When we think about space, we might picture rockets, astronauts, Star Wars, distant planets—all places and ideas that feel distant from our everyday lives on Earth. But space is getting closer every day, and we’re no longer exploring it simply for the sake of scientific wonder. Today, space is a rapidly growing industrial market—McKinsey Consulting estimates that the global space economy will be worth $1.8 trillion by 2035—as well as a geopolitical battleground.

According to DIS Faculty Vibeke Schou Tjalve, it’s time we all started to pay attention. “If you’re interested in the political struggle over democracy, what our institutions should look like, and what our future should look like, the space industry is the place to look.”

That is why Vibeke has created Astropolitics: Technology, Sustainability, and the New Space Race, a Core Course with DIS Copenhagen. With a week-long Study Tour to Arctic Sweden, Field Studies to the Danish Ministry of Research and Innovation, and guest lectures from critical researchers in the field, Astropolitics is a groundbreaking course that explores one of the most important political, economic, and ethical frontiers of today. Covering everything from the unexpected role of mythology in the space race to broader ecological, colonial, and geopolitical concerns, this course takes a uniquely cross-disciplinary approach to help students understand the bigger picture.

The mind and the story behind Astropolitics

Vibeke Schou Tjalve, PhD, has spent her career digging into today’s most pressing issues from a wide variety of disciplines, from mythology and religion to military studies and transatlantic relations. She has authored a wide range of research articles, books, and policy reports on European and American approaches to war, democracy, technology, and ecology.

She has also researched how these topics play out in space. In 2024, Vibeke published a report with the Danish Institute for International Studies (also known as DIIS, not affiliated with DIS) called Corporate Cosmos: How commercial American space imagines our future and shapes our present. In her report, she explores the American space industry, its ties to Silicon Valley, and the dangers of an unchecked race to commercialize space. As she states in her report, “To American tech, space is more than an economic opportunity; it is a clean slate to rethink our models of government.”

As a faculty member at DIS Copenhagen, Vibeke wanted to create a new course that would further examine the politics of today’s space race through an interdisciplinary lens—and Astropolitics was born.

Copenhagen as your home, Scandinavia—and the Arctic—as your classroom

Scandinavia and the Arctic play a unique role in today’s space race. The Arctic has become one of the most strategically important regions for space activity, particularly for satellite launches, data processing, and surveillance. Copenhagen and the broader Nordic region are actively involved in European space policy and investment, Arctic geopolitics and security concerns, and climate research and green transition initiatives. And through DIS Copenhagen, our new Astropolitics course will take full advantage of our proximity to these key players and locations.  

As part of the course, students will engage directly with these realities, including a Study Tour to Kiruna, Sweden—home to Europe’s rapidly expanding commercial spaceport—as well as Stockholm and Arctic Sweden more generally. Kiruna is particularly fascinating as a place of striking contrasts: a global hub for space and mining industries located in the heart of Sámi Indigenous land. There, you will confront firsthand the tensions between innovation and extraction, economic growth and ecological balance, global ambition and local impact.

Is Astropolitics right for you?

If you’re hoping to learn exclusively about astrophysics and black holes, this might not be the course for you; but if you want to better understand how space is shaping the future of our society, you’re in the right place.

“We need the humanities students to connect with the tech students, and the finance students, to make sure we’re thinking about the broader implications regarding sustainability, equality, and even colonialism in the new space race,” Vibeke says. That’s why she designed the course for students from a wide variety of academic disciplines, from political science, anthropology and philosophy to STEM and economics.

Together, you will explore:

• The geopolitics of space and emerging transatlantic and global rivalries
• Competing worldviews, from techno-optimism to Indigenous ecological perspectives
• Myths, metaphors, and ideologies that shape how societies imagine space
• Governance, regulation, and ethical dilemmas beyond Earth
• Space as both a climate solution and a potential ecological threat

In this course, you will investigate who benefits, who’s left out, and how space should be governed as it becomes more crowded, commercialized, and politically charged. The goal is not to find easy answers. Instead, you’ll learn to deeply understand conflicting perspectives, analyze complex systems, and imagine alternative futures.  

Preparing you for the future, on Earth and beyond

Space is a deeply cultural and political domain, shaped by stories, power structures, and competing visions of the future. This is what Astropolitics is ultimately about: the future of democracy, governance, climate responsibility, and global cooperation in an era where space is no longer distant but deeply entangled with everyday life on Earth. For students who want to understand not just where humanity is going—but who decides, why, and at what cost—Astropolitics offers a front-row seat to one of the defining conversations of the 21st century.

Curious about similar courses at DIS?

Here are a few we recommend that explore topics concerning the Arctic, global geopolitics, democracy, sustainability, and more.