David Skogerboe MSc

PhD candidate

Area(s) of interest: History & Philosophy of Science and Technology, History of Knowledge

Cohort/Start PhD: 2021-2022

Imagining the Satellite Future: Satellite Infrastructure Representations in the Anthropocene, 1972-1999

Utrecht University

Promotor(es): Prof. dr Toine Pieters and dr David Baneke

Start project: October 2021

The SATFUTURE project will initiate historical research into oft-invisible yet central components of modernity – satellite infrastructures. Focused at the intersection of history of science, science & technology studies, and science communication, the project will examine the development of the satellite infrastructure as seen from the perspective of the space advocates who represented imagined future satellite infrastructures, or satellite futures, in their work. One such satellite future was Arthur C. Clarke’s postulation that three ‘artificial satellites’ could relay global television coverage, an imagined infrastructure that soon became a reality. SATFUTURE intends to showcase how the communication of the future shapes science, technology, society, politics, and culture by interrogating the motivations behind the creation of satellite futures and their impact on space policy, investment, and popular understanding of science.