ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Contesting the View from Above: Europe, Africa and the Uneven Globalization of Satellite Data

• In Event: Shifting Narratives in Space Science and Technology (2)

English Abstract

The presentation examines the role of satellite data in shaping relations between “developed” and “developing” countries during the 1970s and 1980s, focusing on the European Space Agency’s efforts to collect and control remote sensing data from the African continent. It also explores how the data themselves and their circulation were influenced by the unequal techno-scientific and geopolitical power of the two sides. As remote sensing satellite data gained importance for both scientific communities and state policies, a process of data globalization unfolded, facilitated by the détente of the Cold War. Yet this globalization was far from equal. It was marked by profound asymmetries and clear power relations between the space powers of the Global North, namely the United States, Europe, the Soviet Union and Japan, and the countries of the Global South. Possessing the necessary technological means and, above all, the satellites, the space powers maintained a decisive advantage in the negotiations over the collection, standardization and circulation of data. Meanwhile, the countries of the Global South, which were gaining a stronger political voice, refused to remain passive observers of emerging satellite data regimes. The case study traces the contest between European and African actors across two interconnected arenas. The first concerns debates within the United Nations over the legal principles governing access to and use of satellite data. The second examines how data practices were enacted in situ through scientific networks, training programs and the establishment of ground stations while official negotiations were still unfolding. By bringing together these diplomatic and technoscientific dimensions, the paper argues that diplomats, scientists and technicians operated in complementary ways, collectively shaping the norms and infrastructures that governed the global collection and circulation of satellite data.

Author

• Grigoris Panoutsopoulos, History of Science Institute, Autonomous University of Barcelona