Anthropological Perspectives on Space Exploration: Possible, Probable, and Desirable Futures

Starting from the idea that humanity will become a multiplanetary civilization in the near future, human existence will inevitably be transplanted into alien environments, radically different from Earth, where numerous social, cultural, and technological reconfigurations will become necessary, challenging the mind and the imagination.

Astronomy and astrophysics have significantly advanced our comprehension of the structures and processes in the Universe, astronautics has influenced everyday life through technologies such as communication satellites, and space engineering has made travel to the Moon possible. What is next? Biologists speculate about the possibility of life beyond Earth, anthropologists discuss what the first human colonies in space will look like, entrepreneurs consider the economic potential of space tourism and asteroid mining, while artists envision utopian or dystopian worlds on other celestial bodies.

By scrutinizing the possible (that may happen), probable (that is likely to happen), and desirable (what we want to happen) futures narratives regarding space exploration, this issue explores how space sciences, social sciences, the arts, and economics incorporate and develop new ideas (through predictions, speculations, hypotheses, scenarios, estimations) about the human presence in space. We therefore welcome contributions from a wide range of fields, including astronomy, physics, cultural studies, history, anthropology, economics, and urban studies. Interdisciplinary approaches are particularly encouraged.

Submissions are welcome on (but not limited to) the following topics:

• exoplanets, habitable zone, and planetary habitability;
• satellites, space tourism, and commercial use of space;
• social and cultural history of astronomy/astronautics;
• space colonies imagined in literature and visual arts;
• astronauts and space awareness in public sphere;
• space architecture, space habitats, and space stations;
• perspectives on human adaptation to space environment.

Submission guidelines: