Asgardia is set to be the first international space nation that will soon begin its construction. It has attracted fascination from Indonesians that are interested in enlisting as a citizen. This Argadia was initiated by Dr. Igor Ashurbeyli. According to Igor, the first ever space nation – a global, unifying and humanitarian project. The project's concept comprises three parts – philosophical, legal and scientific/technological.
In ancient Norse mythology, Asgard was a city in the skies, the country of the Gods. It is the realization of man's eternal dream to leave his cradle on Earth and expand into the Universe.
Asgardia's philosophical envelope is to ‘digitalise’ the Noosphere, creating a mirror of humanity in space but without Earthly division into states, religions, and nations. In Asgardia everyone is just Earthling!
Asgardia, officially known as the Space Kingdom of Asgardia, is a proposal for a nation announced on 12 October 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 access outer space free of the control of existing nations and to be recognized as a nation state.
The ultimate aim of the project is to create a new nation that allows access to outer space free of the control of existing nations. The current space law framework, the Outer Space Treaty requires governments to authorize 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.
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 210,000 in June 2017. There is no intention to actually move these members into space. Asgardia intends to apply for membership of the UN in 2018.
Here is all you need to know about Asgardia:
- As of July 3, 2017 over 2,50,000 people have registered to become a part of Asgardia
- More than 55,000 have become citizens by accepting the Constitution
- Almost 7,000 people have uploaded their files to the Asgardia-1 satellite, and 4,242 are participating in the leadership elections
- With almost 250,000 people registered for Asgardia, the nation-state's population has now jumped to 183rd among the countries of the world
- Asgardia's population has recently surpassed that of Mayotte, Samoa, and Saint Lucia
- The leading countries of origin, according to Asgardia, are Turkey, China, the United States, Brazil, and Italy, respectively
- Almost 60,000 people have already ratified the Constitution, which allows them to proceed to uploading a file to Asgardia-1 and sending it to space, where it will stay forever
- The Asgardia-1 satellite has been safely delivered to Nanoracks, a Webster, Texas-based provider of commercial hardware and services for the U.S. National Laboratory on-board the International Space Station
- It is currently securely stored under five locks in a facility with surveillance and a monitored alarm system
- NASA-mandated tests have been successfully conducted to ensure the satellite's safety
- Asgardia's batteries and power systems were tested; it passed a vibration test, which simulates vibration during launch
- It also passed the vacuum chamber test, which ensures that the satellite survives in the vacuum of space
Until end of July 2017, according to Vivanews.com, over 13,000 Indonesians have enlisted as the citizen of Asgardia, making it the 4th largest country of origin after Turkey, China, and United States. The total citizen of Asgardia is said to have exceeded half of million.
Questions linger over the reason behind so many Indonesians enlisting into this utopic space station. According to Lealdo Ayubi Raditchu, a student from Banten, Indonesia, as quoted by Jawa Pos, he enlisted himself to become the citizen of Asgardia because of several reasons. " I know well that we need many more decades before space colony can be made into reality. I really like the idea, the vision of the founder" he said. "I have no idea what life in space colony like. All i know is that Asgardia concept was well-founded, for world peace. Nothing more virtue that that" he added.
Asgardia intends to launch a series of satellites into orbit and has announced that the first will be delivered to space by Orbital ATK in September 2017 as part of an International Space Station resupply mission. It will be a CubeSat measuring 10x10x20cm at a weight of 2.8kg, will be manufactured and deployed into orbit by NanoRacks, and has been named Asgardia-1.
The nanosatellite will be a file storage device pre-loaded with things like family photos supplied by the first 1,500,000 members, with subsequent data being uploaded or downloaded using the Globalstar satellite network.
Source and reference :
Jawa Pos | Liputan6 | Viva News | Tempo | Space Oddity | Science Mag | Business Insider |
