New country beyond space "ASGARDIA"

Named from a city in space according to Greek mythology, Asgardia is open to all inhabitants of the planet Earth and does not cost anything to join.

tirto.id - In October 2016, a Russian scientist Dr. Igor Ashurbeyli has announced his plans to form the world's first independent state operating in outer space: Asgardia. Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have signed up to become Asgardian citizens.

Ashurbeyli said that the mission of this project is to provide a peaceful society; offering easier access to space technology; and protect the Earth from space threats, such as asteroids and man-made debris in outer space.

"Currently, many issues related to space law, can never be solved in the dark wood of modern international law, it is time to create a new reality of judgment in space," Ashurbeyli said as quoted by Popular Science.

Named from a city in the sky according to Greek mythology, Asgardia is open to all inhabitants of the planet Earth and does not cost anything to join. However, there are limits. Instead of being in outer space, Asgardians are for the time being based on earth.

For, the Asgardia being discussed is not a city orbiting in space, where people will live. In exchange, Ashurbeyli who is also founder of the International Aerospace Research Center, makes Asgardia more a scientific, legal and technological experiment.

"Asgardia is also unique from the philosophical aspect - to serve all mankind and everyone, regardless of their personal well-being and the prosperity of the country where they were born," Ashurbeyli said in a release, quoted by CNET.

A website has also been launched for those who wish to register as Asgardian citizens. Even in the site https://asgardia.space/ is also raised the flag of the country, symbols, and the national anthem Asgardia.

Within 40 hours after the project was announced, more than 100,000 people filed citizenship on the Asgardia website. After three weeks, Asgardia has 500,000 applicants.

Anyone over 18 and with an email address, regardless of gender, nationality, race, religion, and financial status may apply through this page, https://asgardia.space/en/join, including ex-inmates, provided they identified at the time the application is filed.

However, Ashurbeyli introduces a stronger verification process to request additional details such as date of birth and address. As a result, the number of Asgardians has been reduced.

According to data released by CNN, June 20, 2017, there are currently about 211,000 members from 217 countries with a majority between the ages of 18 and 35 who become Asgardians.

There are more than 130,000 English speakers, but China has the largest Asgardia number with its 28,000 registered citizens.

Based on gender balance, 83% of Asgardian men and 16% of women, with those remaining identified as "others".

Rayven Sin, a Hong Kong-based artist, told CNN that he signed up to become an Asgardia in November 2016 after hearing it on a Chinese radio show while he was in Toronto.

"I really want to see if humans are able to have more opportunities to express their opinions," he explains. "The people we live in now - whether in capitalism or communism - all seem to have a lot of conflict."

John Spiro, a digital marketing specialist who arranges monthly meetings for Asgardia based in Hong Kong, said that the possibility of sending personal data into space, makes him happy.

"I help translate and preserve the Buddhist sutra as a hobby and symbolism of sending one of these religious texts in electronic form 'up to the sky', seems very good," he said.