About Asgardia Space Nation: Space Kingdom of Asgardia, Asgardia, officially known as the Space Kingdom of Asgardia is a proposal for nation announced on October 12, 2016 by Igor Ashurbeyli, the founder of the Aerospace International Research Center and Chairman of UNESCO's Science of Space Committee. The proposed nation intends ...
About Asgardia Space Nation:
Space Kingdom of Asgardia,
Asgardia, officially known as the Space Kingdom of Asgardia is a proposal for nation announced on October 12, 2016 by Igor Ashurbeyli, the founder of the Aerospace International Research Center and Chairman of UNESCO's Science of Space Committee.
The proposed nation intends to promote peace and collaboration as mankind expands into outer space and ultimately aims to be recognised as a nation state.
- Motto: One Humanity, One Unity
- Status: Proposed nation
- Official languages: English
- Government:
- Head of Nation: Igor Ashurbeyli
- Declaration of creation 12 October 2016
- Membership: ~262,000
History:
Announced on 12 October 2016, the ultimate aim of the project is to create a new nation that allows access to space free of the control of existing nations. The current space law framework requires governments to authorise and supervise all space activities, including the activities of non-governmental entities such as commercial and non-profit organizations; by attempting to create a nation, those behind Asgardia hope to avoid the tight restrictions that the current system imposes.
"Asgardia" was chosen as a reference to one of the nine worlds of Norse mythology; that which was inhabited by the gods.
People were invited to register for citizenship, with the aim of Asgardia then applying to the United Nations for recognition as a nation state.
In less than 2 days, there were over 100,000 applications; within 3 weeks, there were 500,000.
After tougher verification requirements were introduced, this reduced, and stood at around 200,000 in June 2017.
There is no intention to actually move these members into space.
The project was initiated by Russian scientist and businessman, Igor Ashurbeyli, who members were required to confirm as "Head of Nation".
Often described as a billionaire, Ashurbeyli has said that he is solely responsible for funding Asgardia.
Asgardia intends to apply for membership of the UN in 2018.
Asgardia intends to launch a series of satellites into orbit, and has announced that the first will be deployed by Orbital ATK in September 2017.
The nanosatellite will be a file storage device that holds thing like family photos supplied by the first 1,000,000 members.
Concept of Asgardia:
The project's concept comprises three fundamental parts - philosophical, legal and scientific/technological.
The essence of Asgardia is Peace in Space and the prevention of Earth's conflicts being transferred into space.
Asgardia’s philosophical aspects are to serve humanity, regardless of personal welfare and the prosperity of the country where they happen to be born and to digitalise the noosphere, creating a mirror of humanity in space but without Earthly division into states, religions and nations.
Asgardia’s legal aspects include, but are not limited to, the creation of a legal platform for the exploration of near-Earth and deep space, proposing "astropolitics" as opposed to "geopolitics" to be the scope preventing conflicts in space.
Asgardia’s scientific and technological component can be summarised to:
peace, access, and protection. The technical structure comprises three main segments:
one or several core satellites, cluster of network-centric small satellites and protective space platform. The project is funded entirely from private funds and does not involve any crowdfunding that is a principle decision of the Founding Father.
Satellite Asgardia-1:
On June 13, 2017, detailed plans were announced on by an international team of renowned scientists, academics and entrepreneurs regarding the launch of Asgardia-1, the inaugural satellite of the world’s first Space Nation, Asgardia. The satellite, scheduled to be deployed by the end of 2017 from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility on Chincoteague Island, Virginia, will in itself comprise elements of the space nation, carrying its constitution, flag and other national symbols as well as files uploaded by up to 1.5 million Asgardian citizens, marking Asgardia’s permanent presence in space...It will mark the start of a New Space Age, sixty years after the first ever artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, orbited the Earth.
“Sixty years after the launch of the first ever artificial satellite, Sputnik, our own space satellite, Asgardia-1 will mark the beginning of a new space era, taking our citizens into space in virtual form, at first,” said Dr. Igor Ashurbeyli, Asgardia’s Head of Nation. “Asgardia-1 will contain the personal data of up to 1.5 million Asgardians to be stored for free on board the satellite. These are historic days, and your names and data will forever stay in the memory of the new space humanity, as they will be reinstalled on every new Asgardia satellite we launch.”
Wrote that Ashurbeyli “…hopes to create a planetary-defense constellation that will help protect against asteroids, solar flares and human-made space debris; this satellite is just the first step.” The
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