Course Syllabus

Draft syllabus

Semester & Location:	Fall 2026 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:	Core Course
Study Tours:	Kiruna, Artic Sweden + Stockholm Island of Hven, Sweeden
Major Disciplines:	Sustainability, International Relations, Ethics
Prerequsites:	None
Lecturer	Vibeke Schou Tjalve; please use the Canvas email.
Time & Place:

 

Course Description

Humans have always been starbound, weaving tales of the universe and the patterns of the night sky around us. Once a distant realm of the sacred though, space is now a place we can reach and travel: a frontier, a market, a research laboratory and potential industrial zone, whose opportunities - satellites, data, minerals, power, planets - not only national, but commercial actors want part of.

 

In this course, we unpack the history and future of this complex geopolitical development. We explore the new space technologies - robotics, quantum physics, re-usable rockets - and the private actors that produce them. We unpack why satellite data, asteroid mining, or atmosphere geo-engineering, have become crucial parts of the new sustainability agenda, promising ‘green growth’, but also repeating logics of extraction and harboring new ecological risks. We look at states, and at the emerging battle over 'digital sovereignty' between them – and we look at the tech-titans, whose commercial monopolies and grand civilizational ideas, push much of the current space race forward. Above all, we dive into some of the most obvious places - Texas, California, Kiruna in Artic Sweden- where a clash between local and global, national and commercial, indigenous and industrial stakeholders take place. Finally, we unpack the ideas, religions and mythologies that surround human perceptions of the universe and the not just legal, but profoundly ethical - even existential - choices that will surround human expansion beyond Earth in the future.

Our Long Study Tour Goes to Kiruna, Artic Sweden. 

 

Faculty

Vibeke Schou Tjalve

Vibeke holds a Ph.D. in International Relations and Political Theory (2005) from the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen. She is the author of a very wide range of research articles, book chapters, books and policy reports on the ideas that inform European and American approaches to war, democracy, technology and ecology. In her most recent research, she explores the political ideas and geopolitical impact of Silicon Valley, not least in relation to the rapid industrialization of space. From 2012-23, she was a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, DIIS, and prior to that, held research positions at the Center for Advanced Security Studies, KU (2009-12), the Center for Military Studies, KU (2006-2009), and the Center for American Studies, University of Southern Denmark (2005-06). Vibeke has been a visiting scholar at numerous international institutions, including the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (2001-2002), the National Defense Academy, Washington D.C. (2009), the London School of Economics (2010-11), and the Center for Right Wing Studies, Berkeley (2018, 2022, 2025). She remains an affiliate researcher at Berkeley and is a an editorial member of the Berkeley Journal for Right Wing Studies (JRWS). With DIS since 2022. 

 

Readings

• Matthew Weinzell (2025). Space To Grow: Unlocking the Final Economic Frontier. Harvard Business Review Press.
• Daniel Deudney (2020): Dark Skies: Space Expansionism, Planetary Boundaries, and the Ends of Humanity. Oxford University Press.
• Mary-Jane Rubenstein (2023). Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the New Corporate Space Race. Chicago University Press.
• Chakad Ojani (2024). "Reindeer, rockets and space infrastructures: Enacting oligoptic-satellitarian environments in Northern Sweden", Environment and Planning E: Space and Nature 7:5, pp. 1957-1979.
• Tim Marshall (2023). The Future of Geography: How Power and Politics in Space Will Change Our World. Elliott & Thompson Ltd.
• Roberto Trotta (2023). Starborn: How The Stars Made Us (And Who We Would Be Without Them). Basic Books.
• Vibeke Schou Tjalve (2023). Corporate Cosmos: How the American Space Industry Imagines Our Future and Shapes Our Present. DIIS Report.
• Kelly & Zach Weinersmith (2023). A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? Penguin Books Ltd.   
• Tutton, Richard (2021). “Societal Imaginaries of Techno-Optimism: Examining Outer Space Utopias of Silicon Valley”, Science as Culture, 30:3.
• Robin Wall Kimmerer (2013). Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions.
• Trine Pejstrup & Ian Kline (2025). Decolonization in the Second Space Age, DIIS Policy Brief. 
• Nina Holm Vohnsen (2025). "Corporate Utopias: The Tech Elite's Visions and the Global Crisis of Democratic Problem-Solving", in Journal of Business Anthropology 13:2.  

 

Field Studies

Among our extensive range of excursions and field studies, we will:

• Visit to the Space Strategy Office, at the Danish Ministry of Research and Innovation, to hear about the challenges of balancing regulation with security, innovation, and national industry protection.
• Visit to the Space Center, Denmark's Technical University (DTU), to meet with scientists at the forefront at the new space technologies.
• Visit to the Planetarium, to watch the documentaries ‘Space Pioneers’ + 'Space Junk'.

 

Guest Speakers

• Guest lecture on "Space as an Opportunity: Experiences of a Danish Space Start-Up", by Emilie Marley Siemssen (Launch Director and Space Lawayer at GomSpace). 
• Guest Lecture on "Emerging Space Technologies and Risks" by professor Oluf Corry, University of Leeds. 
• Guest lecture on "Space, AI and Surveillance Capitalism" by tech ethics expert Mie Öhlenslager.  

 

Short Study Tour

• Visit to the Swedish Island Hven, to visit the Tycho Brahe Observatory + guest speaker on the establishment of astronomy and later Astro-physics as academic disciplines.

 

Long Study Tour: Kiruna, Artic Sweden + Stockholm

Our Long Study Tour goes to Kiruna, Artic Sweden, with a stop in Stockholm on the way. In Kiruna, we will:

• Visit Space Port Esrange. The history of this space port goes back to the Cold War, but only recently has the port been turned into the first extensive rocket and satellite launch site in Europe. EU High Commisioner Ursula Van Der Leyen has called Esrange ‘the first and most important step in Europe’s path towards becoming a space power’. We will get a tour of its laucnh facilities and strategic scientific, commercial and geopolitical role.
• Visit Kiruna’s Rare Earth Mineral Mines, which will give the students a more hands-on sense of what mining space is all about.
• Visit Sami Indigenous Groups that are some of the most ardent voices protesting both the mine and Space Port. To the Sami, who use use star navigation for reindeer herding, and also live off Northern Lights-related tourism, satellite light pollution is a both practical and cultural problem.
• Watch Northern Lights, herd reindeer, go for beautiful forest hikes, and carve ice sculptures at the spectacular Ice Hotel.

 

Learning Objectives

This course aims to provide students with a critical and cross-disciplinary understanding of the history, promise and risks of human space colonization. Classes and excursions aim not only to teach students about immediate issues - the emerging tech space-race, the rising power of commercial actors, or clash between nations in the stars - but to embed these, within a broader context of human aims, ideas, beliefs and mythologies. At the end of the course, students will thus have gained an understanding of:

• the actors, events and dynamics that are turning space into a 'new economic frontier'.
• the new and emerging technologies that make space industrialization possible.
• the ambitions, technologies and dilemmas involved in turning space into a climate solution.
• the both ethical and legal challenges that relate to regulating space in the future.
• the colonial patterns, civilizational rhetoric, and religious imaginaries that surround and undergird the current industrialization of space.  

Approach to Teaching

This is an interactive and discussion-based course. It combines teacher lectures and classroom dialogue, with student-driven case studies and scenario building. To make abstract themes tangible and engaging, we will draw on a very wide range of both visual and audio material: art, slogans, documentaries, campaign videos, clips from speeches and rallies.

Moreover, field studies, site visits, workshops and guest speakers will form an integral part of the course.

 

DIS Accommodations Statement 

Your learning experience in this class is important to me.  If you have approved academic accommodations with DIS, please make sure I receive your DIS accommodations letter within two weeks from the start of classes. If you can think of other ways I can support your learning, please don't hesitate to talk to me. If you have any further questions about your academic accommodations, contact Academic Support academicsupport@dis.dk

 

Evaluation & Grading

This class will be interactive and driven by student participation. Students are expected to submit weekly reflection notes. I also expect all students to actively engage in both class and group discussions, workshops, and exercises. 

The final grade will be based on the following evaluation:

 

	Assignment	Percent
	Active participation	15%
	Reading reflections	15%
	Core course week group presentation	20%
	Long Study Tour Log Book	20%
	Final essay	30%

 

 Academic Regulations (Semester)

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:

• Course Enrollment and Grading
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code

 
Academic Regulations 

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:

• Course Enrollment and Grading
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code

 

DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.org