,
fully supportive of this work and looks forward to
continuing discussions in this direction at next year’s
session.
A new multi-year work plan started this year
on space-system-based tele-medicine and this is an
exciting topic with potential direct returns for all
nations. The various presentations provided in this
first year of the work plan indicated a strong interest in
the global community to share and learn from the
experiences of current work in this area. As the Action
Team on Tele-Health has not proceeded as quickly as
anticipated, we are hopeful this work plan can provide
the needed impetus to pursue the implementation of the
UNISPACE III recommendation on public health and
tele-medicine.
As per paragraph 42 of its resolution 58/89,
the General Assembly agreed that the Committee
should continue to consider a report on the activities of
the International Satellite System for Search and
Rescue. The Canadian delegation is, therefore, pleased
to briefly report on the COSPAS-SARSAT system for
search and rescue.
COSPAS-SARSAT, the international satellite
system for search and rescue, continues to provide a
humanitarian global distress alerting and locating
service. The number of distress beacons carried by
aviators, mariners and land users around the world has
now surpassed one million. The COSPAS-SARSAT
satellite system has helped saved more than 17,000
lives worldwide in almost 5,000 distress incidents since
it started operating some 22 years ago.
Plans are progressing to include search and
rescue payloads on future navigation satellites,
including GPS, GLONASS and Galileo, to further
enhance the performance of the COSPAS-SARSAT
system in the coming years. Many States participate in
the management and operation of the System and such
participation is open to any State wishing to join. The
Canadian delegation is particularly pleased to
announce that the COSPAS-SARSAT Council is
currently making arrangements to relocate the
Secretariat from London to Montreal next year.
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN: I thank the distinguished
representative of Canada for her statement.
The next speaker on my list is the
distinguished representative of France. You have the
floor France.
Mr.
J.-Y.
TREBAOL
(France)
(interpretation from French):
Thank you Mr.
Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the French delegation wants
to underscore the work carried out by the Scientific and
Technical Subcommittee, the many subjects that were
addressed, we would like to mention the 12
recommendations and Working Groups in UNISPACE
III.
Now with regard to implementing those
efforts, we believe that it is vital that the
recommendations not remain on paper only and that
quick, durable and concrete implementation is vital to
the credibility of our Committee. As indicated in our
statement of the general debate, France would like to
associate itself with the idea of efficiently and rapidly
implementing the Disaster Management Global
Integrated System. We cannot urge enough to take
measures in this area.
With regard to the environment and
management of natural resources, a number of
initiatives
have
been
undertaken
at
an
intergovernmental and non-governmental, such as
GES(?) and GNOS(?) (statement says CEOS and
GMES) and these will, no doubt, contribute to
sustainable development as such and should be
supported. Unfortunately, the implementation of these
recommendations is still too limited. Efforts should be
continued amongst Member States and international
organizations by way of local initiatives and by way of
long-term initiatives.
Special efforts should be
undertaken to educate and train in this area because
these are essential to the socio-economic development
in the long run.
Turning now to space tele-medicine, the
French delegation is pleased to note that this will be
continued in the years 2005 and 2006 in our agenda of
work. Indeed, this subject is of great interest to all.
In this area, a number of initiatives have been
undertaken by a number of countries and they are of
interest especially to developing nations and those that
are remote. It allows more people to have access to
health care at lower cost. France is very active in this
area and would like to continue these efforts, not only
on its own territory, but also in partnership with a
number of African and Asian nations.
Mr. Chairman, the French delegation is also
particularly interested in eliminating space debris.
Space debris is a form of pollution and, thus, it is
urgent and imperative to take measures to repair the
damage for future generations and given the constant
presence of satellites in space and the increasing
importance of their activities for mankind. And, thus,
France is very involved in these efforts, not only in
terms of participating in the work of the Committee but
also in the National Space Agency developing
regulations for space debris.
It also participates in the development of Code
of Conduct at the European level with regard to space
debris. This Code of Conduct, which will later be
translated into European standards and UCSS. This
Code of Conduct also stems from principles that were
developed decades ago and, thus, our delegation
regrets the absence of a consensus on this matter in
terms of the recommendations put forth by the
Scientific and Technical Subcommittee. We will
continue to participate actively in the Subcommittee’s
work with the hopes that this urgent matter will be
addressed by this Committee.
In this context, we would also like to see this
matter addressed by the Legal Subcommittee and we
can but encourage an approach which takes stock in
this area.
Turning now to nuclear power sources used in
space, their use will, no doubt, be developed due to
new missions to far outer space and this is, thus, of
increasing importance. The French delegation would
like, however, that efforts be pursued and reinforced so
that in the shortest possible term we may reach our
objectives and issue recommendations to ensure the
safety of people, the vehicles involved and the space
environment.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, may I now join the
United States and Canadian delegations with regard to
the International Research Search and Rescue
Programme. The event organized in Miami in 2004 to
benefit the users of the American zone was a seminar
which was very successful and it is vital that these
efforts be continued. Currently, we have more than
300,000 valise(?) on the 300 MHz(?) (statement says
406 MHz) and a significant number on the 15 MHz(?)
(statement says 121.5 MHz). This last frequency
should be completed deactivated by the end of 2009
which should bring the number of stations on 300
MHz(?) (statement says 406 MHz) to exceed over a
million users for 2009.
This is important for all types of vehicles,
private and personal or public. Thus, this is in the
interest of all users and players involved. The Galileo,
GLONASS and other constellations will increase their
performance very significantly in the next three years
and France is very much involved in this programme,
along with the United States, Canada and Russia, and
will support all initiatives to promote research in the
area of search and rescue of goods and people. Thank
you Sir.
The CHAIRMAN: I thank the distinguished
representative for his presentation.
And now we shall continue consideration of
agenda item 8, Report of the Scientific and Technical
Subcommittee on its Forty-First Session, tomorrow
morning.
Report of the Legal Subcommittee on its forty-third
session (agenda item 9)
Distinguished delegates, I would now like to
begin consideration of agenda item 9, Report of the
Legal Subcommittee on its Forty-Third Session.
Before I turn to the list of speakers, I understand that
Mr. Sergio Marchisio, the Chairman of the Legal
Subcommittee would like to report on the work of the
Legal Subcommittee at its forty-third session earlier
this year.
Unless there are any objections, I now give
the floor to Mr. Marchisio. You have the floor Sir.
Mr. S. MARCHISIO (Italy): Thank you Mr.
Chairman for your giving me the floor. Mr. Chairman,
I would like to present to the Committee in the
beginning of the consideration of item 9 of its agenda,
a short assessment of the forty-third session of the
Legal Subcommittee, which I had the honour to chair.
Mr. Chairman, the Committee has had at its
disposal the full text of the report of the Legal
Subcommittee on the work of its forty-third session,
held in Vienna from 29 March to 8 April, contained in
document A/AC.105/826. Therefore, I do not intend to
make a complete summary of this report but I would
like only to draw the attention of the Committee to
some issues which, in my opinion, deserve particular
attention.
Mr. Chairman, during the past years, the
Legal Subcommittee has moved towards the
assessment of several items of great significance,
beginning from the status and application of the five
United Nations treaties on outer space. For three years,
the Legal Subcommittee continued to reflect on the
main obstacles that hamper the universal acceptance of
the United Nations space treaties, especially by nonspace-faring States. These obstacles deserve adequate
action by the Committee. In this vein, the Legal
Subcommittee approved the text of a model letter that
the Secretary-General might wish to send to the
competent authorities of States that had not yet become
parties to the United Nations treaties on outer space. It
approved also the text of a similar letter to be sent to
intergovernmental organizations conducting space
activities that had not yet declared their acceptance of
the rights and obligations under the relevant space
treaties.
Mr. Chairman, permit me to draw your
attention on the importance of the acceptance of the
United Nations space treaties by the intergovernmental
organizations conducting space activities. The treaties
which foresee such acceptance are the Agreement on
the Rescue of Astronauts and the Conventions on
International Liability and on Registration of Objects
Launched into Outer Space. In order to enable these
intergovernmental organizations to declare their
acceptance of the rights and obligations under those
treaties, it is necessary that a majority of the States
Members of those organizations be Contracting Parties
to the treaties. It is clear, indeed, that the two aspects
are strictly intertwined.
Mr. Chairman, a result on which I am glad to
report to this Committee is the agreement reached
during the forty-third session of the Legal
Subcommittee on a draft resolution on the application
of the concept of the launching State for consideration
by the General Assembly.
Without
constituting
an
authoritative
interpretation of or a proposed amendment to the
Registration Convention or the Liability Convention,
the draft resolution aims at facilitating adherence to
and application of the provisions of the United Nations
treaties on outer space, in particular the Registration
and Liability Conventions. It recommends three
categories of action.
Firstly, States are quested to consider enacting
and implementing national laws authorizing and
providing for continuing supervision of the activities in
outer space of non-governmental entities under their
jurisdiction.
Secondly, States should consider concluding
agreements with respect to joint launches or
cooperation programmes.
Finally, it is recommended to the Committee
to invite Member States to submit information on a
voluntary basis on their current practices regarding on-
orbit transfer of ownership of space objects, with a
view of a possible harmonization of such practices.
Mr. Chairman, this draft resolution represents
evidence of the continuing commitment of the Legal
Subcommittee to the aim of enhancing the application
of the legal texts that were adopted during the lawmaking phase of the Legal Subcommittee, as Professor
Kopal has underlined in his lecture last week.
Mr. Chairman, concerning the item of the
agenda of the Legal Subcommittee devoted to
information of activities of international organizations
relating to space law, I would like to call the attention
of the Committee on the fact that the Legal
Subcommittee commended this practice for its
meaningful results. It noted also, however, a decrease
in attendance and participation of the number of the
United Nations specialized agencies and other
intergovernmental organizations having permanent
observer status with the Committee in the work of the
Legal Subcommittee. The Committee might wish to
agree on specific action in that regard.
Under the same agenda item, I wish to
appreciate the remarkable results of the Second Space
Law Workshop in Daejeon, Republic of Korea, and
express my gratitude to Brazil for convening a Third
Workshop in October 2004.
Mr. Chairman, I do not want to turn in details
to the groups of item on the agenda of the Legal
Subcommittee which have been designated as single
issues/items for discussion. I wish briefly to recall that
the Subcommittee continued its consideration of
matters relating to the delimitation and definition of
outer space according to the agreement reached in 2000
of “Review and Possible Revision of the Principles
Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources” and of
the UNIDROIT preliminary draft Protocol on Matters
Specific to Space Assets. The Legal Subcommittee
took into account and assessed the results of the first
round of intergovernmental negotiations, held in Rome
in December 2003, by the Committee of Governmental
Experts. These negotiations will be continued at the
next session of the UNIDROIT Committee of
Governmental Experts, to be held in Rome from 25 to
29 October 2004.
I am sure that our discussions within the Legal
Subcommittee has been extremely helpful in informing
the positions of various States and I rely upon the
consultation process within the newly established
Open-Ended Ad Hoc Working Group on these issues.
Mr. Chairman, under a new Three-Year Work
Plan, the Legal Subcommittee began considering the
practice of States and international organizations in
registering space objects. I would like to stress on how
important the knowledge of practice is for a legal body
like the Legal Subcommittee in order to assess the
application of existing space treaties.
My last comment, Mr. Chairman, regards the
new items to be considered by the Legal Subcommittee
in the next years. It seems to me that an effort should
be made in order to agree on the inclusion of new items
within the agenda of the Legal Subcommittee, taking
into account the broad range of proposals presented by
Member States. This agreement must be reached with
the consciousness that the Legal Subcommittee is the
appropriate body, not only for assessing the application
of existing rules of international space law, but also for
identifying the legal aspects of new issues that have
arisen with respect to outer space activities in the more
recent years.
Mr. Chairman, let me conclude by expressing
my appreciation of the work done by the Presidents of
the respective working groups established by the Legal
Subcommittee: Mr. Vassilios Cassapoglou of Greece,
for the status and application of the five United Nations
treaties; Madam Déborah Salgado Campaña of
Ecuador, for the delimitation and definition of outer
space; Mr. Vladimir Kopal of the Czech Republic, for
the UNIDROIT preliminary assets Protocol; and Mr.
Niklas Hedman of Sweden, who presided over our
deliberations on the contribution of the Legal
Subcommittee to the advancement of the work
concerning the report on the progress made in the
implementation of UNISPACE III. A special tribute
also to Mr. Sergio Camacho and the staff of the United
Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.
Thank you for your attention.
The CHAIRMAN: I would like to thank Mr.
Marchisio for his report.
I would now like to begin hearing statements
from delegations under agenda item 9, Report of the
Legal Subcommittee on its Forty-Third Session.
The first speaker on my list is the
distinguished of China. You have the floor China.
Ms. W. CHEN (China) (interpretation from
Chinese): Thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman,
our delegation is pleased to note the successful
conclusion of the forty-third session of the Legal
Subcommittee. This delegation is satisfied with the
Legal Subcommittee report and appreciative of the
excellent work accomplished by the Legal
Subcommittee Chairman, as well as the Chairmen of
the Working Groups.
Now I would like to make some comments on
the report.
Mr. Chairman, we have noted the adoption of
a draft resolution on the application of the launching
State concept for submission to the United Nations
General Assembly.
The launching State is an
important concept in space law relating to the
registration of space objects and the liability for
damage caused by space objects, a concept which was
the subject of a Working Group established by the
Legal Subcommittee. Based on the conclusions of the
Working Group, the draft resolution will, in our view,
contribute to compliance with and application of
relevant outer space treaties in space activities and
facilitate studies on practices in in-orbit transfer of
object ownership. Therefore, we support its adoption
and submission by COPUOS to the United Nations
General Assembly for consideration.
Mr. Chairman, on the preliminary draft Space
Assets Protocol to the UNIDROIT Cape Town
Convention, my Government has followed with close
interest the progress in this respect and was represented
at the first meeting of the Committee of Governmental
Experts held last December in Rome and a seminar
held last March in Kuala Lumpur.
The Legal Subcommittee at its forty-third
session considered, inter alia, two issues. First, the
possibility of the United Nations serving as
Supervisory Authority under the Space Assets
Protocol, and second, the relationship between the
Space Assets Protocol and the rights and obligations of
States under the existing regime governing outer space.
With regard to the possibility of the United
Nations acting as Supervisory Authority, we believe
that we should continue to study the relevant practice
and experience of ICAO serving as Supervisory
Authority of international registry under the Aircraft
Protocol. We do not object to the United Nations
taking on supervisory functions, but one must make
sure that the United Nations does not bear any cost
associated with exercising supervisory functions and is
exempted from liability for damage.
To explore this issue in-depth, the Legal
Subcommittee established an Open-Ended Working
Group to discuss the appropriateness of the United
Nations serving as Supervisory Authority and prepare a
report and a draft resolution for consideration by the
Legal Subcommittee at its next session. We welcome
the establishment of the Working Group and joined it.
In our view, the work of the Working Group will help
countries reach early consensus on this issue.
In respect of the relationship between the
provisions of the Space Assets Protocol and countries’
rights and obligations under the existing legal regime,
we are of the view that the financing regime to be
established under the draft Protocol represents a set of
rules based on private international law and
commercial law, whereas the existing regime
applicable to outer space falls within public law. It is
necessary to take a hard look at the inter-relationship
between the two regimes in actual operation to ensure
that the financing regime under the draft Protocol plays
a positive role in advancing outer space activities
within the framework of the existing treaties on outer
space. The draft Protocol should specify that it is
without prejudice to countries’ rights and obligations
under the outer space treaties, in particular a country’s
international responsibility for the space activities of a
non-governmental entity of that country.
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN: I thank the distinguished
representative of China for her presentation.
Distinguished delegates, unfortunately we
have exhausted the time we had available to us this
morning for the plenary. We need to allot sufficient
time for the presentation we will hear in a few minutes
time, as well as for the Working Group on the
Implementation of the UNISPACE III.
Unless there are any objections, we shall take
up the statements under this agenda item again
tomorrow morning.
If there is no objection?
It is so decided.
history of this Committee, Africa is chairing this
august United Nations body.
Mr. Chairman, the project mentioned orbit
servicing which will be represented by Mr. Charis
Kosmas, is an innovative proposal conceived by Mr.
Kosmas, aiming at the extension of the useful life time
of satellites, the decreasing of operational cost of space
systems and the increase of the number of users of
satellite applications, especially in developing
countries. It is obvious that it is an effort to contribute
in the bridging of the digital divide.
The said project, which is a private initiative,
is actually under development by a team of Greek and
other European space applications experts, working
under the supervision of its initiator.
Today’s presentation of the project is made in
the framework of the contribution of Greece and more
specifically, of its private sector to the peaceful uses of
outer space.
Nevertheless, it is not worthy to say that the
content of the presentation does not engage the Greek
Government because it is not a public project. Thank
you very much.
Now allow us to give the floor to Mr. Kosmas
to make the presentation. Thank you.
Mr. C. S. KOSMAS (Greece):
Mr.
Chairman, distinguished delegates, the project
HERMES is mainly focusing in reducing cost,
therefore making available satellite services in wide
populations. It is known that by reducing the price of
satellite services, demand increases by five per cent in
the current level of prices and it is expected this effect
to be larger, the lower we go to the price range.
Presentation by Greece
Distinguished delegates, I would now like to
turn to the presentation and remind the speaker that 20
minutes at maximum have been allocated to the
presentation, as communicated earlier by the
Secretariat.
I would now like to give the floor to Mr.
Kosmas of Greece to make a presentation on
“Refuelling Satellites in Orbit: ‘Space Tank’”.
Mr. V. CASSAPOGLOU (Greece): Thank
you Mr. Chairman, as this is the first time I take the
floor, I would like to express my congratulations to the
Chairman and the Vice-Chairmen for their election in
the chairmanship of our Committee and it is a very
important moment because for the first time in the
The implementation strategy of this project is
to make significant improvements in the space segment
by changing and optimizing the whole existent chain of
infrastructure needed by the satellites, starting from the
launcher to the upper stages of the launcher to the
apogee kick motor that brings the satellite in the GEO
level. Further, by inventing new types of space
vehicles to extend the current space capabilities.
The problem of the GEO satellite operators,
with respect to the duration of their spacecraft is that
about nine spacecraft per year, nine satellites, lose their
operational functionality due to anomalies and they
become inevitably space debris.
Another 50 per cent of the population who
sees operational life is due to fuel depletion. A service,
the equivalent cost for these two losses means a rough
estimate of 250 million Euros per year. Therefore,
certain services are needed and the project envisages to
address the issue of inspection needed towards alive
satellites or sick and dead satellites in order to save
satellites on the one hand, and reduce debris on the
other hand.
Further, transportation is needed to be able to
re-orbit a Client satellite at the end of its life securely
to the graveyard or to the orbit the apogee kick-motors
after being ejected to the right orbit.
Further, refuelling would be available to
enable a new spacecraft to be launched with small fuel
supplies, therefore will have low manufacturing and
launching costs and the decision for additional fuel can
be deferred for a later time.
And additional step would be to make
available preventive and recovery maintenance to
replace outdated and faulty elements, to enable the
manufacturing of satellites that are capable to capitalize
faster on technology development.
At the end, assembly in space will be made
available for large structures to enable availability of
elements like antennas that today do not fit in an
efficient manner under the fairing constraints and the
launch environment.
The architecture involves new species of
spacecraft: a Utility Base; Utility Agent, to transport
fuel and other components from the base to the Client;
an Escort Agent, a facilitator of the docking phase and
inspector; and the Engine Module, a small independent
strapped on booster for satellites, the existing ones; and
we envisage a new family of apogee kick-motors to
gradually transfer them to Utility Base.
Also the project envisages maximum
utilization of the existing space assets using the up-link
of existing Client spacecraft in order to facilitate
docking and the use of Tele-command link in order to
control the Engine Module.
Several patent pending concepts have been
filed with the German Patent Office and here we give
some more detail on the Utility Base. It is envisaged to
be a large object in comparison the current satellites.
Its function will be to give resources and spares for the
Utility Agent, Engine Module and the Escort Agent.
Its position will be more or less stationary in a busy
area in the GEO level.
The Utility Agent will be a small spacecraft,
150 to 250 kilograms. It is important to say it will be
refuellable and its position to navigate from the Utility
Base to the Client spacecraft and back when fuel
reserves finish for refuelling.
The Engine Module, it is a very small 40 to 70
kilograms spacecraft that will perform continuos
North-South station keeping of a Client spacecraft
which is a manoeuvre that requires a lot of fuel. Its
position is to be attached on the Client spacecraft.
The Escort Agent is a tiny object, 7 to 15
kilograms, that supervises the docking phase or
inspects a Client spacecraft from a close-up distance.
It relays the signal through the Client spacecraft or a
Utility Agent. It is bolted to the inspection point by a
Utility Agent.
The use of existing satellite assets is important
to this project and, in this way, we capitalize on the
existing infrastructure.
The up-link channels of a Client spacecraft
can be used to relate high band-width signals we need
for real time video to perform the docking.
The Tele-command also of a Client spacecraft
may be used to control an Engine Module through the
Echo command. This is a standard command.
This is how it can look with __________(not
clear) spacecraft in the beginning that represents the
Utility Base, an Escort Agent that facilitates the
docking and a small Utility Agent.
The Utility Agent again is going to dock to the
Client spacecraft being supervised by an Escort Agent
to facilitate docking.
The Utility Agent is pushing actively after
performing the docking the Client satellite to the
position.
This is a small strap-on Engine Module,
independent, being controlled by the Client satellite
itself and autonomous in that respect.
Several characteristics of the architecture I
have presented here. We can go through quickly.
Internal element characteristics, here is the logical
sequence of events for deployment in four phases, the
initial demonstration phase, deployment in 360
degrees, refuellable capability to the client spacecraft
before we do the fuelling but only for the fleet that
would perform the services and later on when satellites
of the market will become available, they can take also
this availability of service to capitalize. Further is the
maintenance and assembly phase.
It is important to start from GEO and it has
been identified one opportunity to start immediately
this project. The scenario for this kick-start is that a
Tanker spacecraft could be launched by the Ariane-5
ECA to a high perigee GTO and then after three years,
one chaser spacecraft will be launched to catch the
Tanker, revive it and use part of fuel to push it to GEO
and the surplus fuel to perform missions.
There has been an analysis done of this orbit.
This is the propagation of the orbit over three years
with respect to the perigee and this is with respect to
the inclination. It is quite stable. It has been chosen to
fly frozen because the duration of the eclipses in this
flight reaches in this case you see, if we launch on the
4 October which is a Sputnik launch date, it is up to 90
seconds but it can go even to one minute but it can go
up to 120.
In the Frequently Asked Questions we hear
whether it is dangerous to be launched. The answer is
that the passive nature of this Tanker spacecraft ensure
safety. On the question of whether it is dangerous to
fly around a long time uncontrolled, the answer is that
this is a practice currently being followed many
operational spacecraft. And the question whether the
Tanker spacecraft is feasible, the answer is that the
design is available and the team to realize also
available.
customers globally for satellite mobile phones and
many applications and also for later on, Moon-bound
and Lagrange(?) (Long-Range?) points projects.
The status of this project is that is continued to
submit aggressively patent applications, continue to
develop partnerships with MoUs and Cooperation
Agreements, continue to investigate opportunities of
qualification flights with ESA, which is an agency, but
also with private launcher service providers.
And also it is under development a marketing
scheme for sponsor offerings with media firms.
The project is ready to ready to perform the
Tanker Mission and has as first target to perform space
debris clean-up in the near future, which we envisage
to be in three years’ time.
Thank you Mr. Chairman and distinguished
delegates, if there is any questions?
The CHAIRMAN: Thank you Mr. Kosmas
for your informative presentation and I apologize for
my error giving the name of the presentation earlier, so
thank you very much.
Are there any questions?
I see none.
And on the question why do you start now?
The answer is, it is opportunity now to demonstrate
aggressive attitude for troubleshooting, which is the
essence of an orbit servicing. And in this particular
flight, there is large capacity building, 3.7 tons.
The benefits to the GEO-level satellite
operators are many, are described briefly in respect to
technology development in its phase, in the
demonstration phase, in the full deployment phase, in
the Phase 2, which refuelling which is available to the
Client spacecraft, and the Phase 3, that we have the
maintenance demonstration operations phase, where
maintenance service will become available in situ for
replacing modules on the Utility Base for deeper unit
level interventions.
Then progressing maintenance capability at
lower levels in the engineering hierarchy of the subassembly level and on the part level.
Lastly, the assembly phase will make
available large antenna reflectors and this will reduce
the need to launch them with the spacecraft.
The cost performance ratio will be reduced to
record low levels. This will enable really mass market
services to become available even to low-income
Distinguished delegates, I will now adjourn
this meeting of the Committee in order for the Working
Group on UNISPACE III + 5 Review Report to hold its
fourth meeting. Before doing so, I would like to
inform delegates of our schedule of work for this
afternoon.
I am informed that the Working Group on the
Implementation of UNISPACE III recommendations
will not need to meet this afternoon as had been
anticipated. Therefore, if there are no objections, we
will reconvene promptly at 3.00 p.m. to continue
consideration of agenda item 8, Report of the Scientific
and Technical Subcommittee on its Forty-First Session.
Time permitting, we will also continue consideration of
agenda item 9, Report of the Legal Subcommittee on
its Forty-Third Session.
In accordance with the agreement of the
Committee at its forty-sixth session last year, an
Industry Workshop will be held this afternoon on
“Satellites for Disaster Communications: Saving Lives
from Natural Disasters”. Presentations will be made
by industry representatives and the Workshop will be
moderated by Mr. Hans Zimmermann of the United
Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs.
Are there any questions or comments on this
proposed schedule?
I see none.
I would like to remind delegates that all
participants of this session of the Committee are
invited a Heurigen this evening at 7.00 p.m., hosted by
Austria, at the Heuriger Fuhrgassl-Huber.
I now invite Mr. Niklas Hedman to chair the
fourth meeting of the Working Group of UNISPACE
III + 5 Review Report.
This meeting is adjourned until 3.00 p.m. this
afternoon.
The meeting closed at 12.06 p.m.