I joined Asgardia because I wanted to join a movement that brought permanent space habitation to ordinary folks. Ever since I was a child and saw Star Trek Deep Space Nine, I dreamed of the day we would  build permanent habitats in space. I read extensively on the subject everything I could find grounded in science fact. The most inspiring work I have read is The High Frontier:  Human Colonies in Space, written by Gerard K. O'Neill. He explored options Nasa could have followed after the end of the Apollo program. Among other things, he imagines what is commonly known today as the O'Neill Cylinder. Unfortunately,  the concept of space colonization has stalled, if it could be said to have been started in the first place. Then came Asgardia. Being realistic, no, building something like an O'Neill Cylinder in time scales rapid enough to satisfy most of us is simply not possible. But doing so eventually IS possible. Designs have already been drawn up for how such structures could be built and function. We have solutions today for every obstacle barring the path to permanent human habitation in space. How do we fix living in micro gravity? Spinning the habitat and using centrifugal force to simulate gravity very close to perfectly. How do we solve inhabitants being blasted with cosmic radiation? Thick shielding alone can do this, though it's expensive, and so can using a constellation of satellites to create an artificial magnetosphere around the habitat. Or mixing the two options to best effect. How do we solve the immense expenditures of  building something that vast in space? By using as much material from space as possible in the construction process to reduce the number of  launches needed to build such structures. My point is this is all very doable, though very difficult. Simply hopping in and  hammering things together is not plausible. Bringing such a dream to fruition will require many steps along a long and arduous path extending decades. But if it is never started, it will never happen at all. I want to get the ball rolling on what we can do right now to set ourselves up for successfully taking that next leap. The reason I even care about  running for leadership in Asgardia is to  bring eventual permanent human  habitation in space for everyday people  to  fruition. We have every chance right now  to  start the ground work to make this happen. Though I am a  student in Aerospace  Engineering and Advanced Applied Physics,  I can't  possibly list every  last thing we would need to do to forward this cause. I  cannot provide a complete road map. I can highlight certain agendas I would promote that would take us in that general direction. Though the theory exists today on how permanent space habitats could be made and maintained, research has to be done at the R and D level to bring these to practical application.  For example, we have yet to build any substantial  structure in space that actually rotates to create simulated gravity. This is the holy grail to long-term living in space. More research needs to be done in  using an artificial magnetosphere to shield against cosmic rays in space. We know we can do it, just not the exact how of it. Trying to enclose a space habitat large enough to house  thousands of people in such shielding would take enormous power, as things stand now. Research needs to be done in ways to bring that energy cost down. One way is to use a mix of electromagnetic shielding and physical shielding, but what ratio is best in large scale? What material is best? What is the optimal  way to structure the habitat to maximize its shielding?  Turns out hydrogen and oxygen provide some shielding against radiation, and both are some of the most abundant elements in the universe. We would need large amounts of either to survive in space anyway, to breathe, to drink as water, or for fuel, so one idea could be how to design the habitat in ways to put the tanks and pipes storing  these materials in places they provide what extra  shielding they can while using other means for shielding as well. R and D needs to be done on the building of these things themselves. Constructing something this vast in orbit is an epic  undertaking  making every previous engineering feat ever accomplished by humankind  look small in comparison. We already know launching anything, with today's technology, is expensive, and that the more material we use from space the better. How do we do that? Mining asteroids? Sure,  let's do it,  but which ones and how? There are  many different kinds of asteroids containing different kinds of raw material located in very different regions of the solar system. Which  can we reach? What is the best mining techniques to use on each  different kind of  body? A large collection of boulders held together   loosely by gravity will likely require very different tactics than a body that is one solid mass. How do we determine which is which? What of the moon? Which materials does it have we can use and where? How to process and assemble these materials in micro gravity once obtained? All of these are good questions that need addressed before a permanent space habitat for  many people can be built.  No other organization I know of has a focus for permanent space habitation in orbit. Sure, NASA and other agencies are looking into some things in this regard, but only as a side interest to their primary objectives. We're a SPACE nation,  meaning our eventual goal is a stand alone nation whose citizens live and work in SPACE. But incremental steps need to be taken to get us there. If I were voted in as a leader, this would be my mission statement. I'd  promote agendas that focus on this one goal. Not to say Asgardia cannot focus on other things. We will have many leaders with many ideas as to what Asgardia needs, and they will promote those agendas. I, however, want to focus all of my efforts on making permanent space habitation for all Asgardians a reality. The administration has already stated Asgardia will eventually back scientific startups. I want to make it my mission to promote those who work on solving the before mentioned issues. I want to start think tanks that focus on space habitation rather than just work on it as an aside to some other murky objective. I want to promote startups that want to create the infrastructure for forging vast things in space. I want to promote startups that focus on perfecting radiation shielding and using centrifugal gravity at medium and large scales. I want to promote startups that focus on gathering materials from space and bringing them to Earth for processing. There are many markets I see opening up to any organization who holds any of these cards. Trading materials we gather could be lucrative. Having a refueling station in orbit could be lucrative as well. I always had a dream of there being a company that operated from space that built and/or repaired satellites for  Earthly countries and  companies. How much cheaper would a satellite be if it were completely constructed in space and   simply towed to its final orbit instead of being launched up from Earth? Satellites in Low Earth Orbit require what is called active station keeping. This means it must have some sort of onboard boosting capability if it wishes to maintain its orbit for an extended period of time. All things in LEO experience atmoshperic drag which eventually results in orbital degradation. Once a satellite runs out of fuel, it'll no longer be able to maintain its orbit and will eventually burn up on reentry. What if a company existed in space that could refuel satellites? Their lifespans would be greatly extended. What if a very critical communications satellite lost an essential component? Sending a crew up from Earth to fix the problem could potentially cost more than the satellite is worth, yet building a new one and launching it up is also expensive. What if these could be repaired from space? I ask for your vote, so that I can do everything I can to promote these agendas one step at a time. I thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read this post, and even more so for taking that brave and epic step in becoming part of something so new and unorthodox as Asgardia. That alone, to me, proves you have within you that mysterious quality, that capacity to dream,  that brought humanity out of the plains of Africa and into the skies in the first place. May we forever explore new horizons together!

Campaign Page - https://asgardia.space/en/blog/candidate/664696-5328-honor-freedom-peace-knowledgenbsp/