Would you pay for a place in space with this man?
The new ‘space nation’ of Asgardia is ready for lift-off, its chair of parliament, ex-mp Lembit Öpik, tells Joe Shute
Picture the scene a few decades from now: a new blue and gold flag is fluttering outside the United Nations, the Solar currency is going great guns on world markets… oh, and huge, £100 billion space arcs filled with 15,000 people circumnavigate the globe, while the first human colony has been established on the Moon.
That is the vision of Dr Igor Ashurbeyli, a Russian‑azerbaijani billionaire and head of Earth’s newest nation: Asgardia.
If this is already sounding a little far‑fetched, consider Dr Ashurbeyli’s incredulous reaction when I ask him when his dream will become a reality. “It already is a reality,” insists the 55‑year‑old, seated in the suite of a five‑star hotel in Vienna, where his government gathered last week for its first executive congress.
And there are plenty of other believers. At the last count, Asgardia has 18,308 residents who have paid a €100 (£86) annual citizenship fee, and a “population” of more than a million who have registered their details online.
Asgard comes from Norse mythology, roughly translating as “dwelling of the gods”. Among the modern deities of the new space kingdom are the Conservative MP for Ribble Valley, Nigel Evans, who has been elected chairman of the foreign affairs committee. The new chairman of parliament is none other than the former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Öpik – perhaps best remembered for his romance with one of the Cheeky Girls and an impassioned speech to the House of Commons about asteroid strikes.
“When I was a British politician, you had to suspect the other parties and distrust your own,” Mr Öpik
told the newly formed Asgardia government last week. “Now I trust my colleagues and do not suspect in any way that we are here for different reasons.”
His rousing speech was accompanied by his fellow parliamentarians swearing an oath – several with hands on heart – to the constitution of Asgardia, and singing its newly written national anthem. “Leave the old problems all behind,” the lyrics urged.
“I’ve occupied three significant roles in my political life,” Mr Öpik, 54, told The Daily Telegraph after the ceremony. “I’ve been leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland and now this. The three are comparably substantial.”
Despite what he accepts are “astronomical” projected costs, he insists Asgardia’s plans for human settlement in space are “100 per cent certain to happen”. Should the opportunity transpire, would he be one of the first to move up?
“In 20 years’ time, I think I should basically visit [rather than live] because I wouldn’t want to be a drain on Asgardia’s social care provision,” he says. “If I was 20, I have no doubt I would be applying to live on the Moon.” He insists there are no barriers on anyone applying to travel into space and dismisses any talk of attempting to create some sort of master race. “If we make a functioning society for imperfect people, we will have done as close to a perfect job as we can.”
During the sitting of parliament, Dr Ashurbeyli, who made his billions from Socium, the software company he founded in 1998, cut a grandiose presence. Since being elected as head of nation on Jan 20 2017 (or Jan 20 0001 in the Asgardian calendar, which consists of 13 months, each at 28 days), he has been on a mission to raise the profile of his space kingdom and hopes to soon secure bilateral agreements with nations that recognise Asgardia.
Recently, he secured an audience with Prince Michael of Kent, whom he says he has known for 15 years or so. “We did have a long meeting in his private library in Kensington and we did spend a large part of that meeting talking about Asgardia,” he says.
Asgardia is technically a constitutional monarchy, but Dr Ashurbeyli insists he is in no hurry to be crowned. The constitution permits the head of state sweeping powers. Could it ever become a dictatorship?
“It is impossible,” he says. “Every dictator on Earth uses military power and force.”
A founding principle of Asgardia is it will have no weapons, although there are plans afoot to build a “space fleet” to protect against extraterrestrial threats – including asteroids.
Its formation comes at a time when a new space race is hotting up. On April 11, Israel’s Beresheet aircraft crashed, attempting to land on the Moon, and in January a Chinese spacecraft became the first to land on the dark side of the Moon. Billionaires such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson are conducting their own commercial
forays into space, while Donald Trump has announced plans to create a US space force.
Asgardia’s new minister of safety and security is Phil Appleby, 61, an affable former Ministry of Defence employee. “My loyalty will always be to my home nation, absolutely, but Asgardia will always have a special place in my heart,” he declares, before breaking off to check with the passing supreme judge that he won’t ever have to give up his British citizenship.
Asteroids aside, Asgardia has another problem in its quest to populate space. At present, despite its devotees hailing from an impressive 105 nations (the US is the most populous, followed by Turkey and Britain), 85 per cent are male.
According to Lena De Winne, 50, the minister of information and communication involved with the project since inception, that disparity will change over time.
“Asgardia treats people equally and offers equality which other countries cannot,” she espouses in the typically highfalutin manner of the space kingdom’s disciples. “It makes it possible to create a world which is truly based on the essence of human equality.”
She previously worked at the European Space Agency and is married to Frank De Winne, the Belgian astronaut, who is himself an Asgardian. Cosmonaut Dumitru Prunariu, the first Romanian in space, is another to pledge allegiance.
Even with such high-profile recruits to the cause, will it ever really get off the ground?
Dr Ashurbeyli – who until last November financed the project – is insistent that by 2020 Asgardia will have fully balanced budgets. The business model is to hike the citizenship and passport fee up to €1,000, which, with a projected seven million Asgardians registering, will create a €7 billion investment fund.
Such sovereign wealth remains a distant dream. At present, Mr Öpik and his fellow parliamentarians are largely unpaid (save expenses). Still, the one-time MP for Montgomeryshire turned prince of Asgardia waves away such details as mere smudges on a far greater picture.
“It’s a huge sum of money,” he admits. “But then, the world was a big place when Christopher Columbus decided to sail it.”
Asgardia already has 18,308 residents who pay an £86 annual fee to be citizens