About us

We are an interdisciplinary working group of scholars exploring the challenges and pressing concerns that the resurgent interest in space exploration, extraterrestrial mining, and potential colonization poses for humankind. The group is primarily composed of researchers who share interests in the speculative, economic, political, and social dimensions of life beyond Earth. 

We are pursuing two main lines of inquiry. The first involves questions around political economy, moral markets, and the legal regimes of outer space. In particular, we are interested in the capacity of current institutions to respond to unprecedented concerns around interplanetary governance and resource management. By extending our analyses to consider the cultural, social, and technological facets of capitalism on a cosmic scale, we also ask where and how the Earth’s inequalities persist in space. Equally, we are interested in exploring how this expansionist trajectory might offer opportunities to rethink ingrained assumptions regarding what a future society is or ought to be. 

The second area of interest centers on the mutually constitutive relationship between technological innovation and speculative thought. Drawing on films, novels, artworks, and design propositions, we probe the links between Sci-Fi and the past, present, and future of space technologies. Rather than mere fables, worldbuilding exercises are treated as valuable simulations that foreshadow emerging issues such as orbital debris, space tourism, and neo-settler colonialism.