| Summary/Abstract |
If we look at a rendering of planet Earth from a bird’s eye view, we see a very familiar sight - satellites orbiting the planet like electrons, each one a testament to humanity’s expansion beyond Earth’s atmosphere. This familiar sight, nevertheless, begs the question: what is this new landscape? This paper looks at the production of outer space through a historical case study of Topex/Poseidon and its successors, internationally collaborative satellites designed primarily to measure the global circulation and topography of the Earth’s oceans. Tracing the history of these satellites, we open up a black box of entangled interests and enacted power that illuminates some of the ways in which Earthspace and outer space are co-produced. It leads us to encounter a global collaboration to collect oceanographic data (WOCE), the establishment of a new scientific discipline, Earth System Science, the fabrication of data infrastructure, as well as algorithms and exclusive computers, all which shed light upon the construction of outer space and the geopolitics of outer space that lie therein.
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