The United Nations, delivering ‘Access to Space for All’: Activity Status in 2019
- Paper number
IAC-19,B3,3,2,x49497
- Author
Mr. Aimin NIU, Austria, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs
- Coauthor
Ms. Simonetta Di Pippo, Austria, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs
- Coauthor
Mr. Jorge Del Rio Vera, Austria, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs
- Coauthor
Mr. Ian Freeman, Austria, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs
- Coauthor
Ms. Ayami Kojima, Austria, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs
- Coauthor
Mr. Luc St-Pierre, Austria, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs
- Year
2019
- Abstract
The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) launched the Human Space Technology Initiative (HSTI) in 2010 to promote international cooperation on human space flight and space exploration-related activities, create awareness among countries on the benefits of utilizing human space technology and its applications, and build capacity in microgravity education and research. Building on HSTI, in 2018 the United Nations established ‘Access to Space for All’, expanding our activities on human space technology, increasing opportunities for non and emerging space faring nations to use UNOOSA as the UN hub for connecting with the public and private space sector. Since October 2018, UNOOSA organized the United Nations Expert Meeting on Human Space Technology with the theme of providing access to space. The Expert Meeting concluded with recommendations, paving the way for creating new opportunities in access to space. Meanwhile, new achievements have been made: (1) A number of experiment proposals from multiple countries have been selected for flying on board the China Space Station (CSS) under the United Nations/China Cooperation on the CSS Utilization; (2) The Call for Interest (CFI) in utilizing the Airbus Bartolomeo platform has been publicized and interests in utilizing it have been expressed from multiple countries; (3) The project on utilizing the Large Diameter Centrifuge facility at ESA/ESTEC was launched, through UNOOSA and ESA partnership, and the first opportunity to utilize this facility has been announced; (4) The 4th round applications for deploying small satellites under the KiboCUBE have been solicitated and selection has been made, and the 5th round call for applications has been announced; (5) Substantial achievements on utilizing the Dream Chaser of the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has been made; (6) Moreover, the cooperation with UNICEF in small satellite has also been launched taking advantage of UNICEF’s funding support. With UNOOSA adopting the strategy of Access to Space for All, our focus aims to provide Member States with an increasingly comprehensive portfolio of opportunities to access space. This strategy is being implemented by, among others, carrying out substantial projects under HSTI, which provides physical access to space, and initiating the Open Universe Initiative, which provides access to scientific space data. The on-going projects under HSTI has been providing real access to space through a wide range of modalities including space experiments, space flights, and small satellites, thus continuing to bring benefits of space technology to humanity and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
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