United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs

21 May 2013 - The Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA), within the framework of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications organized the United Nations/Croatia Workshop on the Applications of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) in Baška, Krk Island from 21 to 25 April 2013. The Faculty of Maritime Studies of the University of Rijeka hosted the Workshop on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Croatia The workshop was co-sponsored by the United States of America through the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG).

Workshop participants discussed how GNSS-enabling technology could strengthen a network of national reference stations and promote the interoperability of navigation, positioning and timing systems through the exchange of information and the scaling-up of capacities among countries in the region. It was also noted that the development and utilization of the GNSS vulnerabilities and risk mitigation techniques, related to both space weather and artificially induced vulnerabilities and risks, should be considered and that international cooperation in identification and mitigation of GNSS vulnerabilities and risks might be the most effective approach. The participants recognised that knowledge sharing and the establishment of partnerships would be a step forward in developing regional and national pilot projects on the applications of GNSS through strengthening many sectors, such as aviation, maritime and land transportation, mapping and surveying, environmental monitoring and natural resources management. The Faculty of Maritime Studies of the University of Rijeka has offered to take on a coordinating role in the region and establish research facilities for continuous monitoring of both space weather and GNSS performance in order to allow international cooperation through the exchange of observations, visiting researchers, visiting lecturers, visiting students and collaborative field work.

One-day tutorials were organized by the Faculty of Maritime Studies of the University of Rijeka. Topics covered in these tutorials included: Current and planned GNSS and satellite-based augmentation systems; GNSS positioning error budget; Space weather effects on GNSS performance and operation. The laboratory work on "Practical GNSS performance analysis using the open source tool" in the context of tutorials added value to understanding GNSS signals, codes, and data analysis. The Workshop programme, presentations, and the book of abstracts are available at: http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/SAP/gnss/index.html

2 May 2013 - The United Nations/Pakistan International Workshop on Integrated Use of Space Technologies for Food and Water Security, jointly organized by the UN Programme on Space Applications and the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) and cosponsored by the Inter-Islamic Network on Space Science and Technology (ISNET), was held from 11 to 15 March 2013 in Islamabad, Pakistan. The meeting was hosted by SUPARCO on behalf of the Government of Pakistan.

The workshop discussed space technologies, applications, information and services that contribute into sustainable economic and social development programmes supporting agricultural and water security, primarily in developing countries, with the following primary objectives: (i) to enhance capabilities of countries in the use of space-related technologies, applications, services and information for identifying and managing water resources, and addressing food security concerns; (ii) to examine low-cost space-related technologies and information resources available for addressing water- and food security needs in developing countries; (iii) to strengthen international and regional cooperation in this area; (iv) to increase awareness among decision-makers and research and academic community of space technology applications for addressing water- and food-related issues, primarily in developing countries; and (v) to promote educational and public awareness initiatives in the area of water- and food security, as well as to contribute to capacity building process in this area.

The programme of the Workshop included 4 technical sessions and 2 special sessions - "Mountains Under Review - Experience Exchange on Remote Sensing-based Monitoring of Natural Resources in Mountain Regions" (organized in cooperation with UNEP) and "SERVIR-Himalaya - Enhancing Use of Earth Observation and Geospatial Technologies in the HKH Region" (organized in cooperation with ICIMOD). Overall, 39 oral presentations were delivered at the technical and special sessions, and 27 papers were submitted for a poster session. Technical sessions were followed by meetings of three Working Groups which were established to prepare observations and recommendations of the Workshop, as well as to develop proposals for follow up projects and to examine possible partnerships that could be launched.

4 Feberuary 2013 - UNOOSA is pleased to announce the opportunity for the Zero-Gravity Instrument Project (ZGIP) as part of the Human Space Technology Initiative (HSTI) under the framework of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications.

ZGIP is aimed at contributing to the promotion of space education and research in microgravity around the world, particularly for the enhancement of relevant capacity-building activities in developing countries. Under this Project, a fixed number of microgravity simulation instruments called Clinostats will be distributed free of charge to qualified schools, universities, research centers and institutes around the world.

ZGIP will provide unique opportunities for students and researchers to study the gravitational effects on samples, such as plant seeds and small organisms, in a simulated microgravity condition with hands-on learning in classroom or research activities conducted by each institution.

Detailed information and the Application Form are available on the HSTI webpage at:
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/SAP/hsti/index.html.

24 January 2013 - Currently serious efforts are being made worldwide to introduce global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), in terms of science, technology and applications, as a stand-alone discipline in university-level curricula.The GNSS education curriculum was developed by taking into account GNSS course outlines as used at the university level in a number of developing and industrialized countries. This GNSS education curriculum differs from most of those available in literature and on the Internet. The GNSS education curriculum was a unique result of the deliberations of the regional workshops on GNSS applications since 2006.

This curriculum will be made available to the regional centres for space science and technology education, affiliated to the United Nations. The course prerequisite is a degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering, Geomatics, or Software and Computer Engineering. The course consists of nine modules covering specific areas of GNSS (theory, technology and applications). The duration of the course is 36 weeks, followed by one year of pilot-project work in the participant's home country.

The GNSS glossary of terms has been produced as a direct response to the needs of the GNSS user community in the framework of the ICG Providers' Forum workplan.

The GNSS education curriculum is published as the UN document ST/SPACE/59, and it is available through the following link: http://www.unoosa.org/pdf/icg/2013/Ed_GNSS_eBook.pdf

11 December 2012 - The International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG) met in Beijing, China, from 5 to 9 November 2012, to continue reviewing and discussing developments in global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) and to allow ICG members, associate members and observers to address recent developments in their organizations and associations with regard to GNSS services and applications. ICG also addressed GNSS professional, mass-market and scientific applications. Representatives from industry, academia and governments shared views on GNSS services. The Meeting was hosted by the Government of the People's Republic of China.

The ICG working groups focused on the following issues: compatibility and interoperability; enhancement of the performance of GNSS services; and reference frames, timing and applications. The meetings agendas and the presentations made at the ICG plenary sessions, its Providers' Forum and the ICG Working Groups will be available on the ICG Information Portal at:
http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/SAP/gnss/icg/meetings.html

ICG accepted the invitation of the United Arab Emirates to host its Eighth Meeting in Dubai, from 10 to 14 November 2013. The Office for Outer Space Affairs, in its capacity as the Executive Secretariat of ICG and its Providers' Forum, will assist in the preparations for the meeting and for interim planning meetings and Working Groups activities. ICG noted the expression of interest by the European Union to host the Ninth Meeting of ICG in 2014.

The ICG had been established by the United Nations General Assembly as a forum to promote cooperation on matters of mutual interest to its members related to civil satellite-based positioning, navigation, timing and value-added services, as well as cooperation on the compatibility and interoperability of global navigation satellite systems, and to promote their use to support sustainable development, particularly in developing countries. The Office for Outer Space Affairs acts as the Executive Secretariat for the ICG and the Providers' Forum.

6 December 2012 - UN-PSA starts its 2013 programme of work by organizing the United Nations/Pakistan International Workshop on Integrated Use of Space Technologies for Food and Water Security, which will be held from 11 to 15 March 2013 in Islamabad, Pakistan. The workshop will be hosted by the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), and it will address space technologies, applications, information and services that contribute into sustainable economic and social development programmes supporting agricultural and water security, primarily in developing countries. Interested candidates can get detailed information as well as apply for participation on-line at the Workshop's webpage available on the UN-OOSA website.

The next scheduled activity is the United Nations/Croatia Workshop on the Applications of Global Navigation Satellite Systems. The meeting will take place in Baška, Krk Island, Croatia, from 21 to 25 April 2013, and it is hosted by the Faculty of Maritime Studies of the University of Rijeka, Croatia. Objectives of the workshop are to: (a) update on-going activities related to the use of GNSS technology; (b) enhance institutional and human capacity on utilizing GNSS technology; (c) identify the specific needs of individual plans and projects on GNSS at the regional and international levels for near-, medium-, and long-term applications; (d) develop a regional plan of action that would contribute to the wider use of GNSS technology and its applications; (e) define recommendations and findings to be forwarded as a contribution to the ICG. Detailed information and on-line application forms are available at the workshop's webpage.

Complete schedule of activities to be carried out by PSA in 2013 will be published on the Internet by the end of 2012, and it could be accessed through the following link:
http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/SAP/sched/index.html

23 October 2012 - The United Nations/Ecuador Workshop on the International Space Weather Initiative (ISWI) ( http://iswiecuador.epn.edu.ec), hosted by Ecuador for Latin America and the Caribbean, was held on 8 - 12 October 2012 in Quito under the framework of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications (UN-PSA). The Workshop discussed the possibilities that exist and made contribution to the prospective solutions of the issues related to solar-terrestrial interactions, and thus to continue space weather research and education into the year 2013 when the next Solar Maximum is expected to occur. The workshop was co-organized and co-sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and the International Center for Space Weather Science and Education of Kyushu University of Japan ( http://www.serc.kyushu-u.ac.jp). About 75 scientists, engineers, and policy makers from 20 countries attended the Workshop.

The milestone result of the Workshop is contained in the resolution of the Workshop, unanimously adopted by the workshop participants. Participants noted that space weather is important to our society, which increasingly relies on space technology for education, business, transportation and communication. Participants also noted that the International Heliophysical Year (IHY) and ISWI have made significant progress in the installation of new instrumentation for the understanding of space weather impacts on Earth's upper atmosphere generating new data streams useful for space weather in regions unobserved before. With the support of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications, the ISWI has facilitated the operation of nearly 1000 instruments operating in more than 100 of the United Nations member states. The data from these instrument arrays is a unique resource for the study of space weather influences on Earth's atmosphere. The IHY and ISWI schools have trained several hundred graduate students and young scientists, many of whom are becoming mature scientists or engineers as evidenced by their publications. The annual United Nations workshops on ISWI have facilitated instrument deployment, information dissemination, and close international scientific collaboration. Thanks to ISWI, many scientists in developing nations are able to develop and sustain research efforts in their own countries.

The participants of the United Nations/Ecuador workshop, therefore, recommended that ISWI be continued as part of the Space Weather agenda item of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of COPUOS, starting in 2013.

19 September 2012 - Following the recommendations of the 1st and the 2nd International Conferences on the Use of Space Technology for Water Management, the International Water Portal was developed and became operational on the Internet. It was initiated as a joint effort of the UN Programme on Space Applications and the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (PSIPW) aimed at creation of a comprehensive on-line forum and database for all parties that are professionally involved in water management. Its unique design combines the functionality of a professional database, an on-line digital library, and a professional networking site.

Originally, the Portal was envisioned as a water professional database, which would host a roster of researchers around the world, as it had been recommended by the 1st International Conferences on the Use of Space Technology for Water Management which took place in 2008 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and was jointly organized by UN-OOSA, UNISCO, PSIPW and the King Abdulaziz Center for Science and Technology (KACST). The second Conference jointly organized by UN-OOSA, Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE) of Argentina and PSIPW in 2011 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has expanded the concept of the project.

PSIPW team implemented the project and developed an interactive database for water researchers and professionals, water-related organizations and companies that has networking functionality where specialists can contact each other, exchange information and add publications to a searchable on-line library, thus providing a single platform for enhancing international cooperation, communication and access to information.

The International Water Portal was officially presented both at the 49th session of Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the COPUOS in February 2012 and at the 55th session of the COPUOS in June 2012. The Portal is hosted by PSIPW and it can be accessed at: http://water-portal.com

23 July 2012 - The fifth meeting of the Governing Board of the African Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology (CRASTE-LF), affiliated to the United Nations, Rabat, Morocco, was held on 26 June 2012 in Algiers, Algeria. The Meeting considered in detail and subsequently endorsed (i) the report of activities of CRASTE-LF in the period of time from July 2007 through December 2011; (ii) CRASTE-LF's programme of activities for 2012 -2013; and (iii) CRASTE-LF's budget for 2012 - 2013.

The Office for Outer Space Affairs of the United Nations, as the Executive Secretariat for the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG), and its Providers' Forum identified two areas for enhanced cooperation with regard to the further development of the Regional Centres as information centres for ICG: the technical level, which would include various global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) technologies; and the cooperative level, with industry leaders and linkages (seminars, training and supporting materials) with current and future system and augmentation system providers, as well as communication and outreach to the wider community through the ICG information portal, mailing lists, brochures and newsletters.

More information about the Regional Centres is available at: http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/SAP/centres/index.html. Detailed information about ICG and its Providers' Forum is available at: http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/SAP/gnss/icg.html.

16 July 2012 - The United Nations Expert Meeting on the International Space Station Humanitarian Benefits was held in Vienna, Austria, from 11 to 12 June 2012. The Meeting was part of the Human Space Technology Initiative (HSTI) carried out under the framework of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications.

Organized by the Office for Outer Space Affairs of the Secretariat in cooperation with the ISS Partner agencies, namely, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), the Meeting aimed at bringing experts from around the world and representatives from relevant United Nations organizations as well as from ISS Partners together to discuss ways to realize the potential of the ISS for the benefit of humanity, specifically, in the areas of Earth observation and disaster response, global health, and educational activities.

Please visit HSTI webpage for more details.

29 May 2012 - The Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education for Western Asia, affiliated to the United Nations, opens in Amman, Jordan. The Centre will offer research and application programmes for university educators and research and application scientists on space-based remote sensing, satellite communications, satellite meteorology and space sciences.

"This is another landmark in the development of the UN Programme on Space Applications that was mandated to promote the use of space technology for peaceful purposes, in support of national, regional and global development," said Mazlan Othman, UNOOSA Director at the inauguration ceremony, under the patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah II at the Royal Jordanian Geographic Centre, where the new Centre is located.

The newly inaugurated regional centre in Amman joins the existing four regional centres, located in India for the Asia-Pacific region; in Morocco and Nigeria for French and English communities in Africa respectively; and two campuses of the regional centre for Latin America and the Caribbean, located in Brazil and Mexico. The Centres that are affiliated with the United Nations through an agreement with UNOOSA assist Member States in enhancing local capabilities in different areas of space science and technology that have the potential to advance social and economic development.Each Centre provides 9-months in-depth education, research and application programmes for university educators, as well as research and application scientists with an initial emphasis on remote sensing and GIS, satellite communications, satellite meteorology and space sciences.

More information about the Regional Centres is available at: http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/SAP/centres/index.html

1 May 2012 - In-follow up to the series of three UN/Austria/ESA Symposiums on Small Satellite Programmes for Sustainable Development, held in Graz, Austria, from 2009 to 2011, the United Nations Programme on Space Applications will organize Workshops on Basic Space Technology Development in the regions that correspond to the United Nations Economic Commissions for Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Western Asia.

The first such Workshop in 2012 will be hosted by the University of Tokyo, co-hosted by the University Space Engineering Consortium (UNISEC) and it will be held from 10 to 13 October in Nagoya, Japan, in conjunction with the Japan Aerospace 2012.

The Workshop will include the final presentations of projects submitted to the 2nd Mission Idea Contest, special sessions on the topic listed below, a poster session and discussions on the drafting of a Space Education Curriculum in Aerospace Engineering.

Applications for funding support to partcipate in the Symposium are being accepted until 1 June 2012.