Asgardia: The First Space Nation

            When you hear someone say Asgardia, you probably think about the mythical home of the gods from Norse mythology, or maybe you think of the Marvel Comics Asgard, home of Thor. What you probably don’t think of is a new concept that is rapidly turning into a reality. That concept is of a nation based in space, the territory of this nation will be at least one satellite, set to launch next year. While the “territory” is in space, the citizens will be on earth residing in their current countries of residence. Anyone who wishes to be a citizen of Asgardia can be a citizen, even minors (with parental approval), and project leader Igor Ashurbeyli has said that “When the number of those applications goes above 100,000 we can officially apply to the UN for the status of state”, at the time of writing this essay Asgardia has over 500,000 Citizens, including myself. Now you may think “how can it be a nation it doesn’t even have any government”, and you would be right, Asgardia currently has no government, but Asgardia is only a little over a month old, and the founding father, the above mentioned Igor Ashurbeyli, has stated that he will appoint twelve ministers to oversee the building and development of Asgardia until elections can be held, currently set to be held in 2017. Ashurbeyli has also said that he wishes Asgardia to be an opening for discussion on regulations for space, of which there are none at the present time. Another thing that the founding father wishes Asgardia to be, is a shield for all of humanity from any extra planetary threats, those can range from space junk to asteroids, but at this point Ashurbeyli does not know when such a shield can be built and implemented.

Bibliography

will you become a citizen of asgardia the first nation state in space. (2016, October 12). Retrieved from the guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/oct/12/will-you-become-a-citizen-of-asgardia-the-first-nation-state-in-space