Astrosociological Insights

I was delighted to be asked to contribute to Astrosociological Insights, the newsletter of the Astrosociological Research Institute, recently. The link at the bottom of this article takes you to a pdf edition of their latest newsletter and my article on Space Law starts on page eight.  The research carried out for this article was part of my work for the study group for the British Interplanetary Society on space settlement.

Astrosociology is according to the ARI a relatively new field, and is defined by them as the study of astrosocial phenomena (i.e., the social, cultural, and behavioural patterns related to outer space). The study of Space Law clearly has a home within this area of research.

This particular edition of Astrosociological Insights focusses on space settlement and my article is entitled, "Competing Future Visions for the Human Expansion into Space as Regularized by Space Law". It is an examination of how recent American legislation, and the attention given to it, compares to the background of Space Law concerned with the exploitation of extraterrestrial resources.  This edition of the newsletter commences with an article from George Zamka, NASA astronaut and veteran of two Space Shuttle missions, on a return to the Moon and also includes an article from the wonderful Al Globus on the minimum size needed for an early space habitat. With other articles on the role of politics and the arts in space settlement, I am very flattered to be included.

An excerpt

To read this newsletter please use this link: http://www.astrosociology.org/library/pdf/newsletters/ARI-Newsletter_Vol-5_iss-1_05-2016.pdf

A visit to the British Interplanetary Society

A video scrapbook of bits and pieces from a visit to the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) in early 2016. My visit was to take part in a conference for the SPACE Project, a study group within BIS re-examining the space colonies studies from the 1970s.

For more information about the British Interplanetary Society, please look at http://www.bis-space.com/

Island Zero Alpha - an animation

Island Zero Alpha is an original space habitat design from the study group on space settlement within the British Interplanetary Society. Assembled and stationed in low Earth orbit, it is 115 metres in radius.  The ring of habitat modules rotates at 2 rpm and this produces a pseudo-gravity of around 0.5g on the floor of the modules.

The idea behind Island Zero Alpha is to move up to larger habitats than the International Space Station and to learn more about the effects of pseudo-gravity on humans in space. The station is expected to have a crew of around fifteen to twenty.

The spiral tunnels leading from the central hub to the habitat modules on the ring are to ensure a graduated transfer from 0g to 0.5g in the habitat modules.  The ring running round the habitat is primarily for emergency access. Please watch in HD if possible.