Course Syllabus
Draft syllabus
| Semester & Location: |
Fall 2026 - DIS Copenhagen |
| Type & Credits: |
Core Course |
| Study Tours: |
Kiruna, Artic Sweden + Stockholm Island of Hven, Sweden |
| Major Disciplines: | Sustainability, International Relations, Ethics |
| Prerequsites: | None |
| Lecturer | Vibeke Schou Tjalve; please use the Canvas email. |
| Time & Place: |
Mondays & Thursdays 10.00 - 11.25 am |
Course Description
Humans have always been star-bound, 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 the core course Astropolitics: Technology, Sustainability and the New Space Race 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, Greenland, 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.
Study Tours
Our short study tour goes to Lund University and the Island of Hven and our Long Study Tour Goes to Stockholm and Kiruna. Why? In the emerging race for space, not just Denmark, but Scandinavia and the broader Arctic region, holds a near unique position. From Tycho Brahe to Niels Bohr and beyond, some of the founding scientists in astronomy and astrophysics have been Scandinavian. Sweden and Denmark are important European satellite producers and has top-notch space research centers, intimelately linked with the European Space Agency (ESA). Most importantly, Europe's only mainland space port is based in Kiruna, Arctic Sweden. Moreover, almost all of the actors involved in the new race for space have a special interest in the Arctic, which has both an optimal altitude for the launch of objects into space and an ideal climate for the storing and processing of space satellite-based data. And finally, the High North - from Greenland to Sápmiland – has become a defining battle ground for the clash between industrial and ecological - Western and indigenous - approaches to the meaning, value and regulation of the heavens.
Short Study Tour: Lund University & Island of Hven
Our Short Study tour goes to Lund and the Island of Hven.
Key visits:
- Get a guided tour of Lund University, founded in 1668, with astronomy as one of its key academic faculties.
- Talk to cutting-edge researchers at the Lund University Astrogeobiology Laboratory, who study Earth from space to for a whole range of scientific purposes.
- See the Old Lund Observatory and Astronomical Clock (UNESCO HERITAGE).
- Visit the modern Lund University Planetarium, which allows visitors to visit stars, planets, galaxies and exoplanets under the guidance of an astronomer.
- Take the ferry to the small, car-free Island of Hven.
- Visit Tycho Brahe Observatory + go for an evening bike ride to watch stars + listen to a guest speaker on the establishment of astronomy and later astro-physics as academic disciplines.
- Bike the island, swim the sea and make our own pizzas based on a wheat particular to Hven.
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 Stockholm, we will:
- Visit the Vasa Museum to put Scandinavian technological innovation and geopolitical competition into historical perspective.
- Visit the Nobel Museum to unpack Sweden as an epicenter of science and technology – and Alfred Nobel’s dynamite, as the pre-requisite of modern mineral extraction.
- Visit Nordiska Museet and explore the exhibit on Arctic climate change and its threats to inuit and Sámi culture.
- Buy a book for our night train ride to Kiruna in Stockholms legendary Science Fiction Bokhandeln.
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 launch facilities and strategic geopolitical, scientific, and commercial role.
- Visit Kiruna’s/LKAB Iron Ore Mine, to get a first-hand sense of what mining and extraction entails. The Kiruna Mine also collaborates with Space Port Esrange on the development of materials viable for space travel and on the long-term planning of mining asteroids or the Moon for rare earth minerals.
- 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.
- Get a guided tour of Kiruna, which was recently relocated due to significant (mining caused) ground instability and subsidence.
- Watch Northern Lights, herd reindeer, go for a beautiful hike in Abisco National Park, and carve ice sculptures at the spectacular Ice Hotel.
Course Summary
The course will consist of five overall modules:
- Introduction & Interdisciplinarity
- Science, Technology & Sustainability
- Law, War & Geopolitics
- Ethics & Mythology
- Hopes, Risks & Futures
Module I: Introduction & Interdisciplinarity
- Introduction: The New Space Race
- Theory: How to Study Space From an Interdisciplinary Perspective?
Module II: Science, Technology & Sustainability
- Origins: It All began With Astronomy!
- Innovation: From Astronomy to Astrophysics, AI and Quantum Computers
- A Digital Data-Twin: Satellites and Earth Observation as Climate Solution?
- Geo-Engineering: The Promise and Risks of Solar Shields in Orbit...
- Reindeer, Light Pollution, and Indigenous Ecology
+ core course week, which will supplement this module
Module III: Law, War & Geopolitics
- From the Outer Space Treaty To The Artemis Accords
- The Rush for Resources: Asteroid Mining, Moon Bases and Mars Colonies
- Arctic Dreams: the High North as a Much-Envied Space Experimentarium
- Reproducing Colonialism: Who's In and Who's Out in Orbit?
- Space As a Global Commons & Hawaii’s Dark Sky Protection
+ core course week to Kiruna, which will supplement this very well
Module IV: Ideas & Mythologies
11.Silicon Survivalism: The Manifest Destiny of a Multi-Planetary Species
12. Aurora Borealis: Sámi Mythologies of a Sacred Night Sky
13. Student Exercise: Myths of the Stars & Heavens in Your Family & Culture
+ visit to Planetarium & core course week – again supplements
Module V: Hopes, Risks & Futures
- Final assignment group presentations
- Final assignment group presentations
- Futures: Space as Battlefield, Climate Solution or Religious Realm?
- Space Out - Wrap Up and Goodbyes
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 law and the regulation of space-related technologies" by legal scholar and head of the Danish Space Law Unit, Ministry of Research and Innovation, Hjalte Osborn Frandsen.
- Guest lecture on "Space, AI and Surveillance Capitalism" by tech ethics expert Mie Öhlenslager.
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:
Academic Regulations
Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:
DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.org
Course Summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
|---|---|---|