Space governance
How can the use of outer space be safe, sustainable and contribute to a flourishing future?
This profile is tailored towards students studying economics, history, law, physics and political science, however we expect there to be valuable open research questions that could be pursued by students in other disciplines.
Why is this a pressing problem?
Space launches are getting significantly cheaper and have become considerably more frequent over the last decade, from 129 in 2011 to 1807 in 2022. The increasing accessibility of outer space raises questions about how to use space sustainably and safely. Issues such the accumulation of debris in space – which threatens critical infrastructure such as satellites – and the development of anti-satellite weapons – which increase the likelihood of conflict – are examples of key issues that need to be addressed. Competition over space resources and valuable regions of celestial bodies may also lead to tensions and increased inequalities, and undermine the coordination needed to solve other global problems.
More speculatively, interstellar space colonisation may one day be possible, meaning that the vast majority of our descendants might live beyond this solar system. It could be too soon for research done now to influence how space settlements are ultimately governed, but the stakes are very high given the huge number of individuals who could exist in the future, so exploratory research could be very valuable. It’s also possible that the development of artificial general intelligence will result in space being settled much sooner than we would otherwise expect, so research on how AI may transform the trajectory of space settlement and how we can manage its implications could be important.
There is a ‘Summit of the Future’ conference planned by the UN (to be held in 2024) which will bring together ‘governments and other leading space actors’ to ‘seek high-level political agreement on the peaceful, secure and sustainable use of outer space.’ The organisers may announce a call for proposals before the conference, so this may be a particularly impactful time to do research on this direction.
See the presentation below for an introduction to this area and an exploration of how international policies and agreements could be adapted in light of emerging uses of space.
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Contributors: This profile was last updated 29/09/2022. Thanks to Carson Ezell for helpful feedback on this profile. All mistakes remain our own. Learn more about how we create our profiles.
