Notice Board

The Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA) presents a special session with University of British Columbia professor Dr. Michael Byers as he discusses the politics of a new frontier.

Elon Musk, President of Mars?

Date:                  Friday, February 1, 2019 
Time:                  3 – 5 p.m.
Location:           University of Lethbridge Library room L1060 (inside to the left near the west entrance)

Who owns Outer Space? Could Elon Musk become President of Mars? How would one negotiate a treaty with aliens? Space is becoming a very busy place, with 90 orbital launches occurring in 2017 alone. Many of the governance challenges that currently exist on Earth will soon exist in Space. Yet the unique conditions of Space, including extremes of danger, distance and time, will necessarily require fundamental changes to the conduct of international relations and the content of international law.

This talk will focus on the current or readily foreseeable issues of Space debris, Space mining, and the establishment of settlements on Mars.

Speaker:              Dr. Michael Byers

Michael Byers holds a Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia. His work focuses on Outer Space, the Arctic, climate change, armed conflict, and Canadian foreign and defence policy.

Dr. Byers has been a Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford University, and a Professor of Law at Duke University. He has also taught as a visiting professor at the Universities of Cape Town, Tel Aviv, Nord (Norway) and Novosibirsk (Russia). Dr. Byers is the author, most recently, of International Law and the Arctic (Cambridge University Press), which won the 2013 Donner Prize. He is a regular contributor to the Globe and Mail newspaper.

Moderator:       Dr. Laura Chasmer

This session is made possible with the support of Southern Alberta Council of Public Affairs (SACPA) and University of Lethbridge’s geography, physics, philosophy and political science departments.

Everyone is welcome.