The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was established on October 3, 1958 by the International Council for Scientific Unions (ICSU) and its first chair was Hildegard Korf Kallmann-Bijl."Scientists of World Set Up Space Group", by Walter Sullivan, The New York Times, October 4, 1958, p. 1 Among COSPAR's objectives are the promotion of scientific research in space on an international level, with emphasis on the free exchange of results, information, and opinions, and providing a forum, open to all scientists, for the discussion of problems that may affect space research. These objectives are achieved through the organization of symposia, publication, and other means. COSPAR has created a number of research programmes on different topics, a few in cooperation with other scientific Unions. The long-term project COSPAR international reference atmosphere started in 1960; since then it has produced several editions of the high-atmosphere code CIRA. The code "IRI" of the URSI-COSPAR working group on the International Reference Ionosphere was first edited in 1978 and is updated annually.

General Assembly From 1958 to 1979, the COSPAR called for the General Assembly (also called the Scientific Assembly) annually. Starting in 1980, the General Assembly is held every two years. These are conferences currently gathering around 3,000 participating space researchers from all over the world, such as Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. The assemblies are listed in the table below; as of two previous leap years, two General Assemblies were cancelled. The 41st General Assembly in Istanbul was cancelled due to the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt, while the 43rd General Assembly in Sydney was also cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

General Assembly YearPlaceCountry58th2050 TBD57th204856th204655th204454th204253rd204052nd203851st203650th203449th203248th203047th2028Dubai46th2026Florence45th2024Busan44th2022Athens43rd2020Sydney (cancelled)42nd 2018 Pasadena 41st 2016 Istanbul (cancelled) 40th 2014 Moscow 39th 2012 Mysore 38th 2010 Bremen 37th 2008 Montreal 36th 2006 Beijing 35th 2004 Paris 34th 2002 Houston 33rd 2000 Warsaw 32nd 1998 Nagoya 31st 1996 Birmingham 30th 1994 Hamburg 29th 1992 Washington, D.C. 28th 1990 The Hague 27th 1988 Espoo 26th 1986 Toulouse 25th 1984 Graz 24th 1982 Ottawa 23rd 1980 Budapest 22nd 1979 Bangalore 21st 1978 Innsbruck 20th 1977 Tel Aviv 19th 1976 Philadelphia 18th 1975 Varna 17th 1974 São Paulo 16th 1973 Konstanz 15th 1972 Madrid 14th 1971 Seattle 13th 1970 Leningrad 12th 1969 Prague 11th 1968 Tokyo 10th 1967 London 9th 1966 Vienna 8th 1965 Mar del Plata 7th 1964 Florence 6th 1963 Warsaw 5th 1962 Washington, D.C. 4th 1961 Florence 3rd 1960 Nice 2nd 1959 The Hague 1st 1958 London

Scientific Structure

Scientific Commissions

Scientific Commission A Space Studies of the Earth's Surface, Meteorology and Climate

Task Group on GEO Subcommission A1 on Atmosphere, Meteorology and Climate Subcommission A2 on Ocean Dynamics, Productivity and the Cryosphere Subcommission A3 on Land Processes and Morphology

Scientific Commission B Space Studies of the Earth-Moon System, Planets, and Small Bodies of the Solar System

Sub-Commission B1 on Small Bodies Sub-Commission B2 on International Coordination of Space Techniques for Geodesy (a joint Sub-Commission with IUGG/IAG Commission I on Reference Frames) Sub-Commission B3 on The Moon Sub-Commission B4 on Terrestrial Planets Sub-Commission B5 on Outer Planets and Satellites Sub-Commission B6/E4 on Exoplanets Detection, Characterization and Modelling

Scientific Commission C Space Studies of the Upper Atmospheres of the Earth and Planets Including Reference Atmospheres

Sub-Commission C1 on The Earth's Upper Atmosphere and Ionosphere Sub-Commission C2 on The Earth's Middle Atmosphere and Lower Ionosphere Sub-Commission C3 on Planetary Atmospheres and Aeronomy Task Group on Reference Atmospheres of Planets and Satellites (RAPS)  URSI/COSPAR Task Group on the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) COSPAR/URSI Task Group on Reference Atmospheres, including ISO WG4 (CIRA) Sub-Commission C5/D4 on Theory and Observations of Active Experiments

Scientific Commission D Space Plasmas in the Solar System, Including Planetary Magnetospheres

Sub-Commission D1 on The Heliosphere Sub-Commission D2/E3 on The Transition from the Sun to the Heliosphere Sub-Commission D3 on Magnetospheres Sub-Commission C5/D4 on Theory and Observations of Active Experiments

Scientific Commission E Research in Astrophysics from Space

Sub-Commission E1 on Galactic and Extragalactic Astrophysics Sub-Commission E2 on The Sun as a Star Sub-Commission D2/E3 on The Transition from the Sun to the Heliosphere Sub-Commission B6/E4 on Exoplanets Detection, Characterization and Modelling

Scientific Commission F Life Sciences as Related to Space

Sub-Commission F1 on Gravitational and Space Biology Sub-Commission F2 on Radiation Environment, Biology and Health Sub-Commission F3 on Astrobiology Sub-Commission F4 on Natural and Artificial Ecosystems Sub-Commission F5 on Gravitational Physiology in Space

Scientific Commission G Materials Sciences in Space

Scientific Commission H Fundamental Physics in Space

Panels           

Technical Panel on Satellite Dynamics (PSD) Panel on Technical Problems Related to Scientific Ballooning (PSB) Panel on Potentially Environmentally Detrimental Activities in Space (PEDAS)      Panel on Radiation Belt Environment Modelling (PRBEM) Panel on Space Weather (PSW) Panel on Planetary Protection (PPP) Panel on Capacity Building (PCB) Panel on Capacity Building Fellowship Program and Alumni (PCB FP) Panel on Education (PE) Panel on Exploration (PEX) Panel on Interstellar Research (PIR) Task Group on Establishing an international Constellation of Small Satellites (TGCSS) Sub-Group on Radiation Belts (TGCSS-SGRB) Panel on Social Sciences and Humanities (PSSH) Panel on Innovative Solutions (PoIS) Task Group on Establishing an International Geospace Systems Program (TGIGSP)

Planetary Protection Policy Responding to concerns raised in the scientific community that spaceflight missions to the Moon and other celestial bodies might compromise their future scientific exploration, in 1958 the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) established an ad-hoc Committee on Contamination by Extraterrestrial Exploration (CETEX) to provide advice on these issues. A year later, the mandate was transferred to the newly founded Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), which as an interdisciplinary scientific committee of the ICSU (now the International Science Council - ISC) was considered to be the appropriate place to continue the work of CETEX. Since that time, COSPAR has provided an international forum to discuss such matters under the terms “planetary quarantine” and later “planetary protection”, and has formulated a COSPAR planetary protection policy with associated implementation requirements as an international standard to protect against interplanetary biological and organic contamination, and after 1967 as a guide to compliance with Article IX of the United Nations Outer Space Treaty in that areaUNOOSA 2017, Report of the Committee on the Peaceful Use of Outer Space, 60th Session, A/72/20, United Nations, New York.

The COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy, and its associated requirements, is not legally binding under international law, but it is an internationally agreed standard with implementation guidelines for compliance with Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty. States Parties to the Outer Space Treaty are responsible for national space activities under Article VI of this Treaty, including the activities of governmental and non-governmental entities. It is the State that ultimately will be held responsible for wrongful acts committed by its jurisdictional subjects.

Updating the COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy, either as a response to new discoveries or based on specific requests, is a process that involves appointed members of the COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection who represent, on the one hand, their national or international authority responsible for compliance with the United Nations Outer Space Treaty of 1967, and, on the other hand, COSPAR Scientific Commissions B – Space Studies of the Earth-Moon System, Planets and Small Bodies of the Solar Systems, and F - Life Sciences as Related to Space. After reaching a consensus among the involved parties, the proposed recommendation for updating the Policy is formulated by the COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection and submitted to the COSPAR Bureau for review and approval.

The new structure of the Panel and its work was described in recent publicationsCoustenis, A., Kminek, G., Hedman, N., 2019a. The challenge of planetary protection. ROOM Journal, June 2019, pages 44-48..

The recently updated COSPAR Policy on Planetary Protection was published in the August 2020 issue of COSPAR's journal Space Research Today. It contains some updates with respect to the previously approved versionKminek, G., Conley, C., Hipkin, V., Yano, H., 2017. COSPAR’s Planetary Protection Policy. Space Res. Today, vol. 200, December 2017. based on recommendations formulated by the Panel and approved by the COSPAR Bureau.

Member countries As of today, the Committee on Space Research features more than 50 countries as its member countries:

See also Space research Planetary protection, for other bodies and Earth International Planetary Data Alliance List of government space agencies

References

External links