Open Letters

The Outer Space Institute is pleased to publish the International Open Letter on Reducing Risks from Uncontrolled Reentries of Rocket Bodies, the third international open letter developed and released by the OSI. This Open Letter calls on governments to negotiate a multilateral agreement requiring controlled reentries and, in the meantime, demonstrate leadership by immediately and unilaterally committing to national controlled reentry regimes. You can read the full letter here.

The International Open Letter on Reducing Risks from Uncontrolled Reentries of Rocket Bodies is now open for signatures. Should you wish to add your name to the growing list of former foreign ministers, presidents of space agencies, astronauts, ambassadors, and other leaders in space sustainability, please use the following form (link). The current full list of signatories is available here (link). Note: updates may take a few minutes to show.

The Outer Space Institute is pleased to publish the International Open Letter on Kinetic Anti-Satellite (ASAT) Testing, the second Open Letter coordinated by the OSI.

This letter urges the UN General Assembly to take up consideration of a treaty that would prohibit conducting debris-generating anti-satellite weapon tests. The need for such a treaty is driven by very rapid growth in the number of satellites in orbit. The letter with an appended list of early signatories is available HERE.

The International Open Letter on Kinetic Anti-Satellite (ASAT) Testing is now open for additional signatures. Should you wish to add your name, please use the following form (link). The current full list of signatories is available here (link). Note: updates may take a few minutes to show.

In October 2021, the Centre for Global Law and Governance at the University of St Andrews hosted a roundtable discussion centred on the OSI’s international open letter on kinetic ASAT testing. Adam Bower (moderator) and panellists Michael Byers, Victoria Samson and Sarah Thiele breakdown the technological, scientific, legal and diplomatic context of the letter and consider additional prospects for regulating ASAT systems as well as the political limits to developing restratins. Watch it here: CGLG Roundtable — Banning Space Weapons?

Important update: The OSI is pleased to see that the Legal Sub-Committee of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space has established a Working Group on Space Resource Utilization

The Outer Space Institute is pleased to publish the International Open Letter on Space Mining (link), which stresses the need for a multilateral agreement on the exploration, exploitation, and utilization of space resources and calls on states to present a resolution at the UN General Assembly that urges the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space to negotiate a draft of such an agreement. The list of early signatories is appended to the letter.

The International Open Letter on Space Mining is now open for additional signatures. Should you wish to add your name, please use the following form (link). The current full list of signatories is available here (link). Note: updates may take a few minutes to show. Read a Globe and Mail article about the letter here (link).