A Report on the UN/Austria Symposium on Space Science
Hans Haubold UN Office for Outer Space Affairs
The UN/Austria Symposium on Space Science and the United Nations was held 22-24 September 2014 in Graz, Austria. Discussed at this symposium were the future scope and objectives of the Basic Space Science Initiative (BSSI) under the UN Programme on Space Applications. Representatives from space-science-related international organizations, space agencies, and other relevant institutions participated in this meeting.
The symposium participants mandated the Programme on Space Applications to continue the Basic Space Science Initiative beyond 2015. The presentations made at the symposium are available as an archive (.zip) file from the meeting's website.
In 2015 the UN/Japan Workshop on Space Weather will take place in Fukuoka, Japan, as part of the BSSI. On the basis of the discussion at the symposium in Graz and at the forthcoming workshop in Japan, the activities for 2016 and onward will be planned in close cooperation with all stakeholders.
The final report of the UN/Austria Symposium will be released toward the end of the year and will be posted on the Graz symposium webpage.