“You can be sceptical about space research or very enthusiastic; it doesn’t matter. But we need to have a discussion, as the space sector is seeing enormous growth. We have many crises now: the climate crisis, the political crisis – and in the background, people are exploring space,” says Michael Godhe, docent and associate professor at the Department of Culture and Society.
Why is this discussion needed, from your perspective?
“This is a giant leap for mankind. And I don’t think we can let private initiatives be the leading force. We must bring in government actors, ordinary people and try to democratise this. Who gets to decide what space travel we can do? What kind of communities do we want on Mars once we get there? There’s a lot of debris in space, how should we handle that? There are so many interesting things to explore.”
Graham Minenor-Matheson, PhD student at the Department of Thematic Studies, adds:
“Our role as researchers is to critically examine this, rather than just jump on the hype train towards a future that others decide.”
Billionaire space race
According to him, a lot of research has been done from the social and humanistic perspective, but most of it is about space history.
“We need to look at what future is being painted and what this means for the environment and for people on earth!”
Michael Godhe runs the research area Critical Future Studies and has previously researched space. Graham Minenor-Matheson is a media scientist and is doing his thesis on the billionaire space race, often referred to as “the New Space Race”.
“Academics are always arguing about terminology and there are mixed opinions about whether this is really a new thing new or just a continuation, in a more extended form, of traditional space activities. But the funding structures are different. It’s no longer just a question of government funding; there’s much more risk capital and many more private actors involved.”
It was when Michael Godhe became Graham Minor-Matheson’s assistant supervisor that plans for the research node began to take off. A major reason for this was their involvement in space research, and the rapid developments in this field. They also share a fascination with and interest in space since childhood. Tintin albums and Alien films planted a seed.
“These are serious things, but it’s also a lot of fun! We mustn’t forget that. We have lots of ideas, but we have tried to hold ourselves back and do one thing at a time,” says Michael Godhe.
International conference in Norrköping
The next step is an international conference in Norrköping at the end of November. After a somewhat nervous wait for funding and registration, they are now expecting about 35 participants from different parts of the world. The objective of the conference, in addition to exciting talks and discussions, is to build a broader network in the research area.
“It will be more interdisciplinary than we imagined. We have astrobiologists and experts from many other fields. One of the articles that may be presented is about the discovery that launch sites have actually been built on land belonging to indigenous peoples. The conference contributions span a wide range,” says Michael Godhe. Photographer: Thor Balkhed
Graham Minor-Matheson also has an idea for a scientific journal in the future.
“I love space and what I want to do is to suggest media science studies of space as a research field. It’s a growing area where hundreds of billions of dollars are spent each year, and it’s expected to be trillions in five to ten years. This is crazy and involves many big questions.”
