This book offers a new understanding of society’s relations with the cosmos. Entrepreneurs such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk receive a great deal of publicity, but offer unlikely and implausible visions of space tourism for the general public. Meanwhile, asteroids are seen as ‘rare materials’ which will be extracted and used to produce untold riches for earthbound citizens.
The reality is rather different. First, there is no evidence that owners of capital are attempting to extract ‘rare’ materials in the cosmos. The costs would be ‘out of this world’. But capital, not governments, is determining how outer space should be used. Capital’s investments in aerospace companies are actively determining forms of military interventions and the equipment used. And satellite television pumps out forms of culture aimed at a global audience. But these are being ignored and subverted by, for example, indigenous peoples.
In short, this book sets out a new understanding of our relations with the cosmos. The forces of capital are certainly powerful but at the same time they are being challenged, subverted and even overturned.
Author(s): Peter Dickens
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 161
City: Cham
Acknowledgements
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
1: Understanding Cosmic Capitalism
Towards an Alternative Understanding: Capital Accumulation and the Military
Capital, Labour, Space and Marx
References and Further Reading
2: Libertarianism and Cosmic Capitalism
The Tyranny of the Majority
Libertarianism and the Cosmos
‘Capitalism’: Some Misplaced Criticisms
The Cosmos Incorporated into Capitalism
Moon Science and Capital Accumulation
The Artemis Project: Libertarianism Co-opted
References and Further Reading
3: Narcissism, Fantasy and the Cosmos
Narcissism and Phantasy: Accessing the Distant Cosmos?
Outer Space Narcissism Today
Narcissism and Cosmic Capitalism
Society, the Cosmos and the Self
Pro-Space Activism: Accessing the Cosmos to Save the World
Cosmic Narcissism as Self-ownership
References and Further Reading
4: Circuits of Earth, Circuits of Capital
Satellites: Their Contradictory Purposes
Capitalism, the Labour Processes and Satellites
Cosmic ‘Satellisation’ and Circuits of Capital
Circuits of Capital and Cosmic Fixes
Circuits of Capital, Labour Processes and Surveillance
Managing by Satellite: Some Contradictions Arising
Satellites, Lifestyles and ‘New’ Forms of Consumption
Satellites and Capital Flows
Finance Capital and the Cosmos
Capital, the Cosmos and ‘Satellite Farming’
References and Further Reading
5: Working in ‘The Silent Sphere of Production’
Making Spacecraft Today
Making Landers: The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena
Making Spacecraft: United Launch Alliance
The Landers on Mars
Making a Mars Buggy: A Skilled Labour Process in Action
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Employees’ Comments
Realising the Rover’s Potential
Preparation and the ‘Science’ Question
Making the United Launch Alliance Spacecraft
Labour Processes: A Comparative Assessment
Making a Mars Lander: Conclusions
Financing Rocket Production: From Government to Private Capital
References and Further Reading
6: Cosmic Capitalism and the Body
Nazi Space Medicine: The Objectified Body
Science and the Body After the Nazi Experiments
The Soviets, the Animal’s Body and the Cosmos
‘Astronauts on Strike’: The Body and the Cosmos Today
Skylab and Astronaut Resistance
Management, Labour Relations and Power
Controllers, Power and Authority
Cyclical Rhythms, the Body and Control
Threats to the Body in the Cosmos
Risk and the Body
Threats to the Body: Radiation
Another Threat: Spacesuit Failure
From Alienation to Autonomy?
Days, Nights and Wars
Another Problem: Returning to Earth
Returning to Earth and Threats to Astronauts’ Well-Being
References
7: Cosmic Risk Society
Facts and Truths
Ulrich Beck’s Critique of Scientific Method
Risk and the Chernobyl Disaster
Capitalism and Risk
Risk and the Cosmos
Nuclear Risk
Space Junk as ‘Manufactured Risk’
Cosmic Capitalism and Health Risks
Capitalism and Risk
References and Further Reading
8: Satellites, War and Capital Accumulation
The Military–Industrial–Space Complex
History: Capital Accumulation and the Making of Empire
Nearby Outer Space: A New Zone of Capitalist Imperialism
The Military–Industrial–Space Complex
Conclusion: Lessons from the Mysterious Space Plane
References and Further Reading
9: Cosmic Capitalism and Space Law
The Space Treaty in Historical Context
The U.N. Outer Space Treaty
Corporatism and the Cosmos
Corporatism and ‘Success’ of the Cosmos
The Outer Space Treaty
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty: Recent Assessments
A Serious Corrective
Earth-Bound Resources, Fictions and the Cosmos
Cosmic Capitalism: Nation States as Facilitators
Conclusion
References and Further Reading
10: Future Work: Cosmic Capitalism, Indigenous Peoples and Satellite Television
Society, Nature and Aboriginal Peoples
Indigenous Peoples in Australia
Indigenous Peoples and Satellite Television
Imparja Television: From Indigenous to ‘Remote’ Broadcasting
From Indigenous to ‘Remote’ Television: Alienation Continued
National Indigenous Television (NITV)
Indigenous Peoples and Communications: A Continuing Struggle
References and Further Reading
11: Prefigurative Politics: Towards a Cosmic Socialism?
Prefigurative Politics
Prefiguration: The Lucas Aerospace Example
Prefiguring Alternatives Now: The Jet Propulsion Laboratory
References and Further Reading
Index
