Observing Above and Below: Power, Affect, and Knowledge Production in Space and Earth Sciences

Abstract (English)

This panel explores the multifaceted nature of observation as connected to space operations and their terrestrial entanglements, examining how different modes of sensing, knowing, and recording reshape our understanding of both cosmic and earthly phenomena. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted at observatories, space agencies, citizen science initiatives, and other space industries and institutions, our contributors investigate how observation operates simultaneously as a technology of power, an embodied practice of knowledge-making, and a key component of infrastructural systems.

We argue that observation in space sciences and the wider space sector cannot be divorced from questions of emplacement and locality, despite its apparent aspiration toward a universal, disembodied viewpoint. From the positioning of radio telescopes in radio-quiet zones that displace local communities, to the selection of specific wavelengths that render certain phenomena visible while obscuring others, to the terrestrial processes reshaped by space-based systems, observation emerges as a deeply political practice that reconfigures both physical and social landscapes. Simultaneously, we examine how individual researchers, technicians, and amateur astronomers develop intimate, tactile relationships with their instruments and data, creating what we term "observation-scapes" that blend technical expertise with embodied knowledge and affective engagement. We also trace the social and political repercussions, intentional and not, which arise as observation capabilities are developed and deployed across contexts.

The panel particularly focuses on the reciprocal relationship between Earth observation and cosmic observation. We demonstrate how technologies developed for planetary exploration reshape environmental monitoring on Earth, while terrestrial sensing practices inform our understanding of other worlds. This two-way traffic of methodologies and epistemologies reveals observation as a boundary-making practice that continuously redefines the limits between Earth and space, human and machine, subject and object.

Contributors draw on approaches from science and technology studies, environmental anthropology, and sensory ethnography to examine cases including: Indigenous astronomers incorporating traditional ecological knowledge into radio astronomy in Australia; the role of affect and embodied knowledge in calibrating space-based Earth observation instruments; citizen science initiatives that challenge traditional hierarchies of astronomical knowledge production; the political economy observation programs and resource management on Earth and in space; and the geopolitical tensions and social divisions disrupted or enforced through expanded observation and surveillance systems. Together, these papers offer new theoretical frameworks for understanding observation as both a tool of power and a practice of care, suggesting ways to democratize and decolonize observational practices in space sciences.