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Short abstract

Sociotechnical imaginaries of sustainability in outer space are investigated through a social study of bioregenerative life support systems (BLSSs). Ecological imaginaries of outer space about future colonisation of other planets, closure and circularity, and space farming are presented.

Long abstract

Bioregenerative life support systems (BLSSs) are technological assemblages designed to sustain human life in long-term space missions and planetary settlements thanks to the regeneration of oxygen and water, and producing food for the crew. At present, BLSS is a concept for the future, along with all social and cultural implications that such a project might have for scientists, astronauts, or humanity at large. As BLSSs are centred on the conception of terrestrial ecosystems, and on how the latter’s peculiar conditions can be reproduced and engineered into human habitats in extraterrestrial environments, this scientific domain relies on, and at the same time conveys, imaginations of human-environment relationships that need to be framed into new ecological configurations projected into outer space. Hence, this contribution aims at presenting these imaginations, building on the concepts of sociotechnical imaginaries, and, therefore, discussing them as future scenarios that bridge current technological capabilities and knowledge of earthly ecosystems, and their reconfiguration in outer space (or in extreme environments on Earth). The proposal relies theoretically on concepts from STS and Social Studies of Outer Space (SSOS) and empirically on a qualitative analysis of the scientific literature and web-based popular communication relevant to BLSS and space farming, the contribution presents three sociotechnical and ecological imaginaries: the resurgence of space colonisation, a circular future in closed environments, and the theme of the astronaut as a farmer. These imaginaries depict a desirable and attainable future relating to human existence as possibly independent from terrestrial resources and, thereby, projected onto otherworldly scenarios.