Since the dawn of time
humankind has strived to reach into the unknown,
to achieve the impossible and to do the unthinkable.

People have populated all of planet Earth, explored every corner and flown into the
atmosphere and beyond. Travel to other planets will occur in the foreseeable future.
It is thanks to the inquisitive nature of past generations that humanity has continually evolved.

And yet the science which allows such marvelous
advances is not always a priority for society at large.
Economical and political considerations often take precedence over purely scientific
ones and ethical boundaries are considered necessary to sustain safety.

Modern evolution and intellectual progress can best serve the humanity when decisions
are taken primarily on a scientific basis. In the future our children and grandchildren will
take for granted what for us is unimaginable.

Asgardia will demonstrate to scientists throughout the world that independent,
private and unrestricted research is possible. Its first prototype satellite is planned for
launch in 2017-2018.

Asgardia - named in honour of
an ancient mythological city in the skies - will offer an independent platform
free from the constraint of a land-based country’s laws.
It will become a place it in orbit which is truly ‘no man's land’. Welcome to Asgardia!

The project's concept comprises three parts – philosophical, legal and scientific/technological. And it's hard to say which of these is more important.

1. The project's philosophy starts at selecting the name for this new country – Asgardia. In ancient Norse mythology, Asgard was a city in the skies, the country of the Gods. It is the realisation of man's eternal dream to leave his cradle on Earth and expand into the Universe.

Asgardia is a fully-fledged and independent nation, and a future member of the United Nations - with all the attributes this status entails: a government and embassies, a flag, a national anthem and insignia, and so on.

The essence of Asgardia is Peace in Space, and the prevention of Earth’s conflicts being transferred into space.

Asgardia is also unique from a philosophical aspect – to serve entire humanity and each and everyone, regardless of his or her personal welfare and the prosperity of the country where they happened to be born.

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 we are all just Earthlings!

2. Asgardia's legal aspects.

Today, many of the problems relating to space law are unresolved and may never be solved in the complex and contradictory dark woods of modern international law. Geopolitical squabbles have a great influence, and are often rooted in the old military history and unresolvable conflicts of countries on Earth. It is time to create a new judicial reality in space.

It is of crucial importance that space law does not become the law of the jungle. Today, only 20 countries on Earth out of about 200 have a space presence, and have, for example, plans to mine in space and lay claim to exclusivity and monopoly. We feel that this is not permissible. New space law has to equally protect the interests of every human being on Earth.

It means protecting individuals and countries (particularly developing nations) from space threats as well as delivering the benefits of using space for creating new goods and services, and financial resources.

The question of Asgardia citizenship is also essential. After Asgardia is recognised as a member of the UN, the question of reasons for granting citizenship will inevitably arise. One opinion is that the first Asgardians will be those who work in the fields of space research and exploration, and space technology, as well as investors in these fields, including small investors.

Of course, special preference will be given to the first hundred thousand people who apply prior to the launch of the first satellite - and all the typical citizenship procedures that are used on Earth will be followed. This does not mean Asgardian citizenship will not be available to all people on Earth, regardless of their earthly jurisdiction.

A core legal principle is that Asgardia does not interfere in relations between states on Earth – and vice versa.

Asgardia's legal envelope includes the creation of a new legal platform for the exploration of near-Earth and deep space. ‘Universal space law’ and ‘astropolitics’ have to replace international space law and geopolitics.

3. The scientific and technological component of the project can be explained in just three words – peace, access and protection.

These are the three most important scientific and technological goals of Asgardia.

First, is to ensure the peaceful use of space.

The second is to protect planet Earth from space threats. There are seven threats in our classification system: sun storms and flares, known as coronal mass ejections; changes in Earth's magnetosphere that destroy the effective protective layer of our planet; potentially dangerous asteroids and comets; man-made orbital debris; changes in the climate stemming from technogenic factors and sun radiation; cosmic radiation from nuclear reactions in novae, supernovae and pulsars; and the danger of Earth infection by microorganisms from meteors and other small celestial bodies.

The third goal is to create a demilitarized and free scientific base of knowledge in space. This will provide free access to all, especially those from developing countries who do not have space access now. And such access should be free and direct.

We see Asgardia's technical structure in three segments:

one or several core satellites
clusters of network-centric small satellites
protective space platform
We are not going to talk about technical aspects and details today. It is not because we have nothing to say. It is because we want the widest participation in this open project – participation from all interested scientists and companies, without limiting them by our own vision of the technological side of things at the moment.

The scientific and technological envelope of Asgardia is a space arena for the scientific creativity of its citizens and companies in developing a broad range of future space technologies, products and services for humanity on Earth and humanity in Space.

Therefore, Asgardia is a sort of a matryoshka, made of philosophy, law and technology. Whatever else is hidden inside is something we will discover in the near future.

I would now like to say a few words on economics.

The thing is, we are not selling pieces of land on the Moon or water in Antarctica. We're actually not selling anything at all at the moment. Only after we have proven this idea with a confirmed launch of an equipped satellite may we begin talking about Asgardia's budgets.

Right now, work on the project is funded entirely from our personal private funds. It's a clear-cut decision. We have now declared our concept and philosophy publicly and would like as many people as possible on the planet to find out about it.

And of course we are going to make use of crowd funding and sourcing, and private donations. And we welcome cooperation with new partners and investors.

Asgardia’s technical, legal and philosophical team is in the process of being set up Is it pioneering, futuristic and visionary - or madness? Call it what you will, and time will tell.

Space Andrew Ryan wrote:

Asgardia will demonstrate to scientists throughout the world that independent,
private and unrestricted research is possible. Its first prototype satellite is planned for
launch in 2017-2018.