Space Expansionism: A Pre-Disaster Legacy in the Making

Abstract

It has been well documented that the impacts and force of European colonialism were built upon the subjugation of Indigenous people and their lands, the consequences of which are both long-enduring and devastating. Yet the same logics and discourse continue to be employed around the potential benefits of space expansionism – both economic and military – and contribute to the rationale offered to justify the conquest of outer space. Space expansionism relies on imperial claims over resources, involves activities that subjugate marginalized peoples, contributes to the growing climate catastrophe and exacerbates existing inequalities where spacefaring countries – the most powerful states on Earth – are engaged in efforts to not only consolidate power but to emerge as the dominant military and economic force, often at the expense of local and/or Indigenous populations. Here, drawing from post-colonial studies and politics of exclusion, we examine the inherent harms to the colonial mission of the space industry as a capitalist-colonial project and demonstrate how the same colonial logics of old are being used to justify state and private expansionism into space.