Outer space should remain realm for corporation, not conflict: MP Sudha Murty tells UNGA

India has urged the international community to keep outer space a domain of cooperation rather than conflict, calling for a universally acceptable, verifiable and legally binding agreement to prevent an arms race. Sudha Murty also highlighted India’s space achievements and ambitions

United Nations: India has said outer space should remain a realm for corporation, not conflict, calling for a legally binding international instrument to prevent an arms race in space.

“India is a major space-faring nation. Our space program has both developmental and security dimensions,” Member of Parliament Sudha Murty said here on Tuesday, while delivering India’s statement on outer space at the UN General Assembly First Committee.

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“India believes that outer space belongs to all of us. We are one Earth, one family with one future. It is our view that outer space should remain a realm for cooperation, not conflict,” she said.

Noting the emergence of new actors in the outer space domain, Murty said dual-use space technologies and assets had become a reality.

“A difference of opinion continues on approaches to preventing an arms race in outer space and on which approach should take priority,” she said.

India reiterated its preferences for a legally binding instrument on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) that is universally acceptable, verifiable and negotiated multilaterally at the Conference on Disarmament.

Murty said India is also open to universal and non-discriminatory, non-binding norms and transparency and confidence-building measures, but stressed that these could complement, not substitute, a legally binding instrument.

India also emphasised that threats to the safety, security and sustainability of outer space, the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculation, and the threshold for what constitutes the use of force in space must be considered together.

“A selective focus on some threats or others would be counterproductive. Verifying space behaviour, including access to relevant information and data, also poses real challenges. Mandates of various fora focusing on space security, safety, and sustainability must be respected,” Murty said.

She added that overlaps and the creation of multiple standards on the same set of issues should be avoided.

As a developing country, India believes that any outcome of the process must not discourage the exchange of scientific and technological research for peaceful and legitimate purposes, she said.

Murty also highlighted India’s space achievements and future ambitions, noting that the country had landed a spacecraft on the Moon in 2023 and was preparing for its human spaceflight programme, Gaganyaan.

India also plans to build a national space station, the Bharatiya Antariksha Station. Murty is part of the second cohort of visiting Indian parliamentarians who arrived here for a familiarisation visit to the United Nations.

The lawmakers are scheduled to meet with officials at UN headquarters and senior UN officials, envoys, and members of the Indian diaspora during the visit.