Dark Skies: Space Expansionism, Planetary Geopolitics, and the Ends of Humanity.

• Author: Deudney, Daniel

Scholarly papers regarding space expansionism tend to lack an overarching perspective. To fill this gap, Daniel Deudney has penned a timely book called Dark Skies: Space Expansionism, Planetary Geopolitics, and the Ends of Humanity, which makes him a pioneering scholar in laying out a holistic approach to studying space expansionism. The book provides a comprehensive analysis of both the claims of space advocates and the consequences of space activities. Additionally, it illuminates the preeminent geographic misunderstandings about space. It examines how the completed and expected space activities of space advocates and details the orbital space and technological improvements for nuclear weapons since orbital space activities could cause a devastating nuclear war.

Focusing on space expansionism, Deudney argues that contrary to the one-sided and highly optimistic perspectives of many space advocates, thus far, space activities have produced more negative consequences. Additionally, he argues the same for future space ventures, which are expected to be much more negative than the space advocates claim. Deudney's aim is to illustrate that since space expansionists misunderstand the concepts of geography, geohistory, and geopolitics, their assessment of space expansionism has been disproportionately optimistic. Yet, upon more accurate analysis accounting for these factors, he believes that space expansionism would be less appealing. In other words, he tries to counter the overly optimistic discourse, for human involvement in space did create negative outputs like hazardous space waste. Consequently, he pleads for serious restraints and the eventual cessation of space activities.

Deudney's book is structured across four parts and ten chapters. In Part I, he lays out the considerable improvements that have transpired during the Space Age from the early 1940s to date. Then, unlike traditional space activities pursued by nation-states, the author describes the space futurism generated by distinct actors such as scientists, analysts, and advocates, including celebrity figures like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. According to the author, these space futurists feed the ideology of space expansionism and garner political support for it. After surveying the notion of space expansionism, he depicts the waxing and waning periods of space development. He then goes on to shed light on why research and arguments related to space have remained relevant over time...