Some Considerations on How is to Improve the UN Register of Objects Launched into Outer Space in the View of Large Constellations

As it stated on the official website of the UN OOSA “since 1962, the United Nations has maintained a Register of Objects Launched into Outer Space.” This Register has been built on several soft and hard law documents, including GA Resolution 1721 B (XVI), the Registration Convention of 1975, the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, etc. The UN Register being a realization of the obligation of the UN Secretary-General to maintain that Register (Art. III of the Registration Convention) under information concerning each space object provided by States (Art. IV of the Registration Convention), helps all States and other actors of space activities to receive information about different space objects and its characteristics. Considering challenges from large and mega-constellations, including probability of space debris creation from their potential collisions, it is assumed that it is necessary to think about additional mechanisms, which the UN OOSA can use as a holder of the Register. On the one hand, it is suggested to encourage States to provide information not only under binding documents, but in accordance with soft law documents (like the GA Resolution 62/101), on the other hand, to provide more actual and comprehensive information to the Register. Thus, in the paper, it will be suggested what kind of information the State can provide additionally to the UN OOSA, and how the UN OOSA can use it for a modification of the current Register. Moreover, it will be offered to use Art. XI of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 as a legal basis to oblige States to provide additional information as this Article states that “in order to promote international cooperation in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, States Parties to the Treaty conducting activities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, agree to inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations <…>, to the greatest extent feasible and practicable, of the nature, conduct, locations, and results of such activities.” Copyright © 2023 by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). All rights reserved.