Afterlives of Orbital Infrastructure

Essay, expanding design practices, New Geographies 11: Extraterrestrial, No Density, Rajji Desai, Technology and fabrication

Built environment, Circulation, Commercial infrastructure, Cultural agitator, Earth, Emergent technologies, Environmental, Essay, Extraterrestrial, Extreme environments, Geospatial, Human footprint, Infrastructure, Knowledge, New technologies, Operative Infrastructure, Political & Economic Approach, Public vs. Private, Space, USA, Waste management

This essay is an excerpt of New Geographies 11: Extraterrestrial by Jeffrey S. Nesbit and Guy Trangoš -- https://lccn.loc.gov/2019954925

As of 2019, the global space industry generates approximately 350 billion U.S. dollars in revenue and is estimated to become a 1.1 trillion-dollar industry by the year 2040, with over 500 satellites being launched into Earth’s orbit every year.[1] Until recently, national governments had a de facto monopoly on orbital space, using it to exercise military prowess and exert hegemonic dominance in the international political sphere. While such ways of looking at orbital space continue to be dominant within public consciousness, this way of understanding orbital space and its primary actors has become outmoded. More recently, extraterrestrial activities have taken on new, more commodified dimensions, with this decade’s leading projects being spearheaded by corporate actors from the private sector.