Aarti Holla-Maini

Aarti Holla-Maini is a British lawyer, economist and space expert. Since 2023 she has been Director of United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).

Life
Holla-Maini studied German law at King's College in London from 1988 to 1992 with a foreign part at the University of Passau (1990–1991) and graduated with a bachelor's degree and LL.B. She completed her Legal Practice Course at the University of Law from 1992 to 1993.

She completed a master's degree in business administration at the École des hautes études commerciales in Paris (HEC) from 1995 to 1997, spending the first year of her studies as part of an exchange program at the New York University Stern School of Business. In 2021 she completed an Executive Space course at the International Space University in Alsace.

Holla-Maini worked as a business development manager at Airbus Defense and Space from 1997 to 2004 in Munich and Brussels. From 2004 to 2023 she was a consultant and Secretary General of the Global Satellite Operators Association. She was replaced by Isabelle Mauru.

She took the leadership of an idea called UNOOSA Space Bridge which was launched at the start of 2024. The idea was to increase communication between areas of global interest using exchange programmes and other techniques to break down information silos.

On 26 June 2023 Holla-Maini was appointed director of the UN Office for Space Affairs in Vienna by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. She followed the Italian physicist Simonetta Di Pippo and an interim appointee. Holla-Maini highlighted the problem of space debris. It is estimsated that there is 9,000 tonnes of debris in orbits at speeds of around 15,000 mph. The amount is increasing and there is an increased chance of collisions creating more bits. Holla-Maini predicted that it would take some time to agree international rules, but the UN had issued guidelines in 2019 and these could be the basis of national policies until then.

Holla-Maini speaks English, French, German and Punjabi.

Private life
She has three children.