Introducing Asgardia, the first nation in outer space

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Having you ever imagined living in outer space?

Asgardia, named after a Norse mythological city in the sky, might become the world's first independent nation that operates in outer space. The leader of this project, Russian scientist Dr. Igor Ashurbeyli, made the announcement in October 2016, and claimed that the purpose of this project is to bring peace in space and to protect earth from space threats, such as asteroids and man-made debris in space.

The Asgardians

Anyone over 18 and with an email address, regardless of gender, nationality, race, religion, and financial standing can apply to be a citizen in the "City in the Sky." Within 40 hours of the project being announced, over 100,000 people applied for citizenship, and the number increased to 500,000 after three weeks.

Demographic data of Asgardia on June 20, 2017. /Asgardia website Screenshot

According to its website, Asgardia right now has an approximate number of 230,000 citizens from 220 countries with the majority being from China. A Hong Kong artist, who signed up to become an Asgardian in November 2016, told CNN that she joined this outer-space country because she wants to experience other ways of living and have more opportunities to express her opinions.

All citizens of Asgardia were invited to vote on a constitution on June 18, which is now considered as the Asgardian National Unity Day.

The first step of this project is to launch a small satellite -- Asgardia-1, this fall to store data for the nation's newly selected citizens, Ashurbeyli unveiled during a press conference in Hong Kong on June 13. The data will include things like family photos, he added.

Not a real nation?

VCG Photo

Ashurbeyli said Asgardia will file for United Nations recognition as a nation in 2018. It takes two-thirds of members of the General Assembly's votes for this application to be approved. But it is uncertain whether this city of sky could get that far.

Researchers told CNN that a country must have the following factors: a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states. Most importantly, it must be recognized as a country by other states.

So it is still debatable whether Asgardia could be considered a nation.