The Convention on Registration of Launched Objects into Outer Space was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly

United Nations General Assembly

For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...

 in 1974 and went into force in 1976.

The convention requires states to furnish to the United Nations with details about the orbit of each space object. A registry of launchings was already being maintained by the United Nations as a result of a General Assembly Resolution in 1962.

The Registration Convention and four other space law

Space law

Space law is an area of the law that encompasses national and international law governing activities in outer space. International lawyers have been unable to agree on a uniform definition of the term "outer space," although most lawyers agree that outer space generally begins at the lowest...

 treaties are administered by the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space

United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space

The United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space was established in 1958 as an ad hoc committee...

.

Current status

The register is kept by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs

United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs is an organization of the General Assembly charged with implementing the Assembly's outer space-related policies. It is located in the United Nations Office in Vienna. The Office implements the Program on Space Applications and maintains the...

 (UNOOSA) and includes

• Name of launching State
• An appropriate designator of the space object or its registration number
• Date and territory or location of launch
• Basic orbital parameters
  Orbital elements
  Orbital elements are the parameters required to uniquely identify a specific orbit. In celestial mechanics these elements are generally considered in classical two-body systems, where a Kepler orbit is used...
  
   (Nodal period, Inclination
  Inclination
  Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction.-Orbits:The inclination is one of the six orbital parameters describing the shape and orientation of a celestial orbit...
  
  , Apogee and Perigee
  Apsis
  An apsis , plural apsides , is the point of greatest or least distance of a body from one of the foci of its elliptical orbit. In modern celestial mechanics this focus is also the center of attraction, which is usually the center of mass of the system...
  
  )
• General function of the space object

Information on registered objects is available at the UNOOSA site

Proposals

A General Assembly resolution from December 2007 that was accepted by consensus recommended that the data should be extended to include:

• Coordinated Universal Time
  Coordinated Universal Time
  Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
  
   as the time reference for the date of launch;
• Kilometres, minutes and degrees as the standard units for basic orbital parameters;
• Any useful information relating to the function of the space object in addition to the general function requested by the Registration Convention
• The geostationary orbit
  Geostationary orbit
  A geostationary orbit is a geosynchronous orbit directly above the Earth's equator , with a period equal to the Earth's rotational period and an orbital eccentricity of approximately zero. An object in a geostationary orbit appears motionless, at a fixed position in the sky, to ground observers...
  
  location, if appropriate
• Any change of status in operations (eg, when a space object is no longer functional)
• The approximate date of decay or re-entry
• The date and physical conditions of moving a space object to a disposal orbit
• Web links to official information on space objects

Background

, more than 200 dead satellites littered the part of space near geostationary orbit. Within 10 years, that number could increase fivefold, warns a report by the UN. The resulting chaos could lead to serious damage or loss of a spacecraft.

External links

• UNOOSA webpage for the Convention