Outer Space Security Conference 2025

When: Tuesday, September 9 – Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Time: 10:00 CEST
Where: Hybrid | Palais des Nations (Room VII), Geneva & Online

Secure World Foundation is pleased to once again co-organize the Outer Space Security Conference 2025 (OS25) in partnership with the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR). This annual event brings together government officials, technical experts, civil society representatives, commercial leaders, and academics for candid, cross-sector dialogue on the evolving challenges facing space security.

Global reliance on space-based services continues to grow, even as space becomes more crowded, contested, and complex. OS25 offers a timely platform to examine risks to space systems—including counterspace threats, dual-use ambiguity, cyber vulnerabilities, and cislunar activity—as well as the diplomatic, legal, and technical tools available to help address them.

This year’s conference will explore a wide range of topics:

• Emerging technologies and their impact on security
• Strategic unpredictability and crisis escalation risks
• The evolving role of commercial actors
• The future of multilateral arms control and the PAROS agenda
• Space security implications beyond Earth orbit

Registration is free for both in-person and online participants.

• ‍Register to attend in Geneva
• Register to attend virtually

If you have questions, please contact Victoria Samson.

Agenda

Day 1 – Tuesday, September 9

• Welcome remarks
• Keynote conversation – Bridging vision and responsibility: Challenges and opportunities for a secure space future
  This opening conversation will reflect on the role of multilateral institutions in shaping a secure, inclusive and sustainable future for outer space. As the space environment undergoes rapid transformation, this dialogue will explore how their respective agendas intersect to support international cooperation, strengthen governance and safeguard the benefits of space for all.
• OS25 Youth video premiere
  UNIDIR and partners present the second edition of the Youth Video Competition, highlighting perspectives from young space leaders around the world.
• Panel I – Fact or fiction? Exploring emerging technologies and their impact on outer space security
  This panel will explore developments such as autonomous systems, AI, quantum communication, and cyber-secure architectures. Speakers will assess their level of deployment and implications for the space environment.
• Lunch break
• Lightning talk – OS25 Youth video competition winner
• Panel II – Mapping space security: Threats to space systems and consequences for space and Earth
  This session will take a wide view of threats, including kinetic and non-kinetic counterspace capabilities, dual-use systems, and doctrinal ambiguity. The panel will consider how these risks can affect Earth and the space environment and what coordinated responses are possible.
• Coffee break
• Lightning talk – OS25 Youth video competition winner
• Panel III – From principles to practice: Evolving approaches to space security and PAROS in all its aspects
  Panelists will explore how binding and non-binding measures work together toward preventing an arms race in outer space. The discussion will include institutional history, diplomatic tensions, and where multilateral work might go next.
• Reception

Day 2 – Wednesday, September 10

• Opening remarks
• Panel IV – The security of cislunar space and beyond
  As interest in lunar exploration and cislunar operations grows, this panel will examine the legal, policy, and security questions surrounding space beyond GEO. It will consider relevant precedents and legal frameworks around military use and space resource extraction.
• Lightning talk – OS25 Youth video competition winner
• Lunch break
• Panel V – Strategic unpredictability in the space domain: Navigating intersections, escalation and restraint
  This session will look at how entanglement, misperception, and unclear doctrine affect stability. Panelists will discuss escalation risks, past arms control models, and the potential for restraint and predictability mechanisms in today’s strategic environment.
• Lightning talk – OS25 Youth video competition winner
• Coffee break
• Panel VI – Commercial actors and space security: Evolving challenges, roles and responsibilities
  As commercial actors grow in number and capability, their role in space security is increasingly complex. This panel will examine dual-use technologies, commercial responsibility, and practical ways to align innovation with long-term stability goals.
• Concluding remarks