The General Assembly,
Acknowledging the potential for poorly directed or maintained international space programmes between member-nations.
Recognising that this potential for poor or utterly mismanaged space programmes between member-nations poses a potentially severe environmental and economic impact, especially in cases in which there may not exist standards regarding spacecraft quality.
Appalled at the further possibility of poor-quality spacecraft potentially leading to safety oversights, which could lead to fatalities among astronaut and civilians crews operating both on the potentially compromised spacecraft, and others which may be affected by the spacecraft in any of a myriad of ways.
Defining, for the purposes of this resolution:
- 'Outer space', to refer to the interstellar medium, or the wide expanse of nearly-empty space separating various astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, moons, and other entities.
- Noting that 'outer space,' in contrast to a terrestrial body, for the purposes of this resolution, is defined as beginning at the point in which atmospheric pressure reaches 0.1% of the pressure as it would otherwise be on the surface of the terrestrial body.
- 'Spacecraft', to mean either:
- Any commercial, scientific, military, or private instrument intended to remain in space for any length of time.
- Any launch or reentry vehicle intended for travelling between any terrestrial body and outer space.
- 'Space programme', to mean any organised entity, funded privately or publicly, which has the goal of launching spacecraft in outer space, maintaining them (as necessary), and operating them throughout their missions.
Clarifying that this resolution aims solely to impact international space programmes, which consist of jointly-run space programmes between various member-nations, rather than the space programmes of individual nations.
Implementing the following, to ensure that spacecraft meet minimum quality standards for the sake of their potential passengers, scientific instruments, the aim of prematurely reducing the chance of causing major space debris, and to ensure a minimum of pollution during terrestrial launches and returns:
- That all spacecraft must be verified to be completely structurally sound prior to launch, such that any mechanical failure- such as the risk of a leakage involving fuel or other chemicals -is minimised to the maximum possible extent.
- That all spacecraft are verified to be fully operational, thus that they are ensured to last long enough to fulfil the entirety of their mission.
- That any potential detachable spacecraft boosters that are intended for surviving reentry towards a terrestrial body are verified to have a minimal environmental impact over the course of atmospheric reentry.
- That reusable spacecraft boosters should be stringently observed during refurbishment, and that they are mechanically uptight and complete to ensure proper function before and during every mission in which they are to be used.
- That any and all spacecraft or spacecraft components which are intentionally- or planned to be -released into outer space without any native propulsion ability, are mandated to not be smaller than one cubic metre, for the sake of ease of debris clean-up.
- That all spacecraft launch sites are located- at a minimum -three kilometres away from any settlement populated by one hundred or more individuals.
- That the member-nation operating the spacecraft launch site has the capability to clean up any potential waste materials resulting from failed or explosive launches.
Enacting thusly, that if for any reason a spacecraft is found to be faulty or there is otherwise a violation by a member-nation with respect to the above enactments, the member-nation is compelled to postpone the launch in the case of it being a singular faulty spacecraft, or postpone all launches from the member-nation completely until the fault(s) or violation(s) is/are remedied.
Firmly condemning those international space programmes which pollute the planetary or stellar environment, cause economic harm through mismanagement and being underresourced, and those which cause any scale of loss or injury of life through the operation of mechanically faulty spacecraft and launch sites.
