Concept «Asgardia – the Space Nation»

by Dr. Igor Ashurbeyli

Welcome to Asgardia, the first ever space nation – a global, unifying and humanitarian project. The project's concept comprises three parts – philosophical, legal and scientific/technological.

1 The project's philosophy starts at selecting the name for this new country – Asgardia. In ancient Norse mythology, Asgard was a city in the skies, the country of the Gods. It is the realisation of man's eternal dream to leave his cradle on Earth and expand into the Universe. Asgardia is a fully-fledged and independent nation, and a future member of the United Nations - with all the attributes this status entails: a government and embassies, a flag, a national anthem and insignia, and so on. The essence of Asgardia is Peace in Space, and the prevention of Earth’s conflicts being transferred into space. 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. 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!

2 Asgardia's legal aspects. Today, many of the problems relating to space law are unresolved and may never be solved in the complex and contradictory dark woods of modern international law. Geopolitical squabbles have a great influence, and are often rooted in the old military history and unresolvable conflicts of countries on Earth. It is time to create a new judicial reality in space. It is of crucial importance that space law does not become the law of the jungle. Today, only 20 countries on Earth out of about 200 have a space presence, and have, for example, plans to mine in space and lay claim to exclusivity and monopoly. New space law has to equally protect the interests of every human being on Earth. It means protecting individuals and countries (particularly developing nations) from space threats as well as delivering the benefits of using space for creating new goods and services, and financial resources. The question of Asgardia citizenship is also essential. After Asgardia is recognised as a member of the UN, the question of reasons for granting citizenship will inevitably arise. One opinion is that the first Asgardians will be those who work in the fields of space research and exploration, and space technology, as well as investors in these fields, including small investors. These are the three most important scientific and technological goals of Asgardia Of course, special preference will be given to the first hundred thousand people who apply prior to the launch of the first satellite - and all the typical citizenship procedures that are used on Earth will be followed. This does not mean Asgardian citizenship will not be available to all people on Earth, regardless of their earthly jurisdiction. A core legal principle is that Asgardia does not interfere in relations between states on Earth – and vice versa. Asgardia's legal envelope includes the creation of a new legal platform for the exploration of near-Earth and deep space. ‘Universal space law’ and ‘astropolitics’ have to replace international space law and geopolitics.