Asgardia also referred to as the "Space Kingdom of Asgardia" and "Asgardia the Space Nation", maybe a micronation formed by a gaggle of individuals who have launched a satellite into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). They ask themselves as Asgardians and have given their satellite the name Asgardia-1. They have declared sovereignty over the space occupied and contained within Asgardia -1. Asgardians have adopted a constitution and intend to access outer space free of the control of existing nations and to establish a permanent settlement on the Moon by 2043.

The national proposal was announced in October 2016 by Igor Ashurbeyli, founder of the International Aerospace Research Center (Vienna), and by the Chairman of the UNESCO Committee on Space Sciences. Asgardia has not yet reached the goal of being recognized as a state.

Asgardia, the nation state of space | Human World | EarthSky

HOW DOES ASGARDIA WORK?

The Asgardian Constitution divides Asgardia's governance into three branches: (1) a branch called Parliament, (2) an Executive Office of the President called the govt, and (3) a branch called the Court.

(1) Parliament is made up of one hundred and fifty nonpartisan members and each member is known as a Member of Parliament (MP). Members of Parliament elect a member to the office of Speaker of Parliament. Members of Parliament also appoint the President of the Government. Parliament has twelve permanent committees; The Speaker of the Parliament of Asgardia is Mr. Lembit Opik.

(2) The Head of the Nation is the highest-ranking official in the executive branch. The Head of the Nation is elected for a term of 5 years. The Head of the Nation can dissolve Parliament and then can order the holding of parliamentary elections. The Head of the Nation can initiate legislative proposals and can veto acts adopted by Parliament. The Head of the Nation can issue decrees that must be obeyed by government agencies and by the citizens of Asgardia. The head of the nation is Igor Ashurbeyli.

The President of the Government supervises twelve ministers. Each minister oversees the operation of a government ministry. Each of Parliament's standing committees oversees the operation of a Government Ministry. Parliament can invite Ministers to attend Parliament meetings. The Head of Government of Asgardia is Mrs. Ana Díaz.

(3) The judicial branch includes a Supreme Judge, who oversees the operation of four judicial panels: (1) a constitutional panel, (2) a civil panel, (3) an administrative panel, and (4) a criminal panel. The Supreme Justice is appointed by the Chief of the Nation. Judges serving on judicial panels are appointed by Parliament.

The Supreme Judge of Asgardia is Zhao Yun, head of the Law Department of the University of Hong Kong, and he was appointed Supreme Judge of Asgardia on June 24, 2018, during the first parliamentary session in Vienna, where he was introduced to the elected members of the Parliament.

Asgardia - The Space Nation

ITS ACTIVITIES
Asgardia intends to launch a series of satellites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Its first satellite was successfully launched by Orbital ATK on November 12, 2017, as part of an International Space Station resupply mission.

Asgardia-1 was boosted to space then deployed by U.S. companies on a NASA-funded mission; therefore the satellite falls under U.S. jurisdiction. Asgardia intends to partner with a non-signatory to the Space Treaty (OST), perhaps an African state like Ethiopia or Kenya, within the hopes of circumventing the OST’s restriction on states claiming territory in outer space. The satellite is expected to have a lifetime of five years before its orbit decays and it burns up on re-entry.

Often described as a billionaire, Igor Ashurbeyli, Head of Nation, has said that he's currently solely liable for funding Asgardia, which members won't be funding the planned first satellite launch. Although the cost has not been made publicly available, NanoRacks have said that similar projects cost approximately seven hundred thousand American dollars. The project intends to move to crowdfund to finance itself. Sa’id Mosteshar, of the London Institute of Space Policy and Law, says this means that Asgardia lacks a reputable business plan. A company, Asgardia AG, has been incorporated, and members can purchase shares in it. Asgardia wants to enable its founders’ companies to use Asgardia’s satellite network for his or her own services and business activities. These are to be settled via the cryptocurrency Solar and therefore the reserve currency Lunar.

Eventually, Asgardia hopes to possess a colony in orbit. This will be expensive: the International Space Station costs one hundred billion American dollars to build, and flights to it cost over forty million American dollars per launch. Asgardia has been compared to the troubled Mars One project, which aims to establish a permanent colony on Mars, although Asgardia’s organizers point out that setting up a small nation in orbit will be a lot easier than colonizing distant Mars. Other proposed goals for the longer term include shielding the world from asteroids and coronal mass ejections, and a Moonbase.

ITS FUTURE
Both U.N. General Assembly Resolution 1962 (XVIII) and therefore the space Treaty (OST) of 1967 have established all of space as a world commons by describing it because the “province of all mankind” and, as a fundamental of space law, declaring that space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, isn't subject to any national sovereignty claim. Article VI of the space Treaty vests the responsibility for activities in space to States Parties, no matter whether or not they are administered by governments or non-governmental entities. Article VIII enounces that the State Party to the Treaty that launches a space object shall retain jurisdiction and control over that object.

According to Sa’id Mosteshar, “the space Treaty, accepted by everybody, says very clearly that no a part of space is often appropriated by any state”. Without self-governing territory in space where citizens are present, Sa’id Mosteshar suggested that the prospect of any country would recognize Asgardia was slim.

Ram Jakhu, the director of McGill University’s Institute of Air and Space Law, and Asgardia’s jurist believes that Asgardia is going to be ready to fulfill three of the four elements that the U.N. requires when considering if an entity may be a state: citizens; a government; and territory, being an inhabited spacecraft. In that situation, Ram Jakhu considers that fulfilling the fourth element, gaining recognition by the U.N. member states, will be achievable, and Asgardia will then be able to apply for U.N. membership. The Security Council would then have to assess the application, as well as obtain approval from two-thirds of the members of the General Assembly.

Joanne Gabrynowicz, an expert in space law and a professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology’s School of Law, believes that Asgardia will have trouble attaining recognition as a nation. She says there are a variety of entities on Earth whose status as an independent nation is a matter of dispute for an extended time. It is reasonable to expect that the status of an unpopulated object that is not on Earth will be disputed.

Finally, Christopher Newman, an expert in space law at the UK’s University of Sunderland, highlights that Asgardia is trying to achieve a complete re-visitation of the current space-law framework, anticipating that the project will face significant obstacles with getting U.N. recognition and dealing with liability issues. The space Treaty requires the country that sends a mission into space to be liable for the mission, including any damage it'd cause. That is what can be said concerning Asgardia.

Asgardia website