A group of scientists from across the world have launched a new project to establish the first nation state in space and named it Asgardia. The project is led by Russian scientist Dr Igor Ashurbeyli, who is also the chairman of Unesco’s Science of Space Committee. The project will not physically place people in space. However, people can become citizens of the state by filling up a simple form on its official website. Launched in Paris on Wednesday, Asgardia already has 25,145 citizens.

The scientists said their vision for the nation was "a state-of-the-art protective shield for planet Earth". Ashurbeyli said he wanted to create a space that "will offer an independent platform free from the constraint of a land-based country’s laws".

He told The Guardian: "Physically the citizens of that nation state will be on Earth; they will be living in different countries on Earth, so they will be a citizen of their own country and at the same time they will be citizens of Asgardia." The new nation will consist of a single satellite that will be launched in 2017. They plan to eventually set up permanent space station "where people can live, work, and have their own rules and regulations".

Named after one of the mythical worlds inhabited by the Norse gods, Asgardia can apply to the United Nations for the status of state once it has 1,00,000 citizens registered on the website. Ashurbeyli said the project aims to bring to attention the need for a relook at the international laws governing space activities. According to the Outer Space Treaty, nations are responsible for the objects sent into space from their space centres.

He said, “The existing state agencies represent interests of their own countries and there are not so many countries in the world that have those space agencies." The project is also expected to eventually provide access to space technologies to nations that do not have it at the moment.

The Nano scientist believes that Asgardia can eventually protect the planet Earth by developing “a state-of-the-art protective shield for all humankind from cosmic, manmade and natural threats to life on earth”, such as dangers posed by space junk and steroids, among others.

The team

Space experts from across the world, including Canada, Russia, United States and Romania are a part of the team. However, project spokesperson Timothy Wild refused to reveal the exact number of people associated with the project, according to Business Insider. The information shared by the project managers with the media includes five prominent names – Dr Igor Ashurbeyli, Director of Rice University's Space Institute David Alexander, Director of the Institute of Air and Space Law at McGill University Ram Jakhu, Director of the Space and Advanced Communications Research Institute (SACRI) at George Washington University Joseph N Pelton and Romanian cosmonaut Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu.