Space in the Age of the Extrusion Policy

The thesis

With all the Earth’s nations extruded into Space, people start to realize things get really complicated. Detailed calculations have to be made to take into account of the astronomical objects’ movements and position, and the gravitational distortion on everything. Who owns what now changes every second.

The project is a critic of the conventional concept of property ownership in the realization of our minute and brief existance. The video below sketches out vignettes from this improbable future world, where everything still hinges on the logic of today’s space exploration.

The Extrusion Policy

“Space shall be governed internationally, with each country responsible for the volume of Space defined by (infinitely) projecting the country’s surface political borders conically from the center of Earth into deep Space.”

– 1st Declaration of The Extrusion Policy (2035)

In the advent of massive Space privatization efforts, the lawlessness of Space is a critical problem that urgently needs attention. Without a clear definition of ownership and access rights, the infinite resources from our Moon and the astroids are in the dubious legal grey zone. The Extrusion Policy proposes a simple “solution” by extending the current political boundaries directly into Space, drawing a basic division of responsibilities that is irrationally arbitrary, but completely familiar.

Some Immediate Consequences of the Extrusion Policy.

1. Ownership is not permanent, but changes with time since the Earth’s relative positions to the other Space bodies are constantly changing.

2. The “universe” map, taking the perspective from Earth, is a traditional world map flipped horizontally. The west coast is now the east coast.

3. Economical impact. “Space Access Havens” may emerge, a parallel of the current tax havens. They are usually small nations that chooses to offer a lower Space Access Fee in order to attract investors to launch missions in their regulatory zones in space. The effect can be seen in the dynamic pricing model of commercial launch services such SpaceLift.

4. Impact on global politics. Space resources are unequally divided. Countries near the equator have obvious advantages such as the Moon and planets of the solar system. While countries closer to the poles may have a share of the infinite resources in neighboring galaxies, there is little in close proximity.

5. Obvious visual disparity between the world nations’ powers, where those with spaceports have a visible advantage.

Conclusion

“…The extrusion policy aims to embrace the intrinsic properties of Space as a geographical location.”

– last Declaration of The Extrusion Policy (2035)

Any law may strive for equality, but it has little meaning when it cannot be enforced. The Extrusion Policy is not a realistic policy because it can not possibly be enforced effectively. No United Nation’s police can reach an asteroid in the far corners of the galaxy in time to stop any crime, and not all Space travel entities has to have a base on Earth.

But by following through with the consequences of the simple speculative law, it is interesting to see some intrinsic properties of the problem about Space emerge - they reside in our definition of ownership. Granted a basic and irreplaceable concept in this world, the human concept of ownership literally has no ground to exist in this vast universe where change is the only constant.