0191-9067/83 $3.00 + .00 Copyright 1983 SUNSAT Energy Council UNISPACE 82: A REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE RASHMI MAYUR Government of India Futurology Commission 181 Rewa, Haji Ali Bombay 400 026. India Never before has humankind confronted its future with more uncertainty, with better knowledge of planetary problems, with more sophisticated technology and unbelievable contradictory existences as it does today. It is now increasingly realized that millions of years of our confinement on planet Earth is about to end. Man is on the threshold of a new era. Science and technology at man’s command today and in the future will take him far beyond the frontiers of Earth into space and yonder. Our planet faces many crises—burgeoning population, declining resources, a deteriorating environment, poverty, and increasing militarism. Along with genetics and electronics space offers unparalleled and unexpected opportunities to solve these problems and take man to the next stage of evolution. For the third world, with its massive problems, space, science and technology provide new and powerful tools of development undreamed of only a few decades ago. It was mainly to explore and identify the various potentials of outer space that the Second United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Uses of Outer Space, that is. United Space 82 was held in Vienna, Austria from August 9-21, 1982. The first Conference was held in August 1968. This conference was held 25 years after the launching of Sputnik, when in practical terms the space age was ushered in. During the last quarter century very few areas of human ventures have experienced such explosive developments with so many unexpected implications for man's future as space. Although the event passed more or less unnoticed by the rest of the world, it was an important event like other conferences of the United Nations such as Environmental Science and Technology, Energy, etc. Originally it was sponsored by the Third World countries and its primary objective was to reach a consensus concerning international agreements for peaceful uses of outer space and develop programs which will accelerate advancements in the developing countries. This was a unique opportunity to face the global problems of poverty with technologies and knowledge never available before. Of the 157 member countries of the United Nations, 94 participated in the official conference at the Hofburg Convention Hall. Simultaneously there was a parallel conference of nongovernmental organizations where experts discussed substantive technical and philosophical issues concerning man and space. The conference was attended by approximately 1500 people from around the world. There was also a space exhibition organized by 25 countries including Canada, India, the U.S., and the Soviet Union as well as 4 international organizations. The Austrian government
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