“The Secure World Foundation (SWF) spotlights progress in 2008 on several fronts:

• The work underway by the Association of Space Explorers, which has flagged the danger to the planet from incoming asteroids, organizing a series of workshops to identify possible institutional mechanisms for dealing with this problem. In 2008 they presented their findings to numerous international bodies including the United Nation’s (UN) Security Council.
• Consideration by the European Union of a Code of Conduct for outer space activities. Recognizing that a first step for space will be an international agreement on a Code of Conduct for space activities, both the European Union and a group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) headed by the Stimson Center spent much of 2008 diligently addressing model Codes of Conduct. These models are being taken to the larger international community.
• The incoming U.S. Obama administration recognizes the importance of international approaches to global issues, offering new possibilities for moving forward on related space issues in 2009. SWF partners have contributed White Papers on matters related to space governance, which were presented to the Obama transition team and to space-related staff members in the White House Office of Science of Technology Policy and the Department of State.
• France has convened an informal working group of space experts, governments and industry to develop a set of practical “Best Practices” for the term “sustainability of outer space.”
• Space situational awareness and space traffic management became more visible topics as the satellite industry, military and governments explore better options for keeping their satellites safe from Earth orbiting debris. Representatives from these groups came together this year in Rome where the commercial satellite industry and the Center for Space Standards and Innovation discussed their embryonic effort to create a data center to share satellite tracking data…possibly the beginning of true international civil space situational awareness.”