Mazlan binti Othman is a Malaysian astrophysicist whose work has pioneered Malaysia's participation in space exploration. She was her country's first astrophysicist, and helped to create a curriculum in astrophysics at the national university, as well as to build public awareness and understanding of astronomy and space issues. She was appointed Director General of Angkasa, the Malaysian National Space Agency and served as the director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in Vienna from 2007 to 2014.
Dato' Mazlan Othman returned to Malaysia as the country's first astrophysicist, and worked to create a curriculum in astrophysics at the national university, as well as to build public awareness and understanding of astronomy and space issues. She also performed research for a semester at the Kiso Observatory in Japan. Her interest in public education was rewarded in 1990 when Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad placed her in charge of the Planetarium Division of the Prime Minister's Department, overseeing development of Planetarium Negara, Malaysia's national planetarium in Kuala Lumpur. After the planetarium opened in 1993, Mazlan was made Director General of the government's new Space Science Studies Division, where she launched a microsatellite development program. She received a full professorship the following year. In November 1999, Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, appointed Mazlan as Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in Vienna. At the request of Prime Minister Mahathir, she returned to Malaysia in July 2002 to serve for five years as the founding Director General of Angkasa, the Malaysian National Space Agency, where her work led to the launch of the first Malaysian astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor. Mazlan was reappointed as UNOOSA director in 2007 by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and left Angkasa to return to the post that December. At UNOOSA she dealt with issues of international co-operation in space, prevention of collisions and space debris, use of space-based remote sensing platforms for sustainable development, co-ordination of space law between countries, and the risks posed by near-earth asteroids, among other topics. In September 2010, several news sources reported the United Nations would soon appoint Othman to be the ambassador for extraterrestrial contact, apparently basing their claims on remarks she made suggesting that the UN co-ordinate any international response to such contact, and her scheduled appearance on a Royal Society panel that October, "Towards a scientific and societal agenda on extra-terrestrial life." However, a UN spokesperson dismissed the reports as "nonsense", dismissing any plan to expand the mandate of UNOOSA, and in an email to The Guardian, Othman stated, in compliance to the wishes of the United Nations, "It sounds really cool but I have to deny it." She later explained that her talk would illustrate how extraterrestrial affairs could become a topic of discussion at the UN, using as an example the advocacy that led to UN discussion of near-Earth objects and space debris. After retiring from the United Nations, Othman served on advisory committees and boards involving science and space, taught as a visiting professor, and became a senior fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia. In September 2017, she was named Director of the International Science Council Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.
