Transplanetary Ecologies Reading Group

Continuous human presence in Low Earth Orbit, increasing expansion of techno-scientific infrastructures beyond Earth, and the extractivist ambitions of the commercial 'New Space' sector call for a reconsideration of the conventional analytical frameworks used to describe emergent (extra)terrestrial political, ecological, and social processes. The Transplanetary Ecologies reading group will interrogate this emerging paradigm, asking questions such as: how do the various infrastructures of space science exact their own ecological tolls? How do contemporary configurations of (neo)colonial power, engendered by progress-oriented visions of contemporary space industries, shape our understanding of extraterrestrial environments? What forms of (trans)planetary ecologies are needed to account for the imaginaries, materialities and entanglements brought about by space science? What do increasing calls for space sustainability mean in practice? 

Over the academic year 2023/2024 we will gather to discuss these questions and more. Our reading group is open to all, irrespective of your level of space related knowledge! 

Our next session will take place on zoom on Wednesday, 22nd November 2023 at 4pm UTC/GMT. Our text this month will be “From Sealab to Skylab: Inhabiting Extremes” chapter 6 in Undersea Geopolitics: Sealab, Science and the Cold War by Rachael Squire. 

We are extra excited to announce that Rachael will be joining us for this discussion. 

Optional additional reading: Starfarers by Vonda N McIntyre [first chapter] (1989) -- feminist science fiction bringing together underwater and outer space research.

Please email the reading group conveners Makar: makar.tereshin.21@ucl.ac.uk and Rachel: rachel.hill.21@ucl.ac.uk for assistance in locating a copy of Squire’s chapter and for the zoom link.