WASHINGTON — The United Nations Common Meeting permitted a decision calling for a halt to 1 kind of anti-satellite (ASAT) testing, a largely symbolic transfer meant to assist broader house sustainability initiatives.
The decision, launched by the US and several other different nations, was permitted by the U.N. Common Meeting Dec. 7 amongst dozens of different resolutions on arms management and associated matters with little dialogue or debate. A complete of 155 nations voted in favor of the decision, with 9 voting in opposition to it and 9 others abstaining.
The decision calls on nations to halt harmful testing of direct-ascent ASAT weapons, citing concern that such creates giant quantities of particles that threaten the protection of different satellites. An instance is the November 2021 ASAT take a look at by Russia that destroyed the Cosmos 1408 satellite tv for pc, creating almost 1,800 tracked items of particles and sure many extra objects too small to be tracked. A few third of the tracked particles from that take a look at was nonetheless in orbit almost a 12 months later.
The decision is non-binding within the sense that it doesn’t require nations to halt such exams, as a substitute calling upon states to chorus from conducting exams. It states that it considers such a dedication to chorus from exams “an pressing, preliminary measure geared toward stopping harm to the outer house setting, whereas additionally contributing to the event of additional measures for the prevention of an arms race in outer house.” It additionally helps continued efforts to develop “additional sensible steps” to scale back dangers in outer house.
The Common Meeting vote was almost an identical to 1 by the U.N.’s First Committee, which offers with disarmament and worldwide safety matters. It voted 154-8 in favor of the decision Nov. 1, with 10 nations abstaining.
The eight nations that voted in opposition to the decision within the First Committee — Belarus, Bolivia, China, Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, Russia and Syria — additionally voted in opposition to the decision within the Common Meeting. They had been joined by the Central African Republic, which voted in favor of the decision within the First Committee however in opposition to it within the Common Meeting for unknown causes. India was among the many nations that abstained from the vote, each within the First Committee and on the Common Meeting.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who introduced in April that the US would chorus from harmful direct-ascent ASAT exams and known as on others to do the identical, welcomed the U.N. vote. “Again in April, I introduced the US won’t conduct harmful direct-ascent anti-satellite missile exams, and I known as on different nations to hitch us. As we speak, 155 nations voted in favor of a UN decision, serving to set up this as a world norm for house,” she tweeted after the vote.
Because the announcement by Harris in April, 9 different nations have introduced their very own pledges to not conduct such exams, most not too long ago France on Nov. 29. Not one of the nations had energetic direct-ascent ASAT testing packages.
The decision is certainly one of a number of efforts to advertise secure and sustainable house actions. A parallel effort, kicked off by one other U.N. decision a 12 months in the past, established an Open-Ended Working Group to debate methods of decreasing house threats. That working group has met twice, with two extra conferences scheduled for 2023 earlier than providing its conclusions for future actions.
A separate effort, the Artemis Accords, seeks to advertise secure and sustainable actions in house exploration. Whereas not dealing immediately with points like ASAT testing, the Accords name on nations to restrict the era of orbital particles, whereas calling on transparency in house actions and affirming the usage of house for peaceable functions.
“We and the opposite authentic signatories of the Artemis Accords got here collectively to consider that subsequent period of house exploration and ensure that it was being applied in accordance with the elemental rules of accountable habits,” Pam Melroy, NASA deputy administrator, mentioned in a chat Dec. 12 at a Safe World Basis occasion concerning the Accords.
The US and 7 different nations had been authentic signatories of the Artemis Accords in October 2020. Twenty-one nations have now signed the Accords, and Melroy mentioned in her remarks she anticipated extra nations to hitch within the close to future.
