The first space nation has just been created / Hong Kong Radio 3

A momentous and slightly bizarre event occurred last week with the launch of a satellite into earth’s orbit carrying the names, flags, anthems, charter and knowledge of an entirely new virtual human territory and race of human aliens, all residents of the newly minted virtual space country of Asgardia.

In Norse mythology, Asgard is a city in the skies, the country of the Gods and its new space nation incarnation describes its purpose as:

“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.

Asgardia’s philosophical envelope is to ‘digitalise’ the Noosphere, creating a mirror of humanity in space but without Earthly division into states, religions and nations.

In Asgardia we are all just Earthlings!”

My interest is not in the establishment of this new virtual nation, nor of its science fiction possibilities, but in its newness of response to one of the longest held human desires, to visit, conquer and live in space.

Two years ago Space Tech had $0 venture capital funding. Today it has a combined war chest of US$4 billion and space colonisation conversations from Elon Musk and Richard Branson, among many others, don’t seem quite as science fictiony anymore and are slowly drifting into the realms of reality with a likelihood that it will occur within our kids lifetime.

The notion of conquering space is not just about colonisation, there are far more pragmatic and commercial desires.

In the very near future we will mine asteroids, create a space tourism industry, further the reach and use of satellites, improve communication and tracking devices and so much more.

Space is becoming big business and we are literally at the same start-up frenzy stage as we were in the 1850’s gold rush start-up era. Lots of possibilities, lots of potential riches, but nobody knows quite sure how, where or if it’s even a real thing.

In this weeks on-air discussions we look at these issues, chat about who owns space, do we have the right to mine asteroids, what environmental issues are there for space exploration and mining, who owns space and even pose and opinion or two about whether aliens exist.

A great conversation, well worth a listen.

Hong Kong Radio 3, Phil Whelan, 14 November 2017, 18 mins 04 secs:

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