Committee on Space Research

The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was established by the International Council for Science in 1958.

Among COSPAR's objectives are the promotion of scientific research in space on an international level, with emphasis on the free exchange of results, information, and opinions, and providing a forum, open to all scientists, for the discussion of problems that may affect space research. These objectives are achieved through the organization of symposia, publication, and other means. COSPAR has created a number of research programmes on different topics, a few in cooperation with other scientific Unions. The long-term project COSPAR international reference atmosphere started in 1960; since then it has produced several editions of the high-atmosphere code CIRA. The code "IRI" of the URSI-COSPAR working group on the International Reference Ionosphere was first edited in 1978 and is yearly updated.

Every second year, COSPAR calls for a General Assembly (also called Scientific Assembly). These are conferences currently gathering more than a thousand participating space researchers. The most recent assemblies are listed in the table below. The 41st General Assembly in Istanbul was cancelled due to the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt.