Space exploration has always excited humanity, and has sparked an intense curiosity of the unknown. When the United States put a man on the moon, the entire country was filled with immense pride. The world saw space as an opportunity, an opportunity to expand knowledge on celestial beings as well as a chance to better those who live on Earth. In addition, the exploration of space was seen as a method of investigating ways to improve the earth’s climate and to work towards enhancing sustainability goals on Earth.
The United Nations wishes to collaborate on an international level, to share technology and expertise to better sustainability goals. The United Nations General Assembly convened on Friday, October 26, to discuss the possible adoption of resolution, A-73-L6, on the peaceful exploration and usage of space. The document was created during the U.N. conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. The conference took place in Vienna on June 20-21st, and was the 50th anniversary of the collaboration of United Nations countries to expand international cooperation for peaceful space exploration.
The assembly started with Mexico introducing the resolution. The representative to Mexico spoke on the successful UNISPACE conference, and the 2030 space agenda for the improvement of SDG goals. She emphasized how it is essential that the international community work together, sharing information and technology through “space diplomacy”. She wanted to underline that the agenda for 2030 would work on, “the challenges of humanity and the growth of society as a whole.” Paraguay followed her introduction by highlighting that the conference stressed the peaceful use of space rather than the use of force or hostility. He talked about avoiding another arms race, similar to the one the United States and Russia were apart of during the Cold War. The representative from Paraguay spoke on the need for equality in space exploration, and the necessity for all countries to participate in the examination of SDG goals through space. He believes that developed nations have usurped much of the Earth’s orbit with their own satellites, and he wants this to change by allowing developing nations the chance to send their own satellites in the earth’s orbit.
The United Arab Emirates highlighted their goals within the resolution as well. The representative spoke on their goal of going to Mars in the year 2117. The United Arab Emirates emphasized their dedication to training young citizens in space exploration, and toward to goal of going to Mars in 2117. The representative believes that there is, “great potential and energy among the youth”, and wants to uplift women to become involved in the space program. The representative from Russia and the United States underscored their support for the resolution and the working agenda for 2020 and 2030. Both countries stressed their previous accomplishments with space exploration, and their goals of improved collaboration and support of developing nations, who are attempting to break into space exploration.
In conclusion, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A-73-L6 on space as a driver of sustainable development with unanimous support, which highlighted the excitement and the promise of future space exploration. It is clear that there is international support for increased collaboration of technology and data to advance the global exploration of space. This will hopefully lead to the improvement of the United Nations SDG goals. There is clear excitement within the United Nations for what the future hold in terms of space exploration and its connection to SDG goals.
This blog post was written by Millicent Womble.
Millicent Womble is a senior undergraduate student at the Seton Hall School of Diplomacy and International Relations. Millicent is planning to graduate with a major in diplomacy and international relations and with a minor in economics and French. Millicent is the United Nations undergraduate Youth Representative to the United Nations for the fall 2018 semester. She is joining the Peace Corps in March 2019, and is excited to work on educational development and female empowerment in Armenia.