Space wars: Who speaks for Earth?

As space science matures and accelerates, the time has come for a democratically accountable UN to moderate human activity beyond Earth.

In his best-selling book Cosmos astronomer Carl Sagan asks: “Who speaks for Earth?” As humanity continues to explore the universe, a UN space agency could provide much stronger international oversight of space activities than the relatively weak treaty regime under which spacefaring nations currently operate.

Sagan’s question is essentially political:which country, which body, which agreement represents our planet as a whole as humanity moves out into space? In the early years of the space age, the underlying geopolitical context was shaped by Cold War competition. This political contest drove technical triumphs such as the flight of Russian Yuri Gagarin in 1961 and the landing of US astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin on the moon just eight years later. Many scientific benefits resulted from this early period of competition, especially from the Apollo program. However, international competition is essentially a negative geopolitical driver for space exploration.