Lemos, Lucas

Outer space infrastructure development presents unique challenges and opportunities in managing legacy systems within a rapidly evolving environment. Contributing to the debate of governing coupled infrastructure systems, we apply Eric S. Raymond's "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" model to illustrate a space infrastructure development evolutionary path to resilience and robustness called ‘Cosmolocalism’. We build our argument upon Raymond’s model's main conclusion for producing software: bottom-up open coordination mechanisms can produce more reliable and innovative solutions than top-down rigid models.

The ‘Cathedral’ model, epitomized by the Soyuz and Apollo programs during the Cold War, represents centralized, proprietary technology development. Since the 2010s, the boom of commercial space exploitation known as ‘New Space’ has provided a platform for ‘merchants’ (e.g., SpaceX) to ‘enter the cathedral’, increasing the speed of space technology launched into orbit. The principal trajectory of the current 'Cathedral-New-Space' model is the Artemis Accords, a geopolitically polarized platform aiming to create the space infrastructure necessary to exploit the Moon. This situation comes with new challenges in ‘social’ (regulatory paralysis and stakeholder polarization) and ‘natural’ (accumulation of orbital debris) infrastructure.

In contrast, the ‘Bazaar’ model operates as decentralized and collaborative technology development favouring shared and publicly available knowledge and problem-solving through broad community participation. This model is emerging from ‘soft’ and ‘human’ infrastructure development, leaning on what gradually discovered blueprints of technology production and governance similar to what happened in open-source software development.

To conclude, we introduce cosmolocalism as a bazaar-like framework for producing shared space infrastructure. Here, globally shared digital commons combine with local production capabilities. A noteworthy case of cosmolocal space infrastructure development is the ESTCube-LuNa consortium, developing propellantless interplanetary solar wind propulsion technology. Started by a group of space enthusiasts, it evolved into a network of research centres sharing resources to locally produce space technology.

Traditional commons frameworks—whether environmental or global—prove insufficient for understanding outer space governance. While the Bloomington school addresses Earth's biosphere resources, and global commons focus on planetary assets, outer space defies these terrestrial categorizations. As a 'dead domain' requiring technological mediation for human access, space challenges conventional commons theory, particularly in differentiating between near-Earth and deep space resources.

We propose analyzing space commons through cosmolocalism, a framework combining globally shared knowledge with localized production capabilities. [1][2] Instead of focusing on a 'natural' resource managed by a community, it proposes a networked knowledge-intensive process to address local needs. This approach reconceptualizes space governance through two key elements: technology-mediated localities (ground stations, satellites, manufacturing facilities) and digital commons (open-source designs, knowledge repositories, data). Rather than viewing space as a continuous global domain, we envision it as a network of discrete, digitally connected nodes with physical-world interaction capabilities.

This perspective both complements and challenges current space commons debates. By drawing parallels with Internet infrastructure, where local nodes connect through digital commons, we reveal emerging institutional arrangements that mirror commons-based peer production. The cosmolocal framework offers a more nuanced understanding of space governance than traditional environmental or global commons models, particularly as humanity expands its technological presence beyond Earth. Through examining cases of emerging space institutions, the cosmolocal lens can reveal new forms of commons governance that traditional frameworks might overlook.

[1] Kostakis, V., Niaros, V., Dafermos, G., & Bauwens, M. (2015). Design global, manufacture local: Exploring the contours of an emerging productive model. Futures. 73, 126-135.

[2] Schismenos, A., Niaros, V., & Lemos, L. (2020). Cosmolocalism: Understanding the Transitional Dynamics Towards Post-Capitalism. tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. 18(2), 670–684.