A Russian engineer founds Asgardia, a country in space that in autumn will lay its first stone with the launch of a satellite.

Asgardia is not yet officially a nation, but it aspires to be. If it sounds to you to have read this phrase before, but headed by some other proper name, and even if you are tired of reading it, do not fear; Asgardia does not intend to rip a piece of its territory from any existing country, but to create it where it does not exist: over our heads, in the Earth's orbit.

Another micronation-business, like Sealand, the offshore platform off the coast of Great Britain? Or, on the contrary, another utopia like the Free City of Christiania, the self-proclaimed independent district of Copenhagen? Asgardia seems to have more of the latter. At least both its motto, A Humanity, A Unity, and its first steps seem cut off more by the idealistic pattern than by the profit motive. What differentiates Asgardia from other proposals is that it aspires to become the first extraterrestrial nation, whose first stone will be laid next fall with the launch of a tiny satellite; An idea that has already seduced more than half a million earthlings eager to become Asgardians.

Asgardia is the creature of Igor Ashurbeyli, a Russian engineer, scientist and entrepreneur born in Azerbaijan who accumulates an extensive curriculum related to technology and space, which has earned him distinctions of Unesco and the Russian state, among others. On October 12, 2016, at a press conference in Paris, Ashurbeyli announced the foundation of Asgardia, a project which also involved a small group of space-related characters and was presented with the purpose of serving as "a Cutting-edge protective shield against cosmic threats to life on Earth, man-made or natural, such as space debris, coronal mass ejections, and collisions of asteroids. "

The country takes its name from Asgard, a kingdom of Norse mythology where Valhalla, the paradise of warriors fallen in combat. With the launch of the Asgardia web page and Twitter account last October, Ashurbeyli announced that the first 100,000 applicants would immediately receive Asgardian citizenship; Of course, without losing his own. But the public response far surpassed expectations, covering the quota in less than two days and quintupling in less than three weeks.

A country without political parties

On June 13, Ashurbeyli held a new press conference in Hong Kong in which he reviewed the progress of the project since his previous appearance. In January of this year, the founder of Asgardia promulgated his first decree in which he was erected as head of the nation with the vote of more than 150,000 Asgardians, with a self-limited term to five years. In March, the draft Constitution was published, which defines the Space Kingdom of Asgardia as "the first independent, free, unitary and social, transethnic and secular space nation based on morality, justice, peace and the equal dignity of all Human beings, and who looks to the future and to the infinite universe. "

In his statement to the media, Ashurbeyli announced an upcoming election to form a government and parliament over the next six months. A refreshing novelty is that, according to its Constitution, "Asgardia does not have place for the political parties". The government will be composed of 12 ministerial portfolios, one of them dedicated to science, which will be one of the engines of Asgardian society. In the months that will follow, the judicial organs will also begin to function, while the financial system will be put into operation, with the Solar as a virtual currency. The flag, the shield and the anthem are finished voting these days, a process in which the more than 240,000 asgardians already verified can participate; At the time of writing, Spain contributed 5,745, being the eighth country in population of Asgardians.

For its future location in space orbiting the Earth, a peculiarity of Asgardia is that it will use its own calendar, inaugurated last January 1st with the first Asgardian year. Each year is divided into 13 months, all with a duration of 28 days, four weeks just. The additional month, Asgard, is intercalated between June and July. This makes a total of 364 days; December 31 is not assigned to any month, being a national holiday called Year Day. Thus, every year and every month begins on Sunday, and all dates fall every year on the same day of the week. The system is based on the International Fixed Calendar, devised by the British Moses Cotsworth in 1902 and has had fervent advocates: Kodak founder George Eastman maintained him as an officer in his company from 1928 to 1989.

Asgardia-1, the first stone

Also at the recent press conference, Ashurbeyli announced the takeoff next September 12 of what will be the first Asgardian territory, a satellite called Asgardia-1, which will be launched using an unmanned mission to bring supplies to the International Space Station. The device will be a CubeSat, a type of format of tiny satellites with cube shape of 10 centimeters of side, according to the system coined in 1999 by the Spanish Jordi Puig-Suari, of the State Polytechnic University of California. The Asgardia-1 will be formed by two units CubeSat, with a total size of 10x10x20 centimeters and almost three kilos of weight.

The purpose of Asgardia-1 will be to establish the first presence of the Asgardians in space, though only digital. The satellite will carry a 512GB solid-state memory drive in which data and files supplied by the Asgardians will be recorded. According to the rules established by Ashurbeyli, the first 100,000 citizens of Asgardia who have accepted the Constitution will each have 500 KB. The next 400,000 can use 200 KB, and the next million will have a space of 100 KB, all for free. The data of the disk can be updated from Earth via radio.

"These are historical days, and your names and data will remain forever in the memory of the new humanity of space, as they will be reinstalled on every successive satellite of Asgardia, constellations of orbiting satellites, on the Moon and anywhere in the Universe; Wherever Asgardia is, "Ashurbeyli told the press conference.

At the moment, Asgardia aspires to obtain the recognition of the UN, and even of the International Olympic Committee. Later on, their promoters dream of creating "habitable space platforms" and shields that protect Earth's inhabitants from threats. Take wherever this project is carried out, there is something that is clear today: "Asgardia is a meritocracy: people who volunteer to work more and accept more responsibilities will have the Opportunity to ascend. " And this, today, yes it is extraterrestrial.