Ibadan, 30 March 2023. – Ian Grosner, the Brazilian Space Agency federal attorney and host of SpaceWatch Global’s Space Café Brazil, has become the chair of the Working Group on the Definition and Delimitation of Outer Space of the Legal Subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) in Vienna, Austria. The election happened on Monday, March 20, 2023.
The COPUOS Legal Subcommittee meets every year for two weeks to discuss legal issues related to the exploration and use of outer space. Furthermore, topics include the status and application of the five United Nations treaties on outer space, the definition and delimitation of outer space, national space legislation, and legal mechanisms related to space debris mitigation. The Subcommittee also discusses international mechanisms for cooperation in exploration and peaceful use of outer space, among many others.
In turn, the Working Group on the Definition and Delimitation of Outer Space, with a link to the Legal Subcommittee/COPUOS, considers various issues related to the definition and delimitation of outer space. The WG aims, among other things, to receive information on national legislation and practice relating to the definition and delimitation of outer space and to analyze the responses of States and international organizations to questionnaires related to the definition and delimitation of outer space, as well as on issues relating to the framework of the legal definition of suborbital flights for scientific missions and/or for human transportation.
