Caelum Nullius: Outer Space and the Colonial Logic of Property Rights

Abstract: Reimagining outer space as enclosed and privatized reinforces liberal property rights as universal and necessary to space programs. New space policies mark a return to terra nullius and a narrow conception of land-use that determines property rights. The liberal and colonial logic of property rights affirms hegemonic narratives of space as a limitless environment with no prior property claims. We analyze outer-space policies and the relationships between state and capital. We draw from Anker on Lockean freedom and Nichols on constructing property through theft. We argue that corporate colonization of space reinscribes the logic of settler-colonialism in space exploration.