Paper short abstract:

Spaceports are increasingly dotting the so-called 'edges of the world'. Reflecting on fieldwork conducted in Scottish Outer Hebrides, this paper will trace the reformulation of 'peripheral' spaces as sites of cosmic future-making — bringing into focus an array of pertinent earthly questions.

Paper long abstract:

In 1830, on a small islet in Loch Scolpaig in the Outer Hebrides, a Gothic-style tower was built, replacing an iron age dun. It was a structure without practical purpose, known as a folly, erected for the sole reason of providing employment as part of local famine relief — to keep the poor placated and their idle hands busy. Fast-forward to 2019, a contemporary iteration of the folly was proposed by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (the local council) with an investment of £1m to purchase land at Scolpaig for the construction of a launch facility, in a consortium with the Scottish government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, UK technology company QinetiQ and the consultancy Commercial Space Technologies (CST). Rockets were to be launched vertically to carry payloads into Sun synchronous and polar obits. The project promised 50-70 jobs and the revitalisation of an ailing Hebridean economy. It was to bring a peripheral 'backwater' into cosmic relevance. This paper examines the conflicting futures assigned to regional spaces like North Uist in the Outer Hebrides, which are increasingly thought of as emergent frontier zones for space exploration and military securitisation, potential eco-havens, and as bastions of tradition and heritage. In this way, cosmic visions invoke pertinent earthly questions — regarding appropriate land-use, proprietary relations, and environmental care. The paper will trace local forms of resistance to the proposed spaceport, particularly through the capitalist/anti-military rhetoric of the grassroots organisation 'Friends of Scolpaig' and their citizen science strategies.