Space Anthropology with Savannah Mandel

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For this episode of Platypod, I interviewed space anthropologist Savannah Mandel about her new book Ground Control: An Argument for the End of Human Space Exploration (Chicago Review Press, 2024) where she writes about commercial space exploration in the US based on her ethnographic fieldwork with SpacePort America in New Mexico, and with space policymakers in Washington DC. 

The book also chronicles the context of the author’s journey as a scholar and a young woman working in the commercial space industry in the US, discussing the difficulties of gaining access to certain technical field sites. 

In our conversation, beyond commercial space exploration and anthropology we also talked about scientific colonialism, asteroid mining, ethnographic fieldwork, applied anthropology, and more. 

A little bit more about our Platypod guest:

Image by the author.

Savannah Mandel is a PhD Candidate in STS and an author who specializes in tech ethics and outer space. She has conducted ethnographic fieldwork at Spaceport America, worked for the commercial spaceflight industry, and writes full-time as a non-fiction and fiction author. Her new release, Ground Control: An Argument Against Human Space Exploration, interrogates the motivations behind human space exploration and how it will affect humanity.