June 25, 2018 marks a day in history for Asgardia. The space nation recently welcomed its first head of state, Dr. Igor Ashurbeyli.

Elections began in February of 2017 where more than 200,000 citizens would join Asgardia to later elect Dr. Ashurbeyli as the nation's first head of state. Dowed to be a place of democracy, Asgardia has pledged a mission to uphold peace, knowledge, and prosperity, and has thus far has remained true to their values.

“The Constitution of Asgardia was accepted with the majority of votes - 72.5%. The flag, anthem and coat of arms were chosen, and the Head of Nation elected.” claims the nation.

With the newly elected state representatives, Asgardia will continue to stride forward as a nation, seeking recognition as an independent nation from United Nations.

What is Asgardia?

Asserted to be the 'world's first space nation', Asgardia is a collection of 200,000 dedicated scientists, business people, and enthusiasts who are banding together to create the first colony destined for space and beyond.

Asgardia appears to be more so a way of life than a realistic approach to beginning a colony in orbit and beyond. It is, however, bringing public attention to humanity’s next greatest exploit: Space.

Raising attention in an area so susceptible to exploitation and militarization is important in ensuring that space is not taken over by a ‘space force’ for a single country to rule over the world. Rather, it brings to light a future frontier on the cusp of exploration and mining beyond research applications.

Perhaps by uniting a nation now, future Asgardian citizens will become the protectors of space, forming United Galaxies to carry similar missions akin to United Nations back on Earth. The idea is ridiculed by many now, but the fact of the matter is space will be mined and will be militarized without proper intervention. And the only way to stop either in a place ungoverned by any law is through promoting awareness.

Asgardia, Protectors of the Galaxy

Ensuring space does not become a hostile zone of meteor tycoon mining and heavily militarized zones is of the utmost importance to Asgardia and Asgardian citizens. It has, therefore, become their creed to protect space by implementing three core values.

FIRST - Asgardia pledges to uphold and ensure the future peaceful use of space.

THE SECOND will be ensuring the protection of planet Earth from space threats. Asgardia outlines seven potential space threats: sun storms and flares, changes in Earth's magnetosphere (which could destroy the protective layer of our planet); potentially dangerous asteroids and comets; man-made orbital debris; changes in the climate stemming from technogenic factors and sun radiation; cosmic radiation from nuclear reactions in novae, supernovae and pulsars; and the danger of Earth infection by microorganisms from meteors and other small celestial bodies.

THE THIRD and final goal of Asgardia is creating a demilitarized and free access to scientific knowledge gained while in space. Access will be free to all, even with direct links to third world countries who do not have access to space yet.

Ambitions and quite far-reaching, many have begged the question, what is the point?

The Purpose of a Space Nation

Space law is riddled with unresolved issues circulating around human rights in space, including who will determine laws and what subsequent force will govern them. Asgardia plans to rule over space, pledging to assert a new judicial system with equal interests in protecting the interests of every human being on earth.

Equality and transparency are of the utmost importance to Asgardia. They plan on establishing a colony in low earth orbit to protect the world from space threats while ensuring equal access to the benefits of using space for creating new goods and services, and financial resources.

“Asgardia’s distinction in the philosophical sense is serving all humanity and every individual regardless of their personal prosperity or the prosperity of their country of origin.”

According to the nation, “Asgardia’s distinction in the philosophical sense is serving all humanity and every individual regardless of their personal prosperity or the prosperity of their country of origin.”

Furthermore, Asgardia claims “future space law must provide equal opportunities to all countries, not just to the ones that already have active space programmes and commercial

interests in space”.

It is an idealistic outlook on humanity, and many beg whether it is possible, while others question the point of having a space nation at all.

But the point is not to raise some gimmick in order to rob unassuming patrons of their money to join an ‘elite’ club. In fact, it is free to become a citizen of Asgardia, and there is no premium fee for joining, nor is there any fee for any service at all.

How Will Asgardia Do It?

Again, Asgardia is more so a developing ideology than a functional society. That being said, the platform is modeled to unite participation from all interested scientists and companies to expand the nation and benefit from a broad array of intelligence. It is through its citizens' intuition and ingenuity where Asgardia plans to device a concrete plan as to exactly how they plan on starting a colony in space.

Perhaps the ideology will snowball and gain momentum as more prominent figures join the ranks. It is entirely possible the nation is planning on building a new generation of Asgards which will both fund and engineer the project, overseeing its completion in the distant future.

Regardless, today, Asgardia shall celebrate with its newly elected head of state. Through uncertainty and ridicule, Asgardia continues to persevere in its mission for the open access of space for the betterment of mankind.