Electronic Proceedings - United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs

3. CLOSING REMARKThe Registration Convention was not meant to specifically prevent accidents. That doesnot mean that it should not or cannot be used for that purpose. The preambular paragraphsquoted earlier and the reference to the Liability Convention leave sufficient room for focusingon the need to provide data in sufficient detail and at a sufficient early stage to preventcollisions and interference between satellites. If “identification” of space objects for thepurpose of the effective application of the Liability Convention is the central theme of theRegistration Convention, it is only a short hop to accidents and incidents involving two ormore launching States and their space objects and the need for an early warning system basedon reliable, complete and up-to-date data (an idea which, one would suppose, the spaceinsurance industry, in particular, should espouse for its own benefit). This issue, commonlyreferred to as Space Traffic Management, is basically one of how to create and maintain asystem of hundred percent reliable space data to prevent collisions of and interference withsatellites (and aircraft in flight).This is another way of saying that the Registration Convention still has an important roleto play, not only for the traditional protection of the non-space powers but also for all Statesengaged in space activities whose industries (e.g. telecommunications) are dependent onpresent and future satellites in orbit.Reporting incomplete launch data to the U.N. Register one or more months after the factis a bureaucratic way of saying “I care only about the archive function of the Convention”.Any new party to the Registration Convention could start by promising a modern, dynamic,www-based approach towards its obligations as a State of registry, by reporting data before,during and after the launch, and by demanding the other parties, through UNCOPUOS, tofollow suit.That could also rekindle a discussion on the role of the Registration Convention,yesterday, today and tomorrow.35