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Asgardia Becomes the First Nation Deployed in Space (cnet.com)
An anonymous reader quotes CNET:
An Orbital ATK Antares rocket carrying a cubesat named Asgardia-1 launched from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia early Sunday. The milk carton-sized satellite makes up the entirety of territory of the self-proclaimed "Space Kingdom" of Asgardia... Over 300,000 people signed up online to become "citizens" of the nation over the last year. The main privilege of citizenship so far involves the right to upload data to Asgardia-1 for safekeeping in orbit, seemingly far away from the pesky governments and laws of Earth-bound countries...
As of now, Asgardia's statehood isn't acknowledged by any other actual countries or the United Nations, and it doesn't really even fit the definition of a nation since it's not possible for a human to physically live in Asgardia. Not yet, at least. The long-term vision for Asgardia includes human settlements in space, on the moon and perhaps even more distant colonies.
On Tuesday Orbital ATK's spacecraft will dock with the International Space Station for a one-month re-supply mission -- then blast higher into orbit to deploy the space kingdom's satellite. "Asgardia space kingdom has now established its sovereign territory in space," read an online statement.
Next the space kingdom plans to hold elections for 150 Members of Parliament.
As of now, Asgardia's statehood isn't acknowledged by any other actual countries or the United Nations, and it doesn't really even fit the definition of a nation since it's not possible for a human to physically live in Asgardia. Not yet, at least. The long-term vision for Asgardia includes human settlements in space, on the moon and perhaps even more distant colonies.
On Tuesday Orbital ATK's spacecraft will dock with the International Space Station for a one-month re-supply mission -- then blast higher into orbit to deploy the space kingdom's satellite. "Asgardia space kingdom has now established its sovereign territory in space," read an online statement.
Next the space kingdom plans to hold elections for 150 Members of Parliament.
... all republicans to become assguardians...
NT
HIGHLIGHTS from the Terms of service at https://asgardia.space/en/page/terms-of-service
"All disputes regarding these Terms of Service, with the exception of copyright claims, will be settled by arbitration in Austria, under its laws."
Presumably a NASA facility will not launch unregistered spacecraft...
The Pirate Bay had little luck trying to base their data out of Sealand, maybe they'll try again... IN SPAAAAACE!
I'd like to see the MAFIAA try to get their cronies to raid a satellite.
I expect that the nationality of the owner would determine the jurisdiction for crimes done involving storing data on the satellite, with a similar situation to Pitcairn Island.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
Yes i am. It's just fun, total bullshit, but a good idea, if it is fine right
As I recall, didn’t the Asgard commit mass suicide?
#DeleteChrome
Now if it isn't recognized officially could you still get elected to the parliament or would the federal court consider this dual citizenship as 300,000 people have declared themselves citizens of Asgardia
Your'e all thinking it, I just said it for you
Customer service rep to customer: "Yep, your data is in orbit. Really. It's totally up there, and not just on our ground-based server. Have a nice day!"
*click*
Customer service rep to co-worker "How dare he accuse us of not actually launching an exabyte hard drive into space!"
Next thing we know their entire population will all be mining asteroids and will be so sensitive to gravity that their bones will crack on Earth. No thanks. Call me when there is nation on Mars.
So the first nation isn't a nation by any definition yet here we are...
Fuck Slashdot
The world we live in is under attack by a bunch of cultist savages who sliced off people's neck in the name of their moon-god
Instead of fixing this problem those assholes are dreaming of having a nation in space ?
How stupid can they be?
At least their colony-drop will be mostly harmless.
How could they also achieve space tax heavens? Simply assign a value of a certain weight of land held gold to the space craft then like bit coin issues trade it in units that can be exchanged without government oversight essentially a unit based barter system for the very rich members who buy into the schemes. Essentially a new gold standard of exchange overstepping the US Fed and becoming a viable and stable means of exchange exclusively for the very rich.
This message was not sent from an iPhone because Peter Sellers really was a deviated prevert without a dime for the call
Give me a call when you realize that My Little Pony is not a documentary.
Why is Snark Required?
Are these guys looking for tax evasion, ah?
The Stargate SG-1 race, yes. I saw another Asgard get blown up by Surtr last week.
By declaring yourself a country you recognize the legitimacy of a ruling class.
The real solution of our problems can come when we can get people to give up on the belief in statism.
Which has no moral validity. Nor does it solve any problem.
It's sad that even people who woke up from the fairy tale of religion still believe in the fairy tale of governments.
Thank you, Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and so many others, for courageously defending humanity, my freedom and more!
and Linus says
https://regmedia.co.uk/2015/07...
Asgard is the home of the gods in Norse mythology. Not sure where you got the suicide part from. Maybe words have a larger meaning to other people outside the tiny world your brain inhabits? Food for thought.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
I did not understand - what is the domain extension?
That's called a joke, son.
Also, Asgard on Stargate.
How high are tax rates in Asgardia on Intellectual Property Rights? Do Mossack Fonseca or Appleby have a dependancy there?
You forgot to take your meds, didn't you?
I think the timing is about spot of for this to be forward thinking to be not too forward thinking. The new space race is on. This time it's not just governments. Commercial interests are bent on getting people off of the planet. Between low earth orbit trips and colonizing Mars, capitalism and new enabling technologies may just be what our species needs to make up for the last 50 years of not doing much and even race past where we should already be. Human space flight has always been about politics first. I am not sure that we would have yet put people in space at all, let alone on the moon if there had not been political interests. The size of a milk carton be damned. That people can come together announce this crazy idea while also be able to launch a satellite at all is remarkable. Look at how we are taking it for granted. That in itself makes it all the incredible. So when you combine the new and newly realized commercial interests in put people in space and keeping them there combined with the new political interests prompting the governments of the world to race to the moon and stake a claim while they can, we may just be seeing the beginning of humanities future in space that should have already been realized. We just might yet survive ourselves after all
I just woke up and this could have been written better. But you get the idea.
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
The SOC (Secretary of Communications) of Asgardia stated that they support Catalonia independence, and respect the will of the people to decide their leaders and governance democratically. Also up here there are lots of space free for everyone to establish and you are welcome too to make a free orbiting Catalonia.
Because it's a dumb fucking idea...
Is Kaplan (of FuckedCompany fame) the leader of Asgardia? Sounds like one of his concoctions.
Asgard is not a place, it's a people.
All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
Can we fit on a satellite and launch into space? There's only one way to know: let's make an experiment using our existing elected representatives!
(that kinds of reminds me of the middle age debate about how many angels can fit on a needle's head... hehe)
Asgard is not a place, it's a people.
Actually it is a place in Norse Mythology. Its the world where the Norse gods lived, hence Stargate used it for the Asgardians (note they were mostly named after gods in Norse mythology). Midgard was the term for Earth if you were interested.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Yup, it worked great in Somalia.
It's not possible for humans to live in France either.
The first step toward making Expelled From Paradise a reality.
I call dibs on Angela Balzac.
#DeleteFacebook
If I hack into the satellite and take over control, does that make me the ruler of Asgardia?
Just upload and run OpenSIM and give accounts to the 300,000 people that signed up.
Could I upload one of my Second Life avatars to live there as a citizen?
E Proelio Veritas.
Maybe you should stop crying about crooked Hillary all the time. She's not president.
The Outer Space Treaty doesn't define where space begins... why wouldn't such an important thing be defined in an international treaty that supposedly puts a lid on every country's airspace?
Space is fake. The Earth is flat.
What makes this country better then all the others?
"Set a man a fire, he'll be warm for the rest of the night. Set a man afire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
"My God, It's full of porn!"
Table-ized A.I.
The name seems picked by a 4th years old fascinated by the Thor movies or a StarGate fan or a white supremacist, really, Assgardia? (Sorry, I can't believe more people haven't done that joke).
I remember that from time to time someone keeps making its own country (there is always somenoe that wants to ,make the new Caiman Island, Switzerland or Germany) and after a while things start going not that well.
Perhaps you should go see the new Thor movie.
How can we be expected to have people colonize here if they can't even fit inside the nation? I don't wanna hear your excuses! The building has to be at least three times bigger than this!
At ISS altitude, the "nation" will only last a couple of years before atmospheric drag brings it down.
I have to imagine that this Asgard project predates Thor: Ragnarok, but it is fitting that the physical land of Asgard is now gone, and what we have left is spaceship Asgard, new home to the Asgardians.
SPOILER ALERT!!! Oh wait...you already read that, didn't you?
Sorry, but "Asgardia" sounds like something itchy you treat with a cream or lotion. :-)
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
No. Most of the Asgard became enlightened, and "Ascended" to another more advanced form of existence. Those who remained were the ones at an evolutionary dead end because they had altered their DNA too much for them to Ascend; and furthermore they also could no longer reproduce, and were all going to die from the DNA problems. Most of them elected to destroy their outposts to prevent the technology from falling into evil hands and causing a horrible legacy. They blew up their main remaining planet. But it was only "suicide" in the sense of shutting off a life support machine; they were dying and were beyond any hope. Most of them had already Ascended successfully, though. And some lived on.
From that link that you spammed without reading:
If you failed to achieve a mutually agreed effort for a joke to be understood, then it wasn't even a joke; it was only a failed attempt at humor.
"Thor: Ragnarok" does suggest catastrophic changes to anyone halfway familiar with the mythology.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes