SPACE — On Oct. 12, the citizens of Earth got one step closer to ditching the planet for a better way of life after a Russian businessman and scientist announced his plan to create humanity’s very first space nation, Asgardia. <br /> <br />That is, if you believe Igor Ashurbeyli, chairman of UNESCO's Science of Space committee and founder of the Aerospace International Research Center. <br /> <br />Asgardia is named after Asgard, home of the gods ancient Norse mythology. Asgardia has several philosophical aims, one being to cultivate peace in space, creating a home for humanity free of Earth’s conflicts. Another stated purpose of Asgardia is to shield the Earth from space threats, such as asteroids, sun flares and man-made debris. Asgardia will also supposedly be a safe space for scientists to conduct private and unrestricted research, free from the constraint of a land-based country’s laws. <br /> <br />Ashurbeyli and his team would like to offer everyone access to space, regardless of where they come from. All a person has to do is fill out an online application form on the Asgardia website. The form requires only an applicant’s name and email, and immediately they become a full-fledged “Asgardian.” Once at least 100,000 people register to become citizens of Asgardia, Ashurbeyli says it will be eligible to become a member of the United Nations. <br /> <br />So far, the funding of Asgardia is through private, personal financiers. Crowd-sourcing campaigns will also be set up to pursue the project, and early plans are for a satellite to be sent into orbit in October 2017.
