A group of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and legal experts have come together to conceptualize ‘Asgardia’ – a new nation that’ll exist in space.
One of the wonderful things about covering the gamut of technology and science news at Bandwidth Blog is that often we come across headlines that verge on science fiction. That’s quite applicable today, as a group of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and legal experts have come together to announce Asgardia – a new, conceptual nation that would exist on a satellite in space.
Named after the city ruled by Odin in Norse mythology, Asgaria plans to launch into space by 2017, where the station would serve as a scientific, legal, and technological experiment.
Read: Dream Chaser: The United Nations announces its first space mission
Led by Dr. Igor Ashurbeyli, founder of the Aerospace International Research Center and the chairman of UNESCO’s Science of Space Comittee, Asgardia has begun to crowdsource its flag, insignia, and anthem. Speaking on the concept, Ashurbeyli cited that “Asgardia is also unique from a philosophical aspect – to serve entire humanity and each and everyone, regardless of his or her personal welfare and the prosperity of the country where they happened to be born.”
Individuals who wish to apply to be an ‘Asgardian’ can register their interest, while the project hopes that once 100,000 people have applied for citizenship it will be able to apply to the United Nations for official nation status.
However, even registered Asgardians might never set foot on the station – an applicant would remain in their resident nation and be a citizen of Asgardia, which would physically exist in high orbit.
The end goal of Asgardia, as stated, is to “foster world peace, as well as protect earth from rogue asteroids and space debris.” Instead of actually housing human beings in orbit – think of the International Space Station or the dystopian future seen in the Matt Damon film Elysium – the entire goal of Asgardia is to challenge existing philosophical and legal requirements for a nation to exist.
Essentially, Asgardia sidesteps the Outer Space Treaty that many (ground-based) nations on Earth have signed, which stipulates that any nation on Earth which sends an object intro space is responsible for it. Asgardia will set a new precedent by shifting responsbility to an extra-terrestrial object itself.
“œThe existing state agencies represent interests of their own countries and there are not so many countries in the world that have those space agencies. The ultimate aim is to create a legal platform to ensure protection of planet Earth and to provide access to space technologies for those who do not have that access at the moment”, Ashurbeyli said.
Read: China has officially confirmed its Tiangong-1 space station will crash to Earth in 2017
The goal of creating Asgardia is a a lofty one, and it’s not sure whether the launch will eventually proceed next year. If it manages to launch, the station should at least be a guard that can protect Earth from rogue elements such as space junk and asteroids.
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Follow Bryan Smith on Twitter: @bryansmithSA
