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Governance & Orbital Structures

Our speculative project aims to address governance of orbital structures above our heads. Governance plays a crucial role in the development and use of satellites by creating laws, policies, and international agreements that regulate activities in space. Effective governance helps ensure that satellites are used for peaceful purposes, communication, weather forecasting, navigation, scientific research, and disaster management while reducing risks such as space debris, collisions, and interference. This would be in an ideal world. Orbital space is increasingly shaped by private corporations rather than governments alone. The rapid deployment of thousands of privately owned satellites has raised debates about who controls orbital space, who sets the rules for access, and how satellite constellations should be regulated.

What happens in space is not transparent, nor neutral.

With this work we aim to present a different vision of our technological future and collective awareness. Satellite in My Body asks how governance might be imagined differently through both speculative storytelling and research. Orbital infrastructures are not neutral technologies; they are governed through political, legal, and economic systems that determine who owns, controls, and benefits from the space above us. Satellites are largely operated by states and private corporations, while our bodies increasingly become sites of data and continuous observation. In this work we have used the Starlink satellite structure as it illustrates how orbital space is increasingly shaped by private corporations. Rather than accepting infrastructures that operate beyond public awareness and democratic participation, the project explores what it would mean to govern orbital technologies as a shared commons where transparency, accountability, and collective agency take precedence over surveillance, privatization, and centralized control.

As we sense orbiting satellites, our research database is growing.

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Artistic References

Images in the Age of Heat. Hito Steyerl, 2025
Trevor Paglen Studio. https://www.paglen.studio
Internet of Bodies, Ghislaine Boddington 2021
Machine-Readable Hito Hito Steyerl, e-flux Journal, 2017 https://www.e-flux.com/journal/85/156156/machine-readable-hito/
Operational Images. Harun Farocki, 2004

References

Government & International regulation
Outer Space Treaty. United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)(1967) https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/introouterspacetreaty.html

Space Technology and the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda. United Nations Chronicle (2018) https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/space-technology-and-implementation-2030-agenda

COPUOS Documents & Resolutions. United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), ongoing. https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/documents-and-resolutions/search.jspx?view=documents&f=oosaDocument.doctags.doctag_s%3ACOPUOSRDOCS

UNOOSA Annual Report 2024. United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) (2024) https://www.unoosa.org/documents/pdf/annualreport/UNOOSA_Annual_Report_2024.pdf

LEOS Database,International Space Law & Sustainability Documents . University of Łódź, ongoing https://www.cyber.uni.lodz.pl/leos-database

Governance Policy and digital infrastructures

Governance of Large-Scale LEO Satellite Constellations: Challenges, Comparative Analysis, and Policy Recommendations. Journal of Space Safety Engineering (Elsevier), 2026 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S246889672600087X

The Economics of Space Sustainability. OECD, 2024 https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2024/06/the-economics-of-space-sustainability_5236a39b/b2257346-en.pdf

Value Mechanisms of Satellite Infrastructure in the New Space Economy. OECD, 2024 https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/the-economics-of-space-sustainability_b2257346-en/full-report/component-10.html

Expanding Access to Satellite Earth Observation Data: What It Means for Privacy, Security and Trust. OECD, 2026 https://www.oecd.org/en/blogs/2026/02/expanding-access-to-satellite-earth-observation-data-what-it-means-for-privacy-security-and-trust.html

Who Sets the Rules for Earth Observation Governance?New Space Economy, 2026 https://newspaceeconomy.ca/2026/06/23/who-sets-the-rules-for-earth-observation-governance/

Looking Out for a Sustainable Space. arXiv, 2022 https://arxiv.org/abs/2202.06994

Satellite Communications in the New Space Era: A Survey and Future Challenges IEEE / arXiv, 2020 https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.08811

Space Surveillance Network Overview (Figure)ResearchGate, 2023 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Space-Surveillance-Network-Overview-as-of-2018source18th-Space-Control-Squadron_fig1_374776484

The Politics of Orbital Space (Doctoral Thesis). University of Oxford (Oxford Research Archive), 2023. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:11e1b32a-8117-46b1-a0ce-9c485221d112