Sustainability, Development and Fairness

Since the signing of the Outer Space Treaty, Space has been viewed by International Law as a 'global common' available and open to all, physically separate from the political, cultural and resource competition that defines life on Earth. But Space is not simply an isolated technological frontier hundreds of miles above our heads, but increasingly a place where many of the social, legal, political and environmental challenges facing us on Earth will play out.

These very human dynamics are often issues that haven’t been addressed or thought about in great detail as attention is often focussed on 'the hardware' and latest technologies of Space exploration, but they will be absolutely fundamental to our human experience of Space. Accordingly, this strand seeks to explore the following key questions:

• Our world is increasingly split along political lines when it comes to how to organise society, the role and definition of democracy, the importance of different values, and the relative rights of citizens and private enterprise vis-à-vis governing authorities. Will this simply be reflected in Space? Will different planets, regions of planets, orbital areas or particular satellites have their own rules and systems?
• Might it be possible to create shared norms across different actors when it comes to how we operate in Space? Might it be possible to create legal structures and mechanisms to enforce this? Who would be in charge of these mechanisms?
• How can we maximise the significant benefits to all humanity of Space exploration at the same time as regulating the power and influence of private companies and a small group of very rich individuals such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, to drive forward Space exploration in the near future?
• What are the possible impacts of Space exploration for climate change on Earth – and are there resources in Space that can address the biggest challenge currently facing humanity? What impact might our actions have on the sustainability of other planets and systems as we gradually visit and perhaps even colonise different parts of the Solar System? How does the problem of Space debris fit into this? And what lessons have we learned from seeking to manage climate change that might be applied to Space?
• How might we reconceptualise the theoretical definitions of sustainability needed to encompass the relationships between Space and Earth across all dimensions of human society, economy and environment?
• How can we ensure that those who are impacted by operations in Space have a voice and can be heard? Who are these communities? Will Space simply become the domain of the most powerful states or other transnational actors? Does this matter?
• How are perceptions about the connections between Space and Earth's environment being shaped and driven by certain actors, as well as teaching of Space in the classroom? How do governments, political actors, corporations, media and advocacy groups, strategically seek to shape public perceptions and narratives about Space exploration, exploration and technologies?

The strand will deploy a range of methods. Data collection will focus on mass and social media content, plus the texts and audio-visual content produced by Environmental NGOs, corporations, political parties, educational authorities, learning curricula and social movements, as well as qualitative interviewing and problem-solving observation. The methods of analysis will range across quantitative (multimodal discourse/narrative analysis) and qualitative (corpus analysis), action research and co-creative/participatory approaches.