Congested, competitive, and contested; Contrary to the Cold War’s up-and-out quest for the stars, the frontline of the new space race is now a strategic battlefield for global supremacy.

As multipolar power competition intensifies, threats such as cybersecurity breaches, telecommunications interference, economic losses, and satellite collision attacks are rising in tandem with the number of valuable targets, and the idea of ​​total war is not far from the debate over an arms race. This conflict also welcomes new spacefaring states and entrepreneurial tycoons into a prize all about science, the politics of national prestige, and a new frontier: money.

As these advancements in space exploration and exploitation continue, however, the legal framework surrounding it remains too broad and outdated. Even this urgent common sense problem seems a stretch politically, with security from and in space no longer a purely military and national issue but rather a multisectoral and global debate. Hoping to inhibit space conflict, this committee will delve into the militarization and weaponization of space, the ethical and regulatory frameworks that accompany the colonization of celestial bodies, the role of private sector pioneers, and the delicate balance of maintaining peace within a domain where a small pebble can incur a multibillion-dollar attack.

But, how could the world distinguish between defensive and offensive weaponry when even debris can serve as a weapon? How do we reconcile national interests with global and planetary interests? What mechanisms can be set into place to ensure equitable access for all nations regardless of their current capability and to encourage cooperation? How can the UN restrict non-peaceful uses of space, and how can these measures be arranged so that they don’t affect commercial activities and information gathering?

“Who owns the moon?” is no longer a rhetorical question, and this debate will try to answer it in order to prevent a governance deficit that is likely to spur interstellar confrontations.