Long-term sustainability of space activities: achievements and prospects

This article aims to highlight the main areas of discussion regarding long-term sustainability of space activities within the United Nations and assess the most significant challenges COPUOS has towards the establishment of a new working group to make progress in the field. To this end, it will account for the evolution of the negotiations on sustainability, focusing particularly on the proposal made by the Group of Latin American States and the Caribbean (GRULAC). In addition, this article will briefly outline the European initiative on a code of conduct on space activities and will contrast the projected text with the guidelines on long-term sustainability, agreed upon at the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). Finally, it will argue that while certain aspects of space safety and security are addressed in other bodies, these aspects are a fundamental premise of the sustainability of activities in outer space.