In 2022, when a volcanic eruption impacted Tonga and damaged the nation’s undersea cables, the Pacific Island country was cut off from the rest of the world. In response, the University of the South Pacific activated an emergency satellite link to reconnect the island, turning space technology into critical infrastructure for the Tongan government. Space technology suddenly became the only bridge between Tonga and the outside world, enabling aid coordination, restoring communication and supporting national recovery. The event demonstrates how space systems underpin international security, but also food security, environmental security and health security, broadening our understanding of why space is important.
For much of modern history, outer space has been contested in the popular imagination. Since the Cold War, it has been viewed as a domain for geopolitical competition through technological supremacy. In recent decades, public debate has been shaped as much by science fiction as by the material realities of space infrastructure concerning space exploration, the militarisation of outer space and a growing space industry.
As discussed at UNIDIR’s Outer Space Security Conference 2025, space is central to daily lives for everyday citizens. Space systems provide Earth observation (EO) data used to monitor agriculture, track pollution and disaster management, as well as positioning, navigation and timing systems that support telecommunications, civilian aviation and international commerce. EO data is also used for military purposes including intelligence gathering, targeting and mission planning, and weapons deployment.
Space systems are so embedded in daily life that they are paradoxically mundane, such that, their presence often goes unnoticed. However, public understanding of space remains uneven, frequently shaped by the flashier and more sensational aspects of space activity – such as exploration missions and space entrepreneurs – rather than by its social, economic and political functions. Space literacy is one response to this gap.
In the absence of a single agreed definition, space literacy can be understood through a civic lens as the capacity to understand and engage with space as a public issue. It is also a form of civic preparedness for space security: when people understand why space matters to everyday life, they are more likely to participate meaningfully in public debates and policy decisions surrounding the resilience, governance and protection of space systems.
At present, discussions about space security often remain confined to academics, technical experts, international diplomats and industry leaders. Education and science communication play key roles in broadening participation and bringing space security into wider public conversation.
Space as a civic issue
While outer space itself is governed as a global commons, many of these space-enabled services function as public goods that deliver broad benefit to entire communities and directly support all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Civics is about how citizens understand and participate in the systems, institutions and decisions that influence public life.
It is key in a sector that is highly technological, heavily reliant on public investment, increasingly shaped by public–private collaboration and sensitive to government spending decisions. Framing space as a civic issue brings it into the public sphere and equips citizens to engage in debates about funding, environmental impacts, commercial activity and national security. This, in turn, strengthens democratic accountability and informed public participation.
To understand why space should be treated as a civic issue, it is helpful to view space systems through four segments that show how space touches different layers of society and carries civic relevance for diverse stakeholders.
| Segment | Components | Civic relevance |
| Space segment | Satellites and spacecrafts. | Provides data on positioning, navigation and timing, EO data and data for civilian and government use. |
| Ground segment | Ground control stations, satellite dishes and mobile terminals that send and receive signals. | Enables connectivity for communities, emergency services and national infrastructure. |
| Link segment | Communication channels which include radio frequencies and laser communications that connect space with the ground segment. | Is vulnerable to interference or jamming which has implications for information security and resilience. |
| Human segment | Operators, decision-makers and end-users, including governments, private industry and citizens. | Determines how space systems are managed, governed and used responsibly. |
As discussed at UNIDIR’s Outer Space Security Conference 2025, if space systems were compromised, the effects would cascade across critical sectors and touch multiple international security dimensions.
The loss of space capabilities would affect environmental and climate security by weakening extreme-weather monitoring, threaten human security by disrupting humanitarian coordination and disaster response, and jeopardize economic and national security as financial systems, supply chains and critical infrastructure become compromised.
Treating space as a civic concern builds public awareness and buy-in for responsible behaviour and governance of space systems. It broadens the conversation to include the many communities and sectors that rely on space, while strengthening public expectations of transparency and accountability. This framing places space within the public imagination as a public issue.
While space law, policy and security issues are often viewed through international relations, a civic lens reframes them not only as international issues, but also as domestic public concerns. This reframing reflects the foundational principle of Article 1 of the Outer Space Treaty that states space activities must be carried out “for the benefit and in the interests of all countries,” stressing space as a shared public domain rather than a narrow topic.
The role of science communication
Once space is understood as a civic issue, science communication becomes the next step. Public understanding supports trust in the institutions that manage space systems and governance and encourages meaningful public engagement. Science communication broadly refers to the translation of scientific, technical and policy information into forms which the public can access, through education, multimedia, museums and other dissemination and outreach interfaces. At its core is science literacy: creating touchpoints that help people understand how scientific systems shape everyday life.
Applied to space, science communication can embed space in public discourse and build political support for engaged space policy. When a clear “space story” becomes embedded in public discourse, governments are likely better placed to justify investment in resilient space infrastructure, support more informed discussions on space policy and sustain political support for international cooperation. While space agencies have undertaken education and public outreach, these efforts should continue. Public messaging about why space matters is needed to foster long-term public ownership of space as a civic and scientific concern, with direct and indirect implications for space security.
Space and food security in Australia
Much of Australia’s space infrastructure is concentrated in its ground segment, which supports important sectors such as agriculture and mining. Farmers and irrigation technicians rely on EO data for precision agriculture, sustainable farming, pasture management and early detection of pests and disease.
This is an example of an issue not usually associated with space security. It is more often seen as a domestic or economic concern, and this dependence is less discussed in public. Framing space as a civic issue is consequently important, particularly in an economy where food production, food security and regional industries rely heavily on space-enabled services.
Science communication provides practical tools to bridge this gap and reveal how everyday dependencies are directly linked to space and food security. Targeted public narratives that present space systems as enablers of the industries that feed the nation and sustain regional livelihoods can elevate space as a public concern tied to food security and economic resilience.
As one of the most influential sectors in Australia’s economy, increased awareness would likely create more opportunities for agricultural communities to engage with space capabilities, integrate them into their operations, and build industry interest in supporting investment in the infrastructure they depend on. This framing shifts how space is understood, making an issue often seen as technical or international visible as a domestic civic concern with real, and often overlooked, security implications.
Further public perception research should be undertaken to better understand how different communities currently view space systems and where awareness gaps persist, which may help inform more effective engagement strategies.
Lifting space literacy
Space literacy aims to present space as a civic issue that cuts across multiple security dimensions. The ideas below outline how this could potentially be operationalized in education, workforce development and government.
- Embed education and dissemination in space policy. Future space policy and reviews of existing policies should explicitly integrate education and outreach strategies. Educators and institutions should be consulted in national space planning to reflect the needs of students and communities. Governments and industry should expand curriculum partnerships across academic and research institutions to show how space connects with existing subjects. Cross-disciplinary programmes can position space as a mainstream civic and economic issue, increase public touchpoints and support long-term space literacy.
- Strengthen school-to-industry pathways. Governments, education providers and industry should collaborate to expand internships, apprenticeships, vocational programmes and mentorships that provide practical exposure to multi-disciplinary space careers. International models such as the UK’s Space Placements in Industry programme offer instructive reference points. These pathways should highlight the diversity of careers across the space sector, including law, communications, cybersecurity, environmental science, business and the creative industries, to encourage a broad and inclusive future workforce.
- Strengthen space literacy to governments. Space literacy should also be strengthened across the public service. Although space infrastructure underpins defence, border protection, environmental monitoring and other government functions, its role often remains less visible outside specialist government agencies. Targeted training and development would help public servants understand how space systems support their portfolios, improve whole-of-government coordination and ensure that resourcing and governance decisions are made with a clearer understanding of national priorities.
Towards a space literacy agenda
Seeing space as a civic issue provides the foundational step for understanding how space systems shape a wide range of security concerns. Moving toward a space literacy agenda builds on this civic framing by lifting public awareness of how deeply societies depend on space systems.
Once education, outreach and public messaging efforts begin to take hold, space literacy can grow beyond awareness-raising into a more nuanced civic understanding. At this stage, space literacy aims to deepen public engagement with how space systems operate across societies, and how public ownership and responsibility for space span individual, community, national and international levels. The progression of space literacy can guide a more mature public conversation about collective dependence, shared interests in outer space and evolving ideas of citizenship, stewardship and responsibility in a 21st-century, space-enabled world.
Framing space as a civic issue also creates pathways for understanding how space security is shaped by cultural and regional contexts. Using Australia as an illustrative case, future directions for space literacy in the Asia-Pacific should consider how space is understood across different historical, cultural and linguistic contexts. Space literacy therefore offers a means to further understand how space dependencies intersect with State-specific and regional priorities, while informing broader discourse on space governance. Ultimately, embedding space in the public imagination strengthens the foundations of space security. Space literacy is not peripheral to space security; it is a long-term investment in the civic conditions that make secure and sustainable space activity possible.
Andre Kwok is an Australian lawyer and researcher at the Australasian Centre for Space Governance. He is interested in space law and space diplomacy with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. He has a background in criminal law and international criminal law, supporting high-profile criminal investigations, advising civil society research initiatives and serving as a legal consultant to the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials. Andre has degrees in law and Asian Studies from Australian National University.
The author wishes to thank Thando Mathe, Sarah Erickson, Almudena Azcaráte Ortega and Chealsea Mai for their expert review and feedback.
This commentary is a special feature of UNIDIR’s Youth Engagement initiative. The author, Andre Kwok, was selected as a winner of the Outer Space Security Conference 2025 Youth Campaign. The author writes in his personal capacity, and the views expressed in the publication are the sole responsibility of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Australian government, UN, UNIDIR nor their staff members or sponsors.