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Astropolitics
17 October 2022 @ 9:00 pm - 10:30 pm CEST
SRI supports peaceful, civilian expansion into outer space. But there is another point of view about space and expansion into it, not just as peaceful. Geopolitics is the study of international relations in consideration of geography – that is, how human as well as physical geography affects the relations among states and state-like organizations. The term Astropolitics is already established for indicating the extension of geopolitics to outer space.
Space is already playing a relevant, if not decisive, role in the competition among nations for predominance on Earth. Its importance in the current Ukrainian war is well recognizable. But space has been connected to weapons since the very first flight of an human made object beyond the atmosphere. The Outer Space Treaty banned the placement of weapons of mass destruction in space, but its use for information collection, a.k.a. spying, as well as military communication and other purposes relevant to the defense area, went on anyway. Geopolitical analysts have been considering space in the competition for power among nations for decades. It is widely recognized that the theories devised by Alfred T. Mahan in the XIX century about sea power can be now extended to space. Competition among nations on strategic locations and resources in space has already started. A significant international collaboration among USA, its allies and Russia took place across the century change, but in the current situation it is coming to an end. China has always been kept out of it and is now aggressively pursuing its own goals. Can humanity expand into space without bringing its rivalries there? We hope not, but likely the pursuit of power will be the main engine of expansion.
Space is already playing a relevant, if not decisive, role in the competition among nations for predominance on Earth. Its importance in the current Ukrainian war is well recognizable. But space has been connected to weapons since the very first flight of an human made object beyond the atmosphere. The Outer Space Treaty banned the placement of weapons of mass destruction in space, but its use for information collection, a.k.a. spying, as well as military communication and other purposes relevant to the defense area, went on anyway. Geopolitical analysts have been considering space in the competition for power among nations for decades. It is widely recognized that the theories devised by Alfred T. Mahan in the XIX century about sea power can be now extended to space. Competition among nations on strategic locations and resources in space has already started. A significant international collaboration among USA, its allies and Russia took place across the century change, but in the current situation it is coming to an end. China has always been kept out of it and is now aggressively pursuing its own goals. Can humanity expand into space without bringing its rivalries there? We hope not, but likely the pursuit of power will be the main engine of expansion.
A short bio
Alberto Cavallo is an Electrical Engineer, graduated at the Politecnico di Torino in 1985. He began his activity with designing electric systems in Fiat Engineering, the engineering and construction company of the FIAT Group, moving soon to control and automation systems in the same company. He was involved in all business areas of the company, which included revamping and new projects of car factories for the FIAT Group as well as large infrastructures, power and cogeneration plants for external clients. Among the projects of that time were the new FIAT factories in Melfi and Pratola Serra, the high speed railways Torino-Milano and Bologna-Firenze, the district heating system of Torino Sud, combined cycle power plants for several hundred megawatts in Italy and in Brazil. Since Fiat Engineering was transferred from the FIAT Group to a new EPC group and then merged with a large EPC company in Milan, he has been involved in large oil and gas and petrochemical projects all over the world. Besides his professional activity, he has always taken part in several cultural activities. He was a member of the Associations of Alumni of the Liceo Classico Vittorio Alfieri of Turin, active in promoting humanistic culture as well as its connection to the technical and scientific area. He manages his own website www.eurinome.it (in Italian only) about philosophy, science and politics/geopolitics. Due to this he got in contact with Adriano Autino and his TDF, then becoming one of the founding members of Space Renaissance International. Besides several papers in his professional area he has written several articles for his own site, for TDF and SRI, coauthoring the book “Three Theses for the Space Renaissance” with Adriano Autino and Patrick Q. Collins. He is currently member of the Board of SRI.
Alberto Cavallo is an Electrical Engineer, graduated at the Politecnico di Torino in 1985. He began his activity with designing electric systems in Fiat Engineering, the engineering and construction company of the FIAT Group, moving soon to control and automation systems in the same company. He was involved in all business areas of the company, which included revamping and new projects of car factories for the FIAT Group as well as large infrastructures, power and cogeneration plants for external clients. Among the projects of that time were the new FIAT factories in Melfi and Pratola Serra, the high speed railways Torino-Milano and Bologna-Firenze, the district heating system of Torino Sud, combined cycle power plants for several hundred megawatts in Italy and in Brazil. Since Fiat Engineering was transferred from the FIAT Group to a new EPC group and then merged with a large EPC company in Milan, he has been involved in large oil and gas and petrochemical projects all over the world. Besides his professional activity, he has always taken part in several cultural activities. He was a member of the Associations of Alumni of the Liceo Classico Vittorio Alfieri of Turin, active in promoting humanistic culture as well as its connection to the technical and scientific area. He manages his own website www.eurinome.it (in Italian only) about philosophy, science and politics/geopolitics. Due to this he got in contact with Adriano Autino and his TDF, then becoming one of the founding members of Space Renaissance International. Besides several papers in his professional area he has written several articles for his own site, for TDF and SRI, coauthoring the book “Three Theses for the Space Renaissance” with Adriano Autino and Patrick Q. Collins. He is currently member of the Board of SRI.
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