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The Auroral Black Brant XII rocket, launched from Andøya, carries instruments used to observe the northern lights and the associated flow of heat, particles and electromagnetic energy.
The Auroral Black Brant XII rocket, launched from Andøya, carries instruments used to observe the northern lights and the associated flow of heat, particles and electromagnetic energy.Photo: NASA Earth Observatory (cc-by-2.0.)

What consequences does the development of space infrastructures in the High North have for the Arctic region?

2023 - 2026

Research Council of Norway

News

  • Background and objectives

    Over the last decade, a rapidly increasing number of public and private actors are seeking a place in the exclusive ‘space club’. Private bodies and states - including the Nordic countries - are developing launch sites in the Arctic region.

    The development of the space sector has historically been only of marginal interest to countries in the High North. The increasing political focus and economic inputs into the sector therefore mark a strategic shift that brings potential ramifications for governance, sustainable development, and security.

    There is currently little understanding of how the development of space infrastructures in the High North affects security and environmental politics and practices, and what the consequences are for the Arctic region. The NordSpace project will address this knowledge gap.

    Researchers will systematically study the intersection of space activities with environmental and security politics in three lesser-known space nations in the Nordic region: Norway, Sweden, and Iceland.

    An interdisciplinary team of researchers will combine qualitative network analysis, ethnographic and visual methods, as well as discourse analysis to provide nuanced empirical knowledge on the economic activities, governance frameworks, and ambitions of the three countries in the context of their attempts to gain global recognition as spacefaring nations. The impacts of these activities on geopolitical constellations and on local environments in the Arctic region will be analyzed.

  • Work packages

    NordSpace investigates how space infrastructures affect security and environmental practices and politics in the Arctic, and the impacts on local communities in the High North. The economics and development of space industries in Norway, Sweden and Iceland will be investigated. This will include the development of national space laws, their connection to international law, and how they are linked to Nordic regional cooperation. There is a particular focus on the satellite launch sites in Andøya (Norway), Esrange/Kiruna (Sweden), and Langanes Peninsula (Iceland), all of which are situated above the Arctic Circle.

    • Work Package 1: Nordic Space Infrastructures

      Maps the economic structures, actors, and governance frameworks of space-related activities. For that purpose, the project will compile data on the involvement of private companies, public institutions, and international organizations drawing on sources and documents from industry and institutions. It will map legal governance frameworks that support space activities such as national space laws and their relation to international law, science and technology policies and space strategies in the three countries, and the involvement of public and private actors.
    • Work Package 2: Status and National Identities

      Examines how discourses, strategies, and policies constitute and re-arrange status and identities. It studies how Norway, Sweden, and Iceland seek status and recognition through their space activities in the Arctic and how they construct narratives of national identity that fit (or not) with their environmental and security ambitions. This WP examines the discursive construction of space activities as status symbols and document efforts to embed them within national and regional Arctic identities. On a micro-level, the project investigates how national status narratives manifest, are reproduced and/or potentially resisted in the Arctic communities where space activities are undertaken.
    • Work Package 3: Future Imaginaries

      Identifies future imaginaries among actors involved in space activities and explores how they manifest and shape space activities in the High North. This WP will identify and analyze imaginaries across the three case studies and explore what kind of dystopian or utopian visions are mobilized, what ideas of modernity and progress are visible, how human-earth relationships, the limits of earth’s ecological system, and future security threats are narrated. This way, we aim to understand how future imaginaries of Nordic space activities correspond to local realities, and how they inform how space activities are experienced and influence the perception of environmental limits and security threats in the region.
  • Participants and partners

    NMBU participants

    External partners

    Adam Fishwick

    Adam Fishwick

    University of Akureyri (Iceland)

    • International political economy
    • Development studies
    • Labour Studies
    Alla Pozdnakova

    Alla Pozdnakova

    University of Oslo (Norway)

    • International law
    • Space law
    • EU/EEA law
    Ayşem Mert

    Ayşem Mert

    Stockholm University (Sweden)

    • Environmental politics
    • Environmental governance
    • Democracy and environment
    • Sustainability partnerships
    Laura Horn

    Laura Horn

    Roskilde University (Denmark)

    • Political economy
    • Institutions and change
    • Corporate governance
    • Science fiction/future imaginaries
    Ola Svenonius

    Ola Svenonius

    Swedish Defence Research Agency

    • International security
    • Surveillance
    • Information influence
    • Hybrid threats
  • Events
    Participants of the NMBU-led project NordSpace at the start-up meeting, 26-27 February 2024 in Ås, Norway.

    NordSpace start-up meeting
    26-27 February 2024, Ås

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