UN space object registry offline for months
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- UNOOSA's Online Index of Objects Launched into Outer Space has been unavailable for months, with the most recent updates dated 23 February; UNOOSA did not respond to questions about the nature of the IT problem or expected restoration date.
- Jonathan McDowell at Durham University called the outage unacceptable "at a time of rising tensions in space," noting that without the registry "we don't know what the Russian satellites are and what they're called," and likewise for US satellites.
- Ram Jakhu at McGill University warned the blackout "will not only pose threats to international peace and security, but also hinder effective implementation of the UN treaties on outer space, particularly in cases of accidents caused by space objects and debris."
- The Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space (1974), whose origins trace to a 1961 UN proposal, requires countries to file a name, launch date and place, orbit details, and general function for every object sent to orbit.
- Even secretive military and surveillance satellites were previously included on the UN list under vague labels like "performing functions for the ministry of defence" or "carrying out research and spacecraft techniques and technology"—a transparency floor that McDowell says is now gone.
- Thomas Cheney at Northumbria University linked the outage to the UN's broader financial crisis, largely caused by US funding withdrawals; he said this year's COPUOS meeting in Vienna was shortened by two days to save costs.
- COPUOS, which operates under UNOOSA, gathers 104 nations—many with tense bilateral relations or active conflicts—to resolve technical, political, and safety disputes about space, hosting conversations between adversaries such as the US and China that Cheney says "only happen in Vienna."
Why it matters: The registry is the only public record of military and surveillance satellites—the launches countries most want to hide—and its multi-month disappearance leaves outside observers unable to confirm what Russia and the US have sent to orbit. The same US-driven UN funding squeeze is already shortening COPUOS itself, eroding the framework that historically kept space at least partly predictable.
