COPUOS at a turning point: Balancing a vital mandate with membership growth and global realities

By Dr. Peter Martinez

Last month, 84 nations gathered in Vienna for the 69th session of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS). Established in 1958, just one year after the dawn of the Space Age, this Committee stands as the principal multilateral platform for international cooperation in outer space affairs. It plays a pivotal role in advancing the peaceful, safe, and sustainable exploration and use of space while strengthening the international frameworks that underpin these efforts. However, as the pace of space activities accelerates, the Committee is facing unprecedented operational and structural pressures that test its ability to remain relevant and fit for purpose. The 69th session took place against the backdrop of heightened geopolitical tensions and the current UN liquidity crisis that is eroding the effectiveness of the UN system to deliver on its mandate and is consequently also eroding trust in multilateralism.

An expanding and critical agenda

COPUOS is currently facing an expanding agenda of critical issues that include the long-term sustainability of space activities, space situational awareness, lunar activities coordination, and space resource activities. Most of these issues are addressed as workstreams under COPUOS’ two subcommittees, the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee (STSC) and the Legal Subcommittee (LSC).

The agenda for the 69th session of COPUOS comprised 18 items that represented the full spectrum of the work of COPUOS and its two subcommittees. Because of the ongoing liquidity crisis in the UN, the length of the session was reduced by one day. Progress on the agenda items during the session was lackluster, with modest forward movement across multiple fronts, but no major breakthroughs.

There are several reasons for the limited progress. Partly it had to do with differences of opinion on priorities and approaches to addressing the agenda items under discussion. And, since the Committee takes all of its decisions by consensus, which means 100 percent agreement, partly it had to do with trying to find consensus language that sought to accommodate divergent political and ideological positions. An example of this was the terminological debates following the rejection by the United States at the STSC in February 2026 of the term “developing countries” in favor of the term “countries in special situations”. In an attempt to circumvent debate over this term during the 69th session of COPUOS, several alternative formulations were proposed in working documents, but could not achieve consensus among pushback from China and several other delegations that wish to see explicit references to developing countries retained in COPUOS documents.

Nevertheless, modest progress was made on substantive issues on several fronts:

• The Working Group on the Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities discussed but could not reach consensus on all aspects of its draft work plan. The Working Group agreed that it would continue to work in the intersessional period with the aim of reaching consensus on the work plan during the sixty-fourth session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee in February 2027, when it would hold expert discussions on the first two of the agreed substantive topics in the work plan.
• The Expert Group on Space Situational Awareness discussed preliminary recommendations focused on operationalizing guidelines B.1 and B.4 of the Guidelines for the Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities, which the Committee adopted by consensus in 2019. These guidelines address, respectively, the provision of operator contact information and information on space objects and orbital events (B.1), and the performance of conjunction assessment during all orbital phases of controlled flight (B.4). The Expert Group was unable to reach consensus on its draft recommendations and agreed to hold up to four intersessional meetings during the period leading up to the next session of the STSC.
• The Action Team on Lunar Activities Consultation (ATLAC) continued consultations related to lunar activities in accordance with applicable national regulatory frameworks and international law.
• The Committee continued consultations on the proposal to hold the UNISPACE IV Summit in Vienna in 2027 to mark the 60th anniversary of the Outer Space Treaty. A significant number of states voiced support for holding UNISPACE IV in 2027; however, consensus was not reached on this. As the proposed host country, Austria offered a significant financial commitment if UNISPACE IV goes ahead in 2027, but there would still be a shortfall that would have to be funded through additional extra-budgetary contributions by other UN Member States. Further informal consultations will be held in the coming months, led by Italy, in its capacity as Chair of COPUOS during the period 2026–2027.
• The Committee also deliberated on its methods of work, including: criteria for introducing new agenda items; measures to review existing agenda items; ways to balance formal and informal meetings; ways to better utilize technical presentations, conference room papers, and the symposia associated with COPUOS sessions in order to facilitate expert input into the Committee’s deliberations; and ways to enhance coordination and consistency among the Committee and its subsidiary bodies.

Although progress was made across multiple fronts, the Committee was not able to adopt its report by consensus. Apart from not reflecting the progress at this session, the lack of a consensus report also means that there is no agreed agenda and schedule of work for COPUOS and its subcommittees in 2027. The Committee agreed that Italy, as Chair of the Committee, would hold intersessional consultations on the agenda and schedule of work for 2027 for the Committee and its subcommittees, with a view to reaching agreement on this at the 81st session of the General Assembly in October 2026.

The Triple Challenge: Geopolitical tensions, COPUOS membership growth, and the UN liquidity crisis

COPUOS’ ability to address its agenda efficiently is heavily challenged in three ways.

The first challenge is the current heightened geopolitical tension among the major space powers, which casts a long shadow over the deliberations in COPUOS. Space is not siloed from geopolitics on Earth; tensions between states on Earth project into space, especially considering the ever-increasing interrelation between space activities and life on Earth. This tension manifests in several ways: in different ideological positions; different political positions; and in differences of opinion on agenda priorities.

The second challenge is the rapid increase in the size of the Committee. COPUOS is experiencing unprecedented growth in its membership. In 2026, the Committee welcomed six new Member States (Côte d’Ivoire, the Gambia, Honduras, Maldives, Malta, and Zimbabwe), bringing its total membership to 110 states, alongside 62 permanent observers (of which SWF is one). At the 69th session, new membership applications were received from the Bahamas, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, and Uganda, illustrating the growing importance that states which are not significant space powers attach to being part of global space governance discussions and the value that they place on space capabilities and activities overall.

While the increase in the number of Member States strengthens the legitimacy of COPUOS, it also makes it more difficult to achieve consensus. Not only is progress in decision-making slowed, but the substance that is finally agreed upon has to be “watered down” to achieve consensus. Compared to just ten years ago, there is now a much wider diversity among the COPUOS membership in terms of motivations for pursuing space activities and different levels of national space capabilities. Naturally, this translates into differences of priorities for topics of discussion. The increasing size of the Committee also poses logistical challenges to the manner in which the Committee has historically worked. Therefore, the Committee needs to review its methods of work if it is to remain fit-for-purpose and relevant in the rapidly evolving space arena.

The third major challenge confronting COPUOS is the ongoing UN liquidity crisis, which is primarily caused by late payment or non-payment of assessed contributions by a number of Member States, for a variety of reasons. This has forced the UN to shorten recent sessions of COPUOS and its subcommittees. The 69th session was shortened by one day, from eight days to seven. This restricted formal statement durations to an exceptional maximum of four minutes for the General Exchange of Views and three minutes for other agenda items. Crucially, the liquidity crisis has limited the time available for multilingual discussions across the six official UN languages, pushing a significant amount of substantive work into informal, English-only consultations. The liquidity crisis also places strain on the Secretariat of COPUOS to produce the documentation in all official languages in time for report adoption at the end of the session. This year, because of this, some of the documentation only became available on the afternoon of the last day of the session, giving non-English-speaking delegations very little time to review the draft report before its adoption.

The liquidity crisis has also hampered the ability of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) to deliver on its mandate. While the scope of space activities has increased dramatically in recent years, the human and financial resources available to the Office have been cut. Consequently, the Office is struggling to provide services expected by the UN Member States and required for compliance with the existing space treaties, such as updating and maintaining registration information for space objects. In her statement to the Committee, UNOOSA Director Aarti Holla-Maini described the severe capacity and resource challenges that the Office is facing and reminded Member States that the lack of resources is not just a financial issue; it has real implications for UNOOSA’s ability to deliver critical functions for the safety and sustainability of space activities. Director Holla-Maini urged Member States to take their responsibility to sustain the Office seriously and to translate words of support into meaningful action.

Pathways to reform

Recognizing these vulnerabilities, Member States widely agree that COPUOS’ methods of work must be modernized. The Committee’s Working Group of the Whole, which addresses such matters, is currently exploring several proposed reform measures to streamline operations, including:

• Reviewing and combining agenda items to ensure relevance to modern space activities;
• Defining criteria for the introduction of new agenda items;
• Shortening the duration of formal sessions;
• Making reports more concise without losing substance;
• Enhancing coordination between the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and the Legal Subcommittee; and
• Shifting a heavier volume of technical and preparatory work to intersessional consultations.

Preserving core values

As COPUOS navigates this transition, Member States remain resolute on two foundational pillars: the preservation of the consensus principle for decision-making in COPUOS and the protection of multilingualism in UN debates and parliamentary documents. Any future operational adjustments must safeguard the ability of all nations, particularly developing states, to receive official documentation and participate equally in negotiations across all official UN languages.

Ultimately, the future credibility of COPUOS depends on its capacity to enact these nimble operational reforms while holding fast to the inclusive, consensus-driven diplomacy that has defined space governance for more than six decades. Although COPUOS is, and will remain, a forum of states, the permanent observers also have an important role to play in supporting the work of the Committee and its reform. Since joining COPUOS as a permanent observer in 2008, Secure World Foundation has worked closely with Member States and UNOOSA to support and strengthen COPUOS as the premier forum for multilateral space diplomacy. For more information about the history and methods of work of COPUOS and its subcommittees, please refer to SWF’s COPUOS Briefing Book.