00:00The risk of space race conflicts increasing as more players enter the arena.
00:05The United Nations has five treaties geared at preventing such scenarios.
00:11Our correspondent Jen Cokeslake spoke to the director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, Space Exploration,
00:18about space exploration that benefits all.
00:21Principles of the UN Charter are fundamental to our work.
00:24Space is embedded in our daily lives in a way that most people don't understand.
00:31We cannot go from A to B without using our phones and our satellite navigation systems.
00:36We turn on the news, we watch the weather, we want to see, you know, decide what to wear today based on the weather.
00:43We want to see what's going on around the world.
00:45And all of these things are enabled by satellite and space technologies.
00:48Given that space is so embedded into our daily lives and will increasingly be so in the future,
00:55all the more reason for us to maintain space as a peaceful province for mankind.
01:02In 1945, 50 nations, including China, came together to lay the groundwork for the post-war international order.
01:09What lessons from that era are most relevant to us today?
01:12Back in 1945, you know, it was a very volatile period, and yet we were able to establish the United Nations.
01:21If we think of COPUS, the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space,
01:25that was established more than 10 years after the founding of the UN.
01:30And again, it was the beginning of the space race, as we call it.
01:34There were only two countries which were really going to space.
01:37They were adversaries, and yet they managed to agree on the creation of this committee.
01:43They managed to agree on the Outer Space Treaty and so on.
01:46When the UN was formed, there was only 50 countries who were members.
01:50It has grown.
01:51And why has it grown?
01:53I think it's because we've come to realize that there are global challenges that affect all countries,
01:58and all countries should firstly have a voice.
02:01But also big challenges require multiple partners and different solutions.
02:04What kind of programs are in place to make sure there's equitable access for countries in the developing world to access space?
02:11We partner with space agencies from Japan, from China.
02:15The China Manned Space Agency facilitates competitions whereby teams can bid to run experiments on the Chinese space station Tiangong.
02:24We have something called SPIDER, which is Space-Based Information for Disaster and Emergency Response.
02:29And we have actually three offices, one in Beijing, in China, which is supported by the Ministry of Emergency Management in China.
02:36And through this office, we facilitate access to satellite imagery and satellite data.
02:41And we train users across the AIPAC region on how to use it.
02:44So looking ahead 20 years to the centenary of the UN Charter in 2045,
02:49how do you ensure that space will remain open to all humanity?
02:53It is my hope that by 2045, we will be ensuring that there is no more digital divide,
03:01we will be ensuring that there is no more data divide,
03:04and that all the communities who need access to satellite imagery and data have access to it.
03:11Ardi Halamani, Director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, thank you so much for your time today.
03:16Thank you for having me.
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