FutureSpace & Friends
To kick off 2025 with new ideas, projects and collaborations, our brilliant colleagues Darshan Vigneswaran and Enrike van Wingerden (University of Amsterdam / Uni Rotterdam) visited us in Vienna for a wonderful workshop, in which we explored outer space futures, infrastructures, and Earth-Space governance together.
How do (planned) infrastructures, from European launchers to the LunarGateway, shape our visions for space exploration? What political dynamics and norms underpin the governance of outer space? What controversies surround spaceports and environmental activism? How can we shape our preferred futures in outer space through ideas, desires and narratives? How can a fundamental understanding of time, space and matter contribute to these futures?
A few years ago, these conversations might have seemed niche or “nerdy,” but today they feel more urgent than ever. Let’s keep driving these discussions forward—because space isn’t just about rockets and satellites. It’s about who we are, where we’re going (and why), the kind of future we want to build together—and who this “we” includes.
Coming from an international relations background, our guest’s visit reminded us, why interdisciplinary conversations are so crucial for understanding the complexities of Earth-Space relations—and how much fun they can be!