Outer space should remain realm for cooperation, not conflict: MP Sudha Murty tells UNGA

India has said outer space should remain a realm for cooperation, not conflict, calling for a legally binding international instrument to prevent an arms race in space.

“India is a major space-faring nation. Our space programme has both developmental and security dimensions,” Sudha Murty, Member of Parliament, said in New York on Tuesday (October 20, 2026), while delivering India’s statement on outer space at the UN General Assembly’s First Committee.

“India believes that outer space belongs to all of us. We are one Earth, one family with one future. It is our view that outer space should remain a realm for cooperation, not conflict,” she said.

Noting the emergence of new actors in the outer space domain, Ms. Murty said dual-use space technologies and assets had become a reality. “A difference of opinion continues on approaches to preventing an arms race in outer space and on which approach should take priority,” she said.

India reiterated its preference for a legally binding instrument on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) that is universally acceptable, verifiable and negotiated multilaterally at the Conference on Disarmament.

Ms. Murty said India was also open to universal and non-discriminatory, non-binding norms and transparency and confidence-building measures, but stressed these could complement, not substitute, a legally binding instrument.

India also emphasised that threats to the safety, security and sustainability of outer space, the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculation, and the threshold for what constitutes the use of force in space, must be considered together.

“A selective focus on some threats or others would be counterproductive. Verifying space behaviour, including access to relevant information and data, also poses real challenges. Mandates of various fora focusing on space security, safety, and sustainability must be respected,” Ms. Murty said. She added that overlaps and the creation of multiple standards on the same set of issues should be avoided.

As a developing country, India believed any outcome of the process must not discourage the exchange of scientific and technological research for peaceful and legitimate purposes, Ms. Murty said.

She also highlighted India’s space achievements and future ambitions, noting the country had landed a spacecraft on the Moon in 2023, and was preparing for its human spaceflight programme, Gaganyaan. India also plans to build a national space station, the Bharatiya Antariksha Station.

New Delhi has been consistently calling for strengthening the international legal regime governing outer space, to preserve access for all countries and prevent an arms race, while emphasising the need to address the risks posed by the growing use of space technologies.

In September 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a safe, secure, peaceful and sustainable space domain anchored in international law, dialogue and multilateral cooperation.

Addressing the International Space Summit held in Paris virtually, Mr. Modi said scientific data must serve a common goal with openness and integrity, and that India’s space journey reflected this philosophy.

Ms. Murty is part of the second cohort of visiting Indian parliamentarians who arrived in New York for a familiarisation visit to the United Nations. The lawmakers are scheduled to meet officials at UN headquarters, and senior UN officials, envoys and members of the Indian diaspora, during the visit.