Commons
in Space

Launching new directions of commons scholarship
Is Outer space a global commons?
Space, the final frontier of governing the commons
How to manage our space junk?

WHEN

February 24 - 26, 2021

WHERE

Online

SOCIAL

#CommonsInSpace

ACCESS CONFERENCE MATERIAL:
For IASC Members Only

Access Recorded Conference Material

REGISTRATION BEGINS:
January 2, 2021

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE:
January 15, 2021

ACCEPTANCE/REJECTION NOTIFICATION:
January 23, 2021

PRE-RECORDED VIDEO SUBMISSION DEADLINE:
February 15, 2021

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Welcome to the

IASC 2021 Commons in Space Virtual Conference

Aim & Scope

We are pleased to announce our call for individual presentations, special sessions, and webinar panel discussions. This conference aims to bring together scholars and practitioners on the commons in space. We will cover topics from the satellites and space debris increasingly congesting orbital space, mining of celestial bodies, diverse perspectives on space as a global commons, protection of dark night sky, going beyond Antarctica and High Sea regulations as models for space law, and much more.

The topic of outer space as global commons received a boost of attention by the April 2020 Executive Order of President Donald J Trump, declaring that outer space should not be viewed as a global commons. What are the implications of this perspective, as well as the increasing participation of private actors in space exploration? How do we create a fair use of the benefits of knowledge and innovations due to space research? How do we solve collective action problems to ensure the long-term sustainability of space exploration activities?

As a virtual conference within a series of conferences organized by the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC), we will facilitate a discussion between space scholars and scholars studying more traditional commons. What can we learn from governing shared resources on Earth to derive fair and productive outcomes when governing shared resources in space? And what can commons scholars, working on local and regional scales, learn from space commons that face governance on a scale beyond planet Earth? How can commons scholarship provide models for diverse stakeholder groups to have agency and voice as humanity takes important steps towards sustained human presence on the Moon, Mars and beyond?

The Conference

At a Glance (Click on rectangles for details)

Live Events Program
Port of Mars
Explore the
Mars surface
Cosmic Living Room
Spotify Playlist
Meet
Other
Participants
Tips and Tricks for the conference

Conference

Tracks

  • Moon governance – how to regulate the use of various types of resources on the Moon in light of recent U.S. developments? 
  • Governance challenges for Mars exploration.
  • The future of space governance – If outer space is a global commons, how can the international framework deal with the increasing diversity of actors?
  • Reasoning by Analogy: Is Space like Antarctica, the High Seas, or Cyberspace? 
  • Earth orbit use – Governance of orbital environment for use on satellites, spacecraft and telecommunications.
  • What can we learn from terrestrial commons, such as fisheries, to manage our orbital commons?
  • Mining of celestial bodies – What are the possible governance arrangements, and what can we learn on governance from mining on planet Earth?
  • Sustainable development of space – what are concepts that could be used to promote sustainability? 
  • Access to outcomes of space exploration (for example, access to satellite data and other discoveries, innovations)
  • How to manage shared resources in human spaceflight and human missions to Mars?
  • Unlocking space benefit: defining different types of values of the space sector and how to measure impacts
  • The UN Sustainable Development Goals and the commons of space 
  • How to manage the cultural and scientific heritage of space exploration
  • Dark sky as a global commons – governance of dark skies in the interests of astronomy, wildlife, and dark cities movement.

Types of

Contributions

We welcome different kinds of contributions:

The focus of a webinar is debate. Panelists may make short statements after which there is a moderated discussion during which questions from the audience are addressed. The duration of the webinar is 1 hour.

A session consists of at least four 10 minutes video presentations and has their designated space on the conference website.

An individual presentation is a pre-recorded 10 minutes video. Participants asynchronously interact with the presenter on the presentation in the comment section.

Short films and artistic works related to the themes, interviews or other online activities.

Online Conference

No hassle, costs, or carbon emissions from traveling. Attend the entire conference safely from home.

Three Days

Three days packed with prerecorded sessions and live events.

Meetup and Network

Interact with your peers during networking events .

Schedule

Important Dates

January 15, 2021

Deadline for abstract submission

January 15, 2021
January 23, 2021

Notification of acceptance

January 23, 2021
February 15, 2021

Deadline for pre-recorded video submission

February 15, 2021
February 24-26, 2021

Event dates

February 24-26, 2021

Meet The

Steering Committee

Timiebi Aganaba-Jeanty

Assistant Professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and Space Advisory Project Lead at Arizona State University, USA

61 all

Steven Freeland

Professor of International Law at Western Sydney University, Australia

61 all

Alice Gorman

Associate Professor in the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at the Flinders University of South Australia

61 all

Marco A. Janssen

Professor in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University, USA, and Past-President of the International Association for the Study of the Commons

61 all

Tanja Masson-Zwaan

Assistant Professor and Deputy Director of the International Institute of Air and Space Law at Leiden University, The Netherlands

61 all

Akhil Rao

Assistant Professor of Economics at Middlebury College, USA

61 all

Jessy Kate Schingler

Director of Policy and Governance at the Open Lunar Foundation, USA

61 all

Scott Shackelford

Affiliated Professor of Law; Associate Professor of Business Law and Ethics at Indiana University, USA

61 all

Andrew Woods

Professor of law at the University of Arizona College of Law, USA

61 all

Menelisi Falayi

Ph.D. Candidate, Rhodes University, South Africa

61 all

Our

Event Sponsors

Open Lunar Foundation Logo

The International Association for the Study of the Commons
© 2025 All Rights Reserved

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Made with 💛 by Pfister Lab

Prepare to play the game

Port of Mars

How to sustain human communities in space? Port of Mars is a game designed to identify effective strategies for navigating commons dilemmas, and collective action under conditions of high uncertainty and high risk.

We will do a play test with a digital version of the game during the conference. Since this is a multiplayer game, and need to have at least 5 players, we schedule a time for people to play together. We will start the games at Thursday February 25 Noon UTC -7. You need to have done the tutorial prior to the playtest. Once you are signed in for the conference, you will find directions where to do the tutorial.

Immerse yourselfe and

Explore the Mars Surface

Explore the terrains of other celestial bodies using the JMARS AR Viewer, which allows you to virtually project planetary terrains from Mars, Mercury, Earth, and the moon onto your physical environment.

Graduate student Lauren Gold of ASU’s Meteor Studio with an augmented reality map of Mars via the JMARS AR Viewer app. The map is overlaid with color-coded elevation data, using a rainbow palette to represent high and low values. Photo credit: Lauren Gold/ASU

Experience the

Cosmic Living Room

The Cosmic Living Room is a science-art project created by Jonathon Keats and Alice Gorman and is a space for beings throughout the universe to congregate and interact. You can experience this Cosmic Living Room during the conference and share your images of this experience.

Listen and COntribute to our

Spotify playlist

We are creating a conference theme based Spotify list. During the conference, you will be able to send us your recommendations for song titles and artists’ names. 

Interact Via

Slack Channel

When you register for the conference we add you to a Slack workspace. This will allow you to communicate directly with other conference participants, coordinate meetups share information, etc

Interact with other participants in our

Meeting Room

During the conference, you will be able to mingle with other participants in our Wonder Room (from https://wonder.me). The video below gives a simple introduction on how to use the platform. Once you log into the conference website you’ll find information about the location of the Wonder Room.

Our recommendations

Tips and Tricks for the conference

You can contact us at iasc@asu.edu for the following issues

“I lost my conference key”
“I need a certificate of conference participation

How to get the most out of the IASC 2021 Commons in Space Virtual Conference

Welcome to IASC 2021 Commons in Space Virtual Conference! We are excited to have you on board! Whether this is your first time attending a virtual conference, or if this is one of many that you have experienced, we would like to give you some tips to increase your focus and make the most of your time during this event.

Block off your calendar

When we attend an in-person conference, part of what makes it special is being away from home, office, and our usual daily routine. We suggest that you do the same for this virtual conference. Let your employers, students, colleagues, and family know that you are immersing yourself in this 3-day conference. We are offering real-time panel discussions, networking events, and a gaming event. Get the real-time events that you want to attend onto your calendar first. Then schedule time for yourself to enjoy the pre-recorded presentations.

Using Slack

During this conference, we will be communicating in real-time through a Slack workspace with a variety of Slack channels. If you are not familiar with Slack, check out this tutorial.

Interact with other participants

Encourage friends and colleagues to attend the conference with you. Utilize the comment sections on the pre-recorded presentations to ask questions and create dialogues about various points of view. Schedule 1-on-1 virtual meet-ups with people you meet during our various events. Throughout the conference, a virtual meeting place will be available for you to interact with other attendees at any time. We will be using the wonder.me platform as discussed in “Conference at a glance”.

Let this event have a lasting impact

After the conference, the presentations will still be available to you. Live events will be recorded and posted for you to watch again. Stay connected to the participants you met while networking. If you are not an IASC member, consider joining and participating in future events.

Create a gravatar for your comments

Make sure your comments show a picture of you. 

1.  Visit the Gravatar website to sign up. It’s located at https://gravatar.com.

2.  Click on the “Create Your Own Gravatar” button.

3.  Sign up for Gravatar with a WordPress.com account. Or click Already have a WordPress.com account? to sign in. 

4.  Click on the link in the confirmation email. Check your spam folder if you don’t see an email from WordPress.com.

5.  Go back to Gravatar and login if necessary.

6.  Click the “Add a new image” button.

7.  Click the “Upload new” button.

8.  Click “Choose File” and pick a profile picture from your computer. Then click “Next”.

9.  Crop your image by moving the box that is overlaid on the image you choose. Then click on “Crop Image” below.

10.  Choose an image rating that reflects the content of your avatar. Then click the “Set Rating” button below.

Be aware that the use of an image that is X-rated will automatically prevent you from using it on a number of websites.

11.  Start using it. When you create accounts on other websites with the same email address and that site uses Gravatar, your profile image should automatically be set to your currently selected profile picture from your Gravatar account. If you change your Gravatar image for your email account in Gravatar, it should update your profile picture on other sites automatically.

Interact with other participants in our

Meeting Room

During the conference, you will be able to mingle with other participants in our Wonder Room (from https://wonder.me). The video below gives a simple introduction on how to use the platform. Once you log into the conference website you’ll find information about the location of the Wonder Room.

Interact Via

Slack Channel

When you register for the conference we add you to a Slack workspace. This will allow you to communicate directly with other conference participants, coordinate meetups share information, etc

Live Events

Program

All times are in Arizona time, which is UTC -7.

Wednesday 2/24/2021

  • Opening Session: Different approaches to the commons in space

    -

  • Decommissioning in Extreme Environments and Insights for the Space Industry

    -

    Special topic webinar panel

  • Cultural Commons and Outer Space

    -

    Webinar panel with speakers of pre-recorded talks

  • Break

    -

  • Social License to Operate for Lunar Resources Activities

    -

    Special topic webinar panel

  • Break

    -

  • Networking Time Early Career Scholars

    -

  • Break

    -

  • The common heritage of humanity: cultural heritage in space

    -

    Special topic webinar panel

  • Lunar Governance

    -

    Webinar panel with speakers of pre-recorded talks

  • Moving towards space traffic coordination and management

    -

    Special topic webinar panel

Thursday 2/25/2021

  • Exploration Governance

    -

    Webinar panel with speakers of pre-recorded talks

  • Networking Time

    -

  • Circular Management for the Sustainable Development of the Moon

    -

    Special topic webinar panel

  • Break

    -

  • Port of Mars

    -

    Game

  • Break

    -

  • A Declaration on the Rights of the Moon

    -

    Special topic webinar panel

  • Governing Earth Orbit Commons

    -

    Webinar panel with speakers of pre-recorded talks

Friday 2/26/2021

  • Environmental and Resource Management

    -

    Webinar panel with speakers of pre-recorded talks

  • Break

    -

  • Networking Time

    -

  • Break

    -

  • Benefit Sharing

    -

    Webinar panel with speakers of pre-recorded talks

  • Closing Session: Reflections on the Future of the Commons in Space

    -