Call made for third UN space conference.

A third UN conference on the exploration and peaceful uses of outer space (UNISPACE III) could be convened in the near future. So agreed the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space at its thirty-seventh session (6-16 June, Vienna).

In that regard, the Committee--the UN body responsible for promoting international cooperation to use and maintain outer space for peaceful purposes--asked its Scientific and Technical Subcommittee to discuss a possible agenda and other issues related to the event.

Agenda topics might include: the future of planetary exploration; use of microwave systems and microsatellites for oceanographic and space research; the safety of future space activities with regard to space debris; space-based environmental monitoring; and uses of mobile satellite communications and other new technologies. Workshops on remote sensing, navigation, meteorology and astronomy were also proposed.

The second conference--UNISPACE II--held in Vienna in August 1982, sought to promote international cooperation in helping developing countries to use space technology for development. It had resulted in strengthening and reorientation of the UN Space Applications Programme to promote indigenous capabilities in those countries, as well as in creating, under the auspices of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, an international space information service.

The Committee also recommended increasing its membership by eight, to 61. Each of the interested regional groups should be allotted not more than two of the new seats

Brazil and Mexico agreed to co-host a centre for space science and technology education for the Latin American and Caribbean region, the first such regional centre to be established by the UN. To be located initially at Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, the Centre's secretariat would rotate every four years between the two countries, with its Secretary-General being a national of Mexico.

In a closing statement, Committee Chairman Peter Hohenfellner of Austria said the body this year had been "much more creative in finding new approaches to new ideas". In particular, it had found a sound basis for a compromise solution on the...