United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is an organization of the General Assembly

United Nations General Assembly

For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...

charged with implementing the Assembly's outer space

Outer space

Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....

-related policies. It is located in the United Nations Office in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

. The Office implements the Program on Space Applications and maintains the Register of Objects Launched into Outer Space. The Office also provides support to developing nations in using space technology

Space technology

Space technology is technology that is related to entering, and retrieving objects or life forms from space."Every day" technologies such as weather forecasting, remote sensing, GPS systems, satellite television, and some long distance communications systems critically rely on space infrastructure...

for economic development

Economic development

Economic development generally refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policymakers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area...

. It's current director is Mazlan Othman

Mazlan Othman

Mazlan Binti Othman is a Malaysian astrophysicist who has served in several roles within her country, and as Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in Vienna.-Early life and education:...

from Malaysia.

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs was initially created as a small expert unit within the Secretariat to service the ad hoc Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space established by the General Assembly in its resolution 1348 (XIII) of 13 December 1958. It became a unit within the Department of Political and Security Council Affairs in 1962, when the permanent Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space met for the first time, and was transformed into the Outer Space Affairs Division of that Department in 1968. In 1992, the Division was transformed into the Office for Outer Space Affairs within the Department for Political Affairs. In 1993, the Office was relocated to the United Nations Office at Vienna. At that time, the Office also assumed responsibility for substantive secretariat services to the Legal Subcommittee, which had previously been provided by the Office of Legal Affairs in New York. Questions relating to the militarization of outer space are dealt by the Conference on Disarmament, based in Geneva.

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs implements the decisions of the General Assembly and of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. The office has the dual objective of supporting the intergovernmental discussions in the Committee and its Scientific and Technical Subcommittee (S&T) and Legal Subcommittee, and of assisting developing countries in using space technology for development. In addition, it follows legal, scientific and technical developments relating to space activities, technology and applications in order to provide technical information and advice to Member States, international organizations and other United Nations offices.

Mazlan Othman was rumored to be appointed by (UNOOSA) to be Earth's first extraterrestrial

Extraterrestrial life

Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...

spokesperson. After this rumor was reported on the news as true, the UN denied any such appointment.

The rumour was also rejected by National Space Agency Malaysia director-general Dr. Mustafa Din Subari, who told that UNOOSA head Datuk Mazlan Othman, had confirmed to him in an email that there was no such appointment. If any such appointment was to have been made, however, Dr. Subari confirmed that
Mazlan would have been the best candidate for the job: “You do not want a spokesman from just anywhere. Mazlan is in the highest position of outer space affairs.” “Coupled with her credentials as an astrophysicist, she would be the most appropriate candidate to take up such a role,” he said of his predecessor, whose position he took over in 1999 after Mazlan left to assume her role in UNOOSA. Dr. Subari added that scientists worldwide were still hopeful about communication with extraterrestrial life: “Theoretically, scientists internationally are still confident in the existence of extra-terrestrial life as we have found other solar systems, although we cannot yet ascertain whether there is life in those systems,”.

External links

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See also

External links