{"id":19209,"date":"2016-10-12T21:01:43","date_gmt":"2016-10-12T13:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/hail-asgardia-scientist-plans-to-create-nation-in-space-but-details-are-up-in-the-air\/"},"modified":"2016-10-12T21:01:43","modified_gmt":"2016-10-12T13:01:43","slug":"hail-asgardia-scientist-plans-to-create-nation-in-space-but-details-are-up-in-the-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/hail-asgardia-scientist-plans-to-create-nation-in-space-but-details-are-up-in-the-air\/","title":{"rendered":"Hail, Asgardia! Scientist plans to create nation in space, but details are up in the air"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Asgardia
A stylized graphic shows Asgardia\u2019s satellite in space. (Credit: Asgardia.space)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Russian scientist and businessman today unveiled a social-media-savvy plan to create the first-ever nation in space, named Asgardia. But many of the details of the plan, including how Asgardia\u2019s first satellite will be launched, haven\u2019t yet been pinned down.<\/p>\n

The mastermind behind Asgardia, which takes its name from the city of the skies in Norse mythology, is Igor Ashurbeyli. Five years ago, he left his position as the CEO of one of Russia\u2019s top defense contractors, Almaz-Antey, and turned his attention to Socium Holding, a company he founded in 1988.<\/p>\n

Ashurbeyli is also the founder of the Vienna-based Aerospace International Research Center and the editor-in-chief of a space journal called Room.<\/p>\n

The idea is that once Ashurbeyli and his fellow Asgardians launch a satellite, that will open the way for them to designate the spacecraft as the first territory of a new nation in the sky. That would pose a challenge to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which appears to rule out assertions of sovereignty in space.<\/p>\n

\u201cAsgardia is a fully fledged and independent nation, and a future member of the United Nations \u2013 with all the attributes this status entails: a government and embassies, a flag, a national anthem and insignia, and so on,\u201d Room quoted Ashurbeyli as saying during today\u2019s news conference in Paris.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PThwfqRu-q8<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The website is already running contests to come up with the flag, the anthem and the insignia. It\u2019s also letting anyone sign up for Asgardian citizenship. More than 16,000 registered today, and Ashurbeyli said the citizenry will be capped at 100,000, at least for the initial phase of the Asgardian independence plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not selling pieces of land on the moon, or water in Antarctica,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re actually not selling anything at all at the moment. Only after we have proven this idea with a confirmed launch of an equipped satellite may we begin talking about Asgardia\u2019s budgets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Igor
Igor Ashurbeyli is the mastermind behind Asgardia. (Credit: Asgardia.space)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So what about that satellite? Ashurbeyli declined to go into the \u201ctechnical aspects and details,\u201d other than to say he\u2019s currently funding the Asgardia project with his own money.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course we are going to make use of crowdfunding and sourcing, and private donations,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we welcome cooperation with new partners and investors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The aim is to launch a satellite in 2017, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Soviet Union\u2019s Sputnik launch. If that somehow happens, it could reopen the international debate over who owns what in outer space.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Asgardia project, among other things, may help prepare better answers to the future governance of outer space \u2013 a topic of major concern to the United Nations,\u201d Joseph Pelton, former dean of the International Space University, said in a statement. \u201cThe exciting aspect of this initiative is its three-phase approach to providing broader access to space; promoting peace in outer space; and addressing cosmic hazards and planetary defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does Asgardia have any chance of getting off the ground? Even Ashurbeyli acknowledges that the idea sounds kooky.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be surprised if today or tomorrow, some or all of you write that some crazy Russian rocket scientist talked utter nonsense here today,\u201d he said. \u201cIt would be worse if you write nothing at all!\u201d<\/p>\n

At least by that measure, Ashurbeyli won\u2019t be disappointed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A stylized graphic shows Asgardia\u2019s satellite in space. (Credit: Asgardia.space) A Russian scientist and businessman today unveiled a social-media-savvy plan to create the first-ever nation in space, named Asgardia. But many of the details of the plan, including how Asgardia\u2019s first satellite will be launched, haven\u2019t yet been pinned down. The mastermind behind Asgardia, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3106,20,5496],"class_list":["post-19209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-asgardia","tag-satellite","tag-space-law"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19209"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}