Abstract
The fast-paced development of breakthrough space technology is complemented by the rise of new and powerful state and non-state actors in the space industry. Meanwhile, the contemporary international space governance framework is challenged to reflect these dynamics and adapt.
Further, no single actor is any longer capable of addressing complex issues themselves, especially in space, whether it is the issue of space debris, space exploration and colonisation, or planetary defence. And while a frequently quoted quip from the planetary defence community says that the dinosaurs did not have a space programme, otherwise they would still be here, it needs to be complemented by another oft-quoted claim that technological progress is not being matched by social progress.
While we do have a human space programme or rather dozens of rival space programmes, we continue to manage and govern civilisational affairs, including space and technology, in dinosaur ways, according to the seventeenth-century Westphalian order, which pits conflicting geographically limited national interests against each other, as the pivotal global organising principle. We view this as a reason why technology can be a source both of human flourishing and a civilisational demise.