It was great to be in pole position to ask the first question on behalf of ROOM Space Journal of Asgardia at the Press Conference for the heads of all the major global space agencies at CyberSpace IAC 2020 this week. This year the annual event would have been held in Dubai but instead was organised fully online for the first time because of Covid-19, with free entry to all interested in space. More than 11,000 people from across the globe registered to attend the three day event.

I am delighted with the latest issue of ROOM Space Journal out now in both print & digital format - the 25th edition of the world’s leading space magazine is one not to be missed! The 116-page magazine is packed with a wealth of informative & attractively presented articles on a range of topical space subjects, all written by experts & experienced commentators in the field. Scientists Oleg Orlov, Anna Kussmaul & Mark Belakovskiy, all from Moscow’s prestigious Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP), take a fascinating look at how space physiology and medicine are spinning off new medical treatments and approaches on Earth. And on a similar theme we are delighted to publish a ground-breaking article by Prof Floris Wuyts and Dr Steven Jillings on the latest results from their studies on microgravity and its effects on the human brain. We include an interview with Pascale Ehrenfreund, the first female president of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), a detailed look at Brazil’s space ambitions and commercial opportunities beyond Earth orbit with articles by Clint Gaumann of TerraMetric and Pavlo Tanasyuk of Spacebit. Plus many more fascinating articles.

If the increase in space debris in Earth orbit remains uncontrolled and unregulated, it will eventually render outer space useless for the whole of humanity - a sober warning from Prof Ram Jakhu in the Winter 2019/20 issue of ‘ROOM Space Journal of Asgardia’. In ‘Rule of law vital for humanity’s sustainability and survival’, Prof Jakhu examines the necessary legal frameworks needed to avoid potential doomsday scenarios and proposes that a new international legal order for outer space should also recognise that reckless and intentional creation of space debris is “a crime against humanity”. Prof Jakhu’s article is one of six published in this issue based on presentations at the first Asgardia Space Science & Investment Congress (ASIC) held in Darmstadt, Germany, in October. As its theme ‘Paving the Road to Living in Space’ suggests, ASIC’s goal was to offer a strategic pathway to the future, homing in on the interconnected themes of the extraordinary science and technology required to support permanent space habitats and the first humans born in space. With around 150 specialist attendees from around the globe it was something of a niche congress headed up by Asgardia Science Minister Prof Floris Wuyts, a world-leading human physiology specialist from the University of Antwerp in Belgium. ROOM’s cross-section of Special Reports from ASIC are selected from more than 50 presentations, each of which provided an insight into one of the challenging themes discussed in talks, panel sessions and posters. A core vision of Asgardia the Space Nation is to achieve the first birth of a child in space and, in doing so, progress towards its long term strategy of creating off-world human settlements. To further this goal, challenging issues relating to radiation and artificial gravity need to be addressed and ASIC was the first such event created specifically to allow world-leading scientists already working in these areas to come together to present and discuss their research. Whilst space is both inspirational and motivational, offering immense possibilities for the future, success will depend on the vision and success of entrepreneurs such as Jeff Manber of Nanoracks (‘Commercialising space exploration and development’) and financial experts such as Seraphim Capital’s Mark Boggett, who provides valuable insights into the space funding landscape in ‘Venture capital investment in space’. Advanced technology is another vital part of the mix; Tigran Mkhoyan focuses on the ‘Coriolis effect in rotating space platforms’ whilst Nissem Abdeljelil, of the National Center for Nuclear Science & Technologies in Tunisia, addresses the potential of using ionising radiation to manage biofilm contamination in ‘Surviving bacteria in space’. ASIC discussed everything from creating artificial gravity and combating radiation to a birth in space, as well as considering how to secure the investment and develop the technologies to achieve it all. This issue of ‘ROOM Space Journal of Asgardia’ is available in print delivered direct to your home or in digital format from next week (16 December). To buy this issue or start a great value annual subscription for the world’s leading space magazine, please visit: https://room.eu.com/subscribe

Currently looking for a mentor for my future adventures in or around politics and the environment. Anyone that has experience would be a great help. Just know I am new to all that stuff and will need to learn from 0. Take care all :)

By no means a graphical artist, just a guy who loves our nation and wants to show his passion. This double sided medallion highlights two of the most important and remarkable sides of our nation: - Igor Ashurbeyli, our founder and beacon in our aim to give life to a nation we believe in. - The flag of Asgardia, represents a United nation of many cultures, religions, races and peoples.

I'm looking for work anywhere in the UK. Preferably near Birmingham, however open to relocate. Send me a message if you wish to know more. A little information; I've got a Diploma in Photography as well as Security and Retail work experience. Thank you all and take care!

It makes perfect sense for Asgardia to develop a cryptocurrency for its new economy, particularly considering how even central banks across the planet are looking towards cryptocurrency and blockchain more broadly to improve financial services. My concern is that not enough discussion is happening around what the Asgardia cryptocurrency should look like, what should its characteristics be, should it even be broader and be an entire purpose built blockchain to fold in areas such as identity, tokenisation of property and provenance. Some key areas that need to be thought through include the following. * Tokenomics model. How will it incentivise positive behaviour? Is the economy to be inflationary? If so, how and where are new tokens injected into the economy? For example, are new tokens minted for community projects or governance activities or for certain types of trade? Tokenomics is a rich area of research. If you get it right then you can create a vibrant and growing economy but get it wrong and it will collapse and could destroy the credibility of Asgardia. * Confidentiality. How is confidentiality of transactions to be handled? Some transactions and data need to be transparent but not all. How is this to be handled? * Identity. What's the policy around identity. Are people involved in economics governance or trading or other activities required to perform KYC or AML checks or is there to be a reputational system based off good behaviour or is it entirely anonymous and random? * Consensus and environmental impact. I'm a passionate believer that all big technology needs to exist in balance with its environment. The choice of technology and consensus mechanism is hugely important here. There are blockchains like Ethereum that are terrible for the environment, consuming as much energy as Switzerland with no solid plan to scale while there are others that are striving to be CO2 neutral or even negative while scaling to millions of users, particularly in industrial sectors. * Are we just talking cryptocurrency here or do we want to think bigger? What about tokenisation of property, whether space assets or digital assets or other assets? What about autonomous systems and services that benefit the members of Asgardia or raise funds for Asgardia? * What's the underlying choices of technology? What type of ledger data needs to be handled? What about blobs/files? What oracles are needed? What about programming languages for dApps? Do we want to support common languages like C++ or .NET languages? My concern is that there's a lot to consider when designing any cryptocurrency or blockchain, I've run teams of 20 or more just scoping this kind of thing out and it isn't easy so this can't be something cobbled together in secret by a couple of people. If it is done that way then it will fail which would be a shame because this is an opportunity to do something topical and of huge impact.