Conserving the Celestial Spheres: MILES TIMPE
READING GROUP RECAP
Artwork by J. Andrews of a solar-powered robot mining machine on the surface of the moon, the Mark II He lunar volatiles miner, circa 1992. The design envisioned a robot that would collect rocks rich in Helium, a potential fuel for nuclear fusion power stations. Image: University of Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics / Science Photo Library.
On 11 March, the Natureculture Lab Reading Group welcomed Miles Timpe (ETH Zurich), astrobiologist and space sustainability researcher, for a stimulating discussion on the conservation of celestial spheres. Bringing together perspectives from astrophysics, astrobiology, sustainable spaceflight, artificial intelligence, and environmental humanities, the session explored how the night sky can be understood as both a natural environment and a cultural commons.
The conversation examined the increasingly contested status of outer space in the context of expanding satellite infrastructures, commercial space activity, and ambitions for space colonisation. Participants reflected on the environmental and ethical implications of these developments, considering how questions of conservation extend beyond Earth to encompass orbital environments and celestial bodies. Discussions also addressed the challenges of balancing scientific innovation, artistic expression, and the growing need for sustainable governance of near-Earth space.
The reading group drew on three complementary texts that framed the discussion from different perspectives. Marina Koren’s Space Art Is Causing a Ruckus Among Astronomers raised questions about the boundary between cultural expression and orbital clutter, highlighting tensions between artistic interventions and the preservation of the night sky. Foster, Smolka, Nilsson, and Dacke’s study, How Animals Follow the Stars (2018), expanded the conversation beyond the human by demonstrating how many species depend on celestial cues for orientation and navigation, reminding us that changes to the night sky affect multispecies ecological relationships. Finally, Hamacher, De Napoli, and Mott’s Whitening the Sky: Light Pollution as a Form of Cultural Genocide foregrounded the cultural dimensions of light pollution, arguing that the loss of visible stars threatens Indigenous knowledge systems, cosmologies, and long-standing relationships with the sky.
Together, these readings prompted a rich discussion on space sustainability, light pollution, ecological interdependence, and the politics of conservation beyond Earth. By bringing scientific, cultural, and ecological perspectives into dialogue, the session invited participants to reconsider the night sky not as an empty frontier for exploration or exploitation, but as a shared environment whose preservation is essential for both human cultures and the more-than-human world.
