During a September Q&A session online , Lena De Winne, the CEO and Vice-President of NGO Asgardia, and the Deputy Head of Administration of Asgardia, addressed a number of questions posted by Asgardians online. She also discussed recent developments.

Mechanisms for Change

Now that the approved Constitution has created the framework for the Asgardian society to operate in, there are mechanisms in place for areas that can be improved.

De Winne said: “That is why the Constitution defines the rule by which it is possible to submit petitions. Those petitions can be submitted by any Asgardian. Petitions are published on the website, and they stay there for sixty days. They need to collect a number of votes and they need to be addressed properly. Then, if they are initiated and handled correctly, they will arrive with the respective addressee and recipient and the government, and they will have to be processed.”

She continued: “For example, if you have any specific desire to change any article or chapter of the Constitution, please write a petition. Talk to your countrymen Asgardians. Collect the signatures. Make sure that the petition is fully ready, and it will be submitted to the respective branch of the government, and then, if it all goes through correctly, this will be the basis to call a referendum. The referendum will be the basis for changing the Constitution like in any democracy. It's exactly the democratic procedure that is defined in the Constitution.”

Privacy Protection

De Winne reminded Asgardians to keep “your number in the certificate of Asgardia safe. This is your unique number that in the future will allow you to use all the government and national services.”

Status of UN Recognition

When asked about UN recognition, De Winne said that “ it's not so black and white.”

“The paperwork has been prepared and at the same time, contexts are being initiated with other countries on Earth. There is no such thing as requirements to be met to be appointed a state…no set of formal criteria. We are preparing an extended set of documents for the United Nations to start working with them, but it's not like ‘please accept me to become a member’ -- it doesn't work like this. The work is ongoing.”

You asked, Asgardia answered. For more answers to questions you may have, please see our Frequently Asked Questions .

During a September Q&A session online , Lena De Winne, the CEO and Vice-President of NGO Asgardia, and the Deputy Head of Administration of Asgardia, addressed a number of questions posted by Asgardians online. She also discussed recent developments.

Constitution Accepted

“ As you all know, we have completed the cycle of voting, and a number of decrees by Dr. Ashurbeyli have been published,” she said. “The Constitution has been accepted by 72.5% of the votes. Congratulations to all of you and all of us for such a big success. We are Asgardian!”

Citizenship, IDs & Passports
De Winne explained that “those people who have voted in support of the Constitution have the preferential right to be considered Asgardian citizens. Will still need to do quite a bit of work in order to prepare ID cards and passports.”

“Those of you who have voted in support of the Constitution before the announcement by Dr. Ashurbeyli that the voting is closed are entitled to receive ID cards and passports as soon as we are ready to distribute them,” she said, adding that it will take a few months to prepare ID cards and passports.

Picking Up ID Cards in Person

De Winne assured viewers that a lot of thought will go into where ID cards will have to be picked up. She said that once in a lifetime, a person will have to present themselves, with documents proving their identity, in order to receive Asgardian documents.

“ There will be one embassy per continent and then there will be consulates, which will be spread out. Maybe there will be temporary locations. We will see how everybody does it for the citizens around the world and we will do our best to make it as convenient as possible.”

She added that for those who are unable to travel, “we will look at situations on a case by case basis.”

De Winne suggested that embassies will likely begin to be established sometime next year, as “ embassies fall under the responsibility of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is one of twelve ministries that is to be available in the government structure once it is established. It will be one of the first tasks of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

What’s Next?

De Winne noted that now that the Constitution has been approved, it sets the ground law of the nation. “Now, according to the Constitution, there will be a Parliament formed. It will take six months to form the Parliament, and it’s the role of the Parliament to develop the laws. As is defined in the Constitution, a number of subjects will be specified once the laws are elaborated by the Parliament and passed and accepted.”

You asked, Asgardia answered. For more answers to questions you may have, please see our Frequently Asked Questions .

During a September Q&A session online , Lena De Winne, the CEO and Vice-President of NGO Asgardia, and the Deputy Head of Administration of Asgardia, addressed a number of questions posted by Asgardians online. In particular, she spoke about startups in Asgardia, and how Asgardians can begin to convert their ideas into businesses.

“ Asgardia in general, as it has been conceived, is a country of startups, a country of new opportunities,” she said. “Quite soon, the Asgardia.com website will become much more populated with information, and one of the areas of expansion will provide an opportunity to make proposals for startups.”

In this, Asgardia is collaborating with Seraphim Venture Capital, a major venture capital organization in Europe and the only one that is space-related. “Asgardia is setting up an approach by which it will co-fund startups. Together with Seraphim, and also on its own, Asgardia is prepared to invest and co-invest and to support the development of startups and their growth within the jurisdiction of Asgardia.”

As for the areas of focus, De Winne said that “those can be space-related projects, but they can also be anything scientific and technological. It can be software, it can be electronic boards, it can be avionics, it can be all sorts of interesting promising start-ups that can be useful for the community and can potentially carry technological and engineering benefits.”

If you have an idea and are willing to see it through, she said, “the business opportunity is there.” She said that a community of experts will conduct an independent review and advise Asgardia on investing into the growth of particular startups.

Where does one begin? “You’re welcome to establish business plans,” De Winne said. “If you have a startup idea and you have a business plan to support this idea, by all means, please do make this proposal. Write it down. Send us the proposal…show a business plan and the revenue streams and the request for investment and how it is meant to grow as a business. We're open to proposals.”

You asked, Asgardia answered. For more answers to questions you may have, please see our Frequently Asked Questions .

During a September Q&A session online , Lena De Winne, the CEO and Vice-President of NGO Asgardia, and the Deputy Head of Administration of Asgardia, addressed a number of questions posted by Asgardians online. Currently, only 15% of registered Asgardians are women. Asgardians have asked: are there programs or campaigns to promote Asgardia to encourage more women to join?

“We are open to everybody,” De Winne stated. “We do not have any prejudice on gender orientation, race, Earthly religion. The whole point of Asgardia is that it's a totally open community and society for people who want to join.”

To attract more women to Asgardia, she asked those who are already a part of Asgardia to “invite your partners, invite your girlfriends, invite your wives, invite your female friends from the community where you are involved on Earth.”

De Winne mentioned that just because currently there are more registered male Asgardians, it should in no way be assumed that Asgardia is male-centric. “Actually, there are many women in the core team where I work. I am in top management, and there are two women on my team who work with me directly.”

She urged Asgardians to talk to their friends: “What it is that women want, please help us find out. We might find out something we don't know yet.” De Winne noted that Asgardia is open to placing resources and infrastructure toward the implementation of initiatives that will attract more women. She also said, “If you as an Asgardian feel that you want to make sure that more women are invited, by all means, please initiate this within the community.”

You asked, Asgardia answered. For more answers to questions you may have, please see our Frequently Asked Questions .

During a recent Q&A session online , Lena De Winne, the CEO and Vice-President of NGO Asgardia, addressed the question of ID cards and passports.

“Once the process of Constitution voting is over, it will be one of the next steps of the Administration, to look into the ID cards, and eventually passports,” she commented.

She warned that the process will take some time: “It will not be extremely fast. It will be done very properly, very meticulously to make sure that what is done works and it works universally, and it’s totally secure.”

Who can receive and ID card and a passport, and why is does it take a while? De Winne explained: “It will be only possible to receive ID card, and eventually a passport, to those who have voted for the Constitution and have identified themselves as real people. This is one of the reasons why we are still running the voting. Our IT team is verifying that those who voted are actually real people older than 18 and have voted only once. That's why those votes that are not valid are deleted. Once this is all done and checked and verified and the results are published, those who have voted and been recognized are entitled to request ID card and eventually a passport. But they will have to present themselves and identify themselves with the existing documents. It will be a lengthy process, but it will be a totally transparent and valid process.”

Documents will have to be picked up in person, she said. Asgardia plans to have embassies on every continent, because “it's philosophically representative of what Asgardia stands for, because from space you do not see the borders. The borders are drawn on the maps, the borders are in our minds. Asgardia, as the first in world history space nation, is standing up for the unified humanity through space and its vision from space,” De Winne said.

She acknowledged that for logistical purposes, “we will have to see closer to the date which other locations might require representation or consulates.”

De Winne said that passports will come later, and ID cars are more important, as they “will be integrated with the National Identification, like banking system and social security system. This will be a process which will be happening in parallel with the development of the Solar as the currency.”

She also said that passports (especially used as travel documents) are “absolutely amongst our goals. That will happen.” But for now, she said, ID cards will happen sooner – “they have more practical purposes.”

You asked, Asgardia answered. For more answers to questions you may have, please see our Frequently Asked Questions .

On 19 August 2017, Lena De Winne, the CEO and Vice-President of NGO Asgardia held another Q&A session online . The launch of Asgardia-1, currently pushed back to November, was discussed.

“ Currently, NASA is publishing the date of the 10th of November for the 088 Cygnus vehicle where ASGARDIA-1 satellite is one of the cargo. This depends on NASA. Launch dates often shift. There are various reasons for that. Space business is still a tricky one. Every space flight is a test flight. Nothing is yet routine. In every flight, anything that is doubtful would be a reason for the delay. That’s how the business is run,” De Winne commented.

She reassured Asgardians that the “Asgardia-1 satellite, as you have seen, is ready. It's staying in the integration facility of Nanoracks, who are our partners in preparing the satellite. The moment NASA tells them that they're ready for integrating cargo into the Cygnus vehicle, Nanoracks will just go step-by-step. They were ready to do it earlier. That’s why earlier we had a countdown clock on the website saying how much time was left until you could have uploaded your files. This was [based on] date announced by NASA of the launch on the 12th of September. With that schedule, the 23rd of July was the last day we could have possibly had any files from you to transfer to the hard disk that would be integrated into the satellite. The moment we were told that there will be a delay, we are immediately telling you that you are welcome to upload your files as long as room is available.”

She concluded: “The current published launch date is 12th of November. If by chance it happens that the launch is shifting forward rather than backward, we are ready. The moment NASA tells Nanoracks to submit hardware for integration it will be done immediately because we are perfectly on the good track.”

De Winne reminded Asgardians that “the way to fly virtually to space is to upload your data via the www.Asgardia.space website, so that it can be still transferred to the satellite. The satellite is going to fly on the Cygnus vehicle that will launch to the International Space Station. It will then, after a couple of months, detach, fly further up a little, and then deploy several satellites, including Asgardia-1, into outer space. That's when the free flight is going to start and that's when the solar arrays will open. So we all are looking forward for this launch to happen.”

You asked, Asgardia answered. For more answers to questions you may have, please see our Frequently Asked Questions .

On 19 August 2017, Lena De Winne, the CEO and Vice-President of NGO Asgardia held another Q&A session online . Viewers sent in questions about the logistical structure of Asgardia and De Winne’s role. De Winne explained all in detail.

When asked about her role as Asgardia’s spokesperson, De Winne answered that she’s an employee of Dr. Ashurbeyli. “ I have been working for the Aerospace International Research Center since it was formed. Predominantly I was working on ROOM , [the Space Journal], which started in the summer of 2014. I was, and I still am, Director at Room, and when Dr. Ashurbeyli decided to put Asgardia to public view, he has asked number of people who already worked for him to transfer part of their time to Asgardia. I was among those people Dr. Ashurbeyli ask to work for Asgardia.”

De Winne is the CEO and VP of NGO Asgardia, and a few people had questions about what NGO Asgardia is. De Winne explained: “This is a legal structure. Originally, Dr. Ashurbeyli formed the Aerospace International Research Center in Vienna, and that was the legal entity that organized all the activities in Europe including ROOM: the Space Journal. And then, when Dr. Ashurbeyli decided that it’s time to go public with his idea of Asgardia, on which he has been working for many years.”

“We originally ran it legally under the Aerospace International Research Center,” she continued. “But as Asgardia has been growing -- in October it will be one year -- and as many new activities are picking up, it’s necessary to set up legal structure that will be fully independent and fully supportive of the prospect Asgardian activities. So there are two legal structures, Asgardia NGO and Asgardia AG.”

“Asgardia NGO is the prototype of the future state,” she explained. “Indeed, it does sound a little bit peculiar because an NGO is a non-governmental organization. That legal structure is the easiest to transform into the governmental structure, once the whole procedure is implemented, once the Parliament is elected and the government is appointed.”

As for Asgardia AG, De Winne noted that it “is a legal entity that allows commercial activities. At the moment we have two websites, www.asgardia.space and www. asgardia.com . So in a way, asgardia.space is a website of Asgardia NGO and future state of Asgardia, and asgardia.com is a website of Asgardia AG, of the commercial entity, which would allow for organizing the startups and future activities.”

You asked, Asgardia answered. For more answers to questions you may have, please see our Frequently Asked Questions .

On 19 August 2017, Lena De Winne, the CEO and Vice-President of NGO Asgardia held another Q&A session online . Among other things, De Winne spoke about English as the operational language of Asgardia.

She agreed that there are concerns about the use of English only as the means of communication, but also explained that “ official language and operational language are different things, of course. We have to start somewhere... It’s our reality and we live in it.”

However, she reminded viewers that Asgardia is already working in 12 languages: “In terms of official documentation, as you have seen, the Constitution was published in 12 languages. These are the 12 most spoken languages in Asgardia. We will be working on publishing and presenting all [official] materials in the 12 most spoken languages of Asgardia.”

She thanked the volunteers who have helped with translations: “All I can say is to thank you to all the volunteers who make an effort to take forward everything we publish and make transcripts of what I say, to put translations forward, to collect feedback from the respective groups and to generate responses and feedback to us in the administration.” De Winne added that for now, Google Translate does a decent job for translating pages in Google Chrome, and suggested people use it for the time being.

As for the creating of an independent language for Asgardia, she said it’s not impossible. “It's not action number one on our to-do list, but it's certainly a natural thing to consider. Let’s say we are open to this. There hasn't yet been a lot of work done to make this happen, but this thinking is on-going, it's certainly possible,” she said.

You asked, Asgardia answered. For more answers to questions you may have, please see our Frequently Asked Questions .

On 19 August 2017, Lena De Winne, the CEO and Vice-President of NGO Asgardia held another Q&A session online . One of the more pressing topics was about what’s happening in leadership elections.

“First of all, everybody who has voted in support of the Constitution is entitled to present him or herself as a leader,” explained De Winne. “Leaders come, as you can see on asgardia.space, in four categories. Category one is a leader who represents 10 people. This is a very local representation. Then there is a leader for 100 people, for 1,000 people, for 10,000 people. [Of those,] you can vote for anybody worldwide. But as a voter you can vote only once.”

What if you voted and then changed your mind? “If somebody else came along and presented themselves and you changed your mind, you can re-vote (until the voting has finished). But then the person you voted for originally loses your vote. So, you need to be very careful about your decisions because you’re only entitled to one vote for each level, which are 10, 100, 1,000 and 10,000 people, accordingly,” De Winne explained.

De Winne reminded viewers that you can only position yourself as a leader for one level. She said, “at the moment, there is a moderation process and those who do not meet those requirements get notifications, but then eventually if one keeps not meeting the requirements, their candidacy will be removed.”

As for what makes a candidate legitimate, she said that it’s utterly important to run your campaign under your real name and a photo of your face. You also must be at least 18 years of age.

“And, of course, the very important thing is the platform,” she said. De Winne urged leaders to “have some kind of program. What are you standing for? What do you want to lead the community towards? We create the infrastructure and the system that supports candidates for leadership to express themselves, but it’s up to the candidates to be vocal about what they stand for.”

You asked, Asgardia answered. For more answers to questions you may have, please see our Frequently Asked Questions .

Today, on 31 July 2017 (15 July 0001 by the Asgardian calendar), 100,000th Asgardian voted in support of the Constitution of Asgardia, the first-ever space nation in the history of mankind.

Asgardia congratulates everyone who has accepted the Constitution, is celebrating this historic event, and grants the 100,000th voter a unique present -- an additional 500KB of storage on the Asgardia-1 satellite, which will be launched into space in autumn of this year. Files uploaded to the Asgardia-1 satellite will remain in space and in Asgardia's history for the entirety of Asgardia's existence -- meaning, forever.

According to the results of the voting, which will be processed in the next few days, results will be published, specifically:

- What percentage of those who participated in voting accepted the Constitution;

- How the preferences of Asgardians were distributed during the voting on national symbols -- the flag, the coat of arms and and anthem of Asgardia.

Also, the final results will be summed up and prizes will be awarded based on the contests that took place online earlier. Follow the news!

Asgardia made a jump to 178 ^th place in population size among the world’s countries, from 180 ^th place just yesterday. It now closely follows Iceland, Belize and the Maldives.

To date, there are some 287,000 Asgardians, and almost 100,000 of them have accepted the Constitution, becoming citizens. With voting closing exactly at 100,000, there is still an opportunity to become a citizen of Asgardia, the first-ever space nation.

It has come to our attention that scammers are trying to defraud some Asgardians by asking for their credit card number or other personal information.

Please remember that Asgardia is free for everyone. We do not request money or funds. The only place where funds can be donated to Asgardia is on the ‘Donations’ page on Asgardia.space.

What to do if you received a message asking for money on behalf of Asgardia:

• Do not reply
• Do not click on any links
• Do not share any personal information, including your login and password
• Delete the message
• Notify our support team at support@asgardia.space
• 
  

We thank you for your attention and your trust in us and want to make sure you and your personal information are safe.

At her live Q&A session last week, Lena De Winne, the CEO and Vice-President of Asgardia NGO, provided an analogy to answer this question. “There is a saying – don’t confuse tourism and immigration,” she said.

She compared citizens of Asgardia – those who accepted the Constitution – to legal residents of a country, and those who chose not to support the Constitution – to tourists.

“If you like a country, if you want to live there, if you want to be part of that system, it’s only natural that you abide by the established regulations in that country,” she explained. “And in most countries, that would be the Constitution. Anybody in the first 100,000 will have the right and are welcome to exercise the right to get Asgardia’s citizenship for free.”

“Citizens are those who support the Constitution, the basic makeup of the country. So, we consider those who have voted for the Constitution citizens as in when, for example, a referendum was happening on whatever might be the subject, these people are entitled to vote. As far as we are concerned, they have declared that they are supporting Asgardia, so their vote counts when decisions are to be made,” De Winne explained.

Citizens of Asgardia have the right to receive Asgardia’s documents for free; upload their files to Asgardia-1 and future satellites without charge; nominate themselves for leadership and Parliamentary positions; work in the government and become local representatives. Citizens can bring forth petitions, including those to update the Constitution.

As for the future, she said, “After the first 100,000 is done, the voting will continue, and every new person who is applying has to provide a certain amount of data about himself or herself, and then has to vote or not to vote on the Constitution.” Those who accept the Constitution after the voting is closed will be considered applicants for Asgardian citizenship.

If a person does not accept the Constitution, they will still stay a registered Asgardian and participate in forum discussions, for example. The difference, De Winne said, is that “by doing so that person either says 'I am interested in becoming a citizen,' or 'I’m visiting your Asgardian nation as a tourist'.”

You asked, Asgardia answered. For more answers to questions you may have, please see our Frequently Asked Questions .

Asgardia’s population size reached more than 275,000, propelling it to 180 ^th place by population size worldwide. It is rapidly approaching the population size of Barbados and Iceland, and has just passed the population of Vanuatu and French Guinea.

The leadership elections, currently underway, are expected to contribute to this growth, as Asgardians invite their friends and those who share their ideas to join Asgardia, vote, and participate in building a new society.

Last week, thousands of people logged into the live Q&A session with Lena De Winne, CEO and Vice-President of NGO Asgardia. A lot of the questions pertained to Asgardia’s IDs and passports.

“We are working on creating the Parliament, creating the government, and creating the banking system and the national currency SOLAR,” De Winne explained. “The ID card at this point is the card that will be a fully protected, chip-integrated card that would eventually allow you -- when they are available -- to receive services Asgardia will provide, and to operate within the currency system.”

She continued: “We will start issuing passports as booklets for traveling only when we have reached the recognition with other states as a state, that they recognize Asgardia’s passport as a valid document for crossing national borders. We are very realistic, this is a long-term goal.”

De Winne reminded her viewers that IDs and passports would only be received in person, and that documents are taken very seriously. “We are now asking everyone, and it’s at your own discretion, to fill in your profile. This data needs to be correct. When you decide to claim your documents, you will be asked to present yourself to the ambassador of Asgardia. In the long run, it is planned to have six permanent embassies around the world, per number of continents.”

Most importantly, she said, is that “one of the biggest premises of Asgardia is that there are no borders. When one looks at the Earth from space, you do not see borders - you see blue, you see green, you see the yellow of the desert. You do not see borders. Borders exist on maps and in human minds. It is also for that reason that only boundaries of the continents are visible from space. There will be six embassies, one per continent, in Asgardia. But we will be working to create local representations and, of course, do our best to help people sustain their interaction with us.”

On 19 July 2017, thousands of people logged into the live Q&A session with Lena De Winne, CEO and Vice-President of NGO Asgardia. Many have asked about why voting has been extended.

When asked who makes the ultimate decisions for these changes, De Winne replied: “Dr. Igor Ashurbeyli adjusts the course of action as we progress. We are building the first-ever space nation in human history, so we are adapting as we go along. Whatever you see implemented and communicated to you...this is all authorized by Dr. Ashurbeyli.”

There is a lot of support for the Constitution, she said, and it should be looked at as a starting point. “Some tens of thousands of people, worldwide, decided to be Asgardian and found that the Constitution, the way it’s written, is resonating with them. And yes, we are the first to recognize that it might be imperfect. Dr. Ashurbeyli in his press conference in Hong Kong stated that he was fully aware that there might be things that needed improving,” she said. “But the Constitution itself installs the civil process, and in this process citizens can put forward the petitions, including petitions for calling a referendum proposing specific changes in the Constitution.”

She asked Asgardians to hold off on petitions to amend the Constitution for just a few days. “The only thing we ask is, give us a few more days until the Constitution is finalized and voting is closed. Only after that start sending your suggestions to update the Constitution,” she pleaded.

The other reason important reason for extending the voting period is Asgardia’s satellite, De Winne commented. “The current launch on the Cygnus vehicle is scheduled and announced for 12 September. This means that the fully integrated satellite must go from Nanoracks to NASA in the coming two weeks. And before that it means that the hard disk with our data, all of your data and Asgardia’s data, must be integrated, tested that it will wake up in orbit, and it needs to be built into the satellite and shipped to NASA.”

“Only those who support the Constitution have the right to upload files to the satellite,” she explained. “One of the reasons we extended the vote is that more people can enjoy this opportunity. There is still memory available on the satellite and it’s only possible for the next 2-3 days for technical reasons for people to upload their file. Afterwards, it will only be after the satellite is deployed in orbit and that will be in a couple of months after the launch.”

Finally, addressing the number 100,00, De Winne said: “When the vote has reached 100,000, we will close the voting. It's a nice thing to leave as a legacy. Imagine you are going to be part of this legacy. The first 100,000 people who are supporting the Constitution of the first in world history space nation.”

You asked, Asgardia answered. For more answers to questions you may have, please see our Frequently Asked Questions .