White Paper Submitted to the United Nations System

By Omer Eldadi (1), Gershon Tenenbaum (1) and Avi Loeb (2)

1. Department of Psychology, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel
2. Department of Astronomy, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

Summary

The operation of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) marks a transformative moment in humanity’s capacity to detect and characterize interstellar objects (ISOs). With projections indicating an increase from a few detections per decade to potentially one every few months, humanity stands at the threshold of unprecedented scientific opportunity offering revolutionary insights into the nature of rocky materials, building blocks of life and technological products from other star systems.

This white paper proposes the establishment of the United Nations Committee on Interstellar Objects (UNCIO), a specialized body designed to coordinate global scientific research, maximize observational coverage, and ensure optimal scientific return from these extraordinary objects from outside the solar system through systematic investigation in cosmochemistry, astrobiology, planetary sciences, fundamental physics, advanced technologies and materials science.

The proposed framework addresses critical gaps in our current international infrastructure: the absence of coordinated detection, classification and intercept capabilities, insufficient protocols for rapid scientific response and international policy decisions to time-sensitive observations, and the need for effective science communication to maintain government and public support for these ambitious investigations and global threats to Earth. Drawing from successful international collaborations in areas such as the International Space Station (ISS) and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), UNCIO would operate through a dual structure: an executive board for time-critical scientific decisions and an expanded committee for comprehensive stakeholder representation.

This initiative is not merely aspirational but urgently practical. Recent detections of 1I/’Oumuamua (2017), 2I/Borisov (2019), and 3I/ATLAS (2025) have demonstrated the diversity of ISO characteristics, from 1I/’Oumuamua’s unusual acceleration without visible outgassing to Borisov’s comet-like behavior, to 3I/ATLAS unusual size and alignment with the ecliptic plane, highlighting the need for comprehensive multi-messenger observations. The window for action is narrow — objects pass through our solar system on hyperbolic trajectories, offering limited observation time before they become permanently inaccessible. Each uninvestigated ISO represents an irretrievable loss of knowledge about stellar nucleosynthesis, protoplanetary disk chemistry, the distribution of organic compounds, and technological relics throughout the galaxy.

Key Recommendations:

a) Immediate establishment of UNCIO under the UN;

b) Development of a global ISO detection and tracking network;

c) Pre-positioned intercept mission capabilities for rapid deployment;

d) Implementation of a comprehensive ISO classification system to assess potential global threats;

e) Creation of dedicated funding mechanisms through member state contributions;

f) Formal adoption of the Loeb Scale (IOSS) as the standardized 0–10 classification system for all ISOs, providing quantitative thresholds from natural phenomena (Levels 0–3) through potential technosignatures (Levels 4–7) to confirmed artificial origin (Levels 8–10);

g) Integration of science communication and public engagement expertise;

h) Establishment of protocols for electromagnetic and physical interaction with ISOs of potentially artificial origin.

While focused on maximizing scientific return from natural ISOs, UNCIO’s comprehensive design ensures readiness for any unexpected discoveries that may emerge from systematic investigation.

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