United Nations General Assembly
Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space

A/AC.105/1262
Distr.: General
6 December 2021
English
Original: Chinese

Information furnished in conformity with the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies

Note verbale dated 3 December 2021 from the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations (Vienna) addressed to the Secretary-General

The Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations (Vienna) presents its compliments to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and has the honour to refer to article V of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies 1 (the Outer Space Treaty), which provides that “States Parties to the Treaty shall immediately inform the other States Parties to the Treaty or the Secretary-General of the United Nations of any phenomena they discover in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, which could constitute a danger to the life or health of astronauts”. In accordance with the above-mentioned article, China hereby informs the Secretary-General of the following phenomena which constituted dangers to the life or health of astronauts aboard the China Space Station.

Artist’s conception of China’s Tianhe-1 space station. (Credit: China Manned Space Engineering)

VIENNA,  12 June (UN Information Service) – The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced the winners of their joint opportunity to conduct experiments on board the China Space Station (CSS) during a side event of the 62^nd session of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).

Six winning projects were selected, and three were conditionally selected. The winning institutions come from a variety of countries, including Belgium, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, the Netherlands, Norway, Mexico, Poland, Peru, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Switzerland.

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VIENNA (United Nations Information Service) — The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), in cooperation with the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) and with the support of the Government of China, published on 28 May 2018 the 1st “Announcement of Opportunity (AO)” under the United Nations/China Cooperation on the Utilization of the China Space Station (CSS) initiative, inviting all Member States of United Nations to submit applications for conducting their scientific experiments on board the CSS.

As of 30 September 2018, which was the application deadline, a total of 42 applications from institutions in 27 countries were received, and then carefully evaluated by around 60 experts from UNOOSA, CMSA and international space community, in line with the eligibility and selection criteria outlined in the first AO. Eighteen (18) projects out of the 42 received were shortlisted, and their Principal Investigators were invited to prepare their Implementation Scheme Proposals (ISPs) for further review towards a final selection. By the submission deadline of 20 April 2019, 15 ISPs from the 18 shortlisted were received and an in-depth review in terms of technical scheme, implementation feasibility, onboard resource requirements, safety analysis, risk analysis, and financial support for their own development was executed.

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