ROOM
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Astronautics
W
hilst it eventually plans to operate a
futuristic Earth orbiting space complex,
Asgardia’s first satellite will store data
for the nation’s newly selected citizens-
up to the first one and a half million people who
adopt the Constitution of Asgardia.
Asgardia-1 will be deployed from Orbital ATK’s
Cygnus OA-8 resupply spacecraft due to launch
this autumn to the International Space Station
(ISS). The nano satellite is 10 x 20 x 20 cm and has
eight batteries and four deployable solar arrays,
and it will orbit at up to 500 km above Earth.
The world’s first space nation announced its first small step towards a
giant leap into the future at a press conference in Hong Kong on 13 June
2017 when a team of international scientists, academics and entrepreneurs
revealed concrete plans for the launch this fall of Asgardia-1, the fledgling
state’s inaugural satellite. The announcement was made by Asgardia’s
Founding Father and Head of Nation, Dr Igor Ashurbeyli, one of the world’s
most distinguished rocket scientists. The satellite launch will mark the first
significant tangible step in the foundation of Asgardia, which is planned to be
independent of any Earth-bound country but subject to international law.
Lena De Winne
NGO Asgardia,
Vienna, Austria
Space nation
set to mark its
presence in orbit
A rotating-wheel space
station alongside an
interplanetary rocket.
James Vaughan/Asgardia
