The Karman Project Launches World’s First Space Peace Prize™ Amid Rising Geopolitical Tensions

Berlin, Germany, 2 October 2025 – The Karman Project, a leading global non-profit foundation dedicated to advancing international cooperation in outer space, yesterday launched the Space Peace Prize™ - the first award of its kind to champion critical peace efforts in the space domain.

The launch comes at a pivotal moment: outer space is becoming more crowded, contested, and vulnerable amid rising geopolitical tensions, militarisation, and mounting sustainability challenges.¹ At the same time, unprecedented commercial activity and rapid technological advances are unlocking extraordinary opportunities for human progress. With space now woven into every facet of modern life - from trade and communications to navigation, climate monitoring, and disaster response - the Space Peace Prize seeks to galvanise the positive forces shaping our shared future, while countering the dangerous trends that threaten it.

More Than an Award: A Dynamic, Global Platform to Scale Peace in Space

Led by a coalition of the world’s leading voices in space and peacebuilding, the Space Peace Prize will stand as the foremost international recognition for projects and initiatives that advance peace and sustainability in space. Explicitly dedicated to recognising cross-border, cross-disciplinary, project-based collaboration, it embraces a modern philosophy of peace - iterative, cooperative, and rooted in sustainability. The Prize will spotlight groundbreaking projects - with eligibility ranging across the spheres of technology, science, diplomacy, culture, and the arts - through a shortlisting process, before an independent jury of luminaries will be tasked with bestowing one project annually with the coveted Space Peace Prize. Nominations will be openly solicited, and all judging criteria, selection processes, and jury memberships will be publicly disclosed.

“We know that our future as humans is being built in space. So we have the choice: do we want to build this future in a peaceful manner or do we want to build this future in a confrontational manner? With the Space Peace Prize, we want to award the groups of people who are building the future of space in a peaceful and cooperative manner.”
— Hélène Huby, Co-Founder and Chair of The Karman Project and CEO of The Exploration Company

Importantly, the Prize aims to catalyse action; championing a spirit of ingenuity across technical, scientific, cultural, and diplomatic efforts that drive innovation and provide tangible solutions to key challenges. Beyond establishing symbolic inspiration for excellence in cooperation - a compelling North Star that the international community can aspire towards - the Space Peace Prize is a dynamic platform that ensures real solutions are given the resources and support they need to scale and succeed. Each Prize recipient will represent a proven model to follow - a project worthy of global attention and support - illuminating clear numerous pathways towards a new benchmark for peace, responsibility, and sustainability in space. 

“We need visible examples of peaceful cooperation ... The Space Peace Prize really helps highlight the way that we need to behave, and the way we need to recognize the best, and the brightest, and the most forward thinking amongst ourselves. It’s a rare moment in history.”
— Col. Chris Hadfield, Canadian Astronaut (ret.) and International Space Station Commander, Space Peace Prize™ Ambassador

Assembling a Global Alliance for Cooperation Across Borders and Sectors

The Prize was unveiled to the world’s premier space leaders - including space agency heads, astronauts, executives, scientists, and policymakers - at the Space Peace Prize Inaugural Gala yesterday evening at the Sydney Opera House. Keynote speakers included Hélène Huby, Chair of The Karman Project and CEO of The Exploration Company, Aarti Holla-Maini, Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Enrico Palermo, Head of the Australian Space Agency, and Clay Mowry, President of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF).

“At a time marked by growing global uncertainty, space continues to offer a powerful model for peaceful cooperation - but only if we actively champion it. The Space Peace Prize is a timely opportunity for the world’s leading space players to unite in ensuring space remains inclusive, cooperative, and in the service of humankind for generations to come.”
— Hannah Ashford, Managing Director of The Karman Project

The inaugural call for nominations and formal award process will begin in 2026. The Karman Project is proud to be co-designing the Prize with a coalition of early partners representing a diversity of regions and disciplines, including EnduroSat, International Space University, Rakia Mission, The Exploration Company, and Maldives Space Research Organisation. The Karman Project is inviting additional engagement from institutions, agencies, philanthropic actors, industry leaders, non-profits, and multilateral bodies spanning the space sector and beyond to advance this initiative through strategic collaboration, financial support, and shared stewardship. 

About The Karman Project

The Karman Project is a globally recognised non-profit and independent foundation promoting peace and security in space through international cooperation. Chaired by Hélène Huby and guided by such esteemed board members as Jean-Jacques Dordain and William Gerstenmaier, the foundation’s singular convening power enables it to bring together public and private sector decision-makers to build common understandings and impactful projects that serve sustainability, education, science, security, and capacity-building efforts. To date, The Karman Project’s highly curated community of entrepreneurs, astronauts, space executives, researchers, and artists from more than 70 nations across 6 continents has initiated projects servicing the immediate needs of 5M+ people worldwide. The foundation's vision is to enable the most consequential projects and cooperative missions to serve the future of space and humanity. The foundation is headquartered in Berlin, Germany. 

www.karmanproject.org

¹ Outer space is intricately woven with all facets of modern life, enabling trade, communications, navigation, environmental monitoring, and disaster response, but is severely under threat. Global peacefulness has deteriorated for six consecutive years, with 13 of the last 17 years indicating a decrease in peacefulness. There are currently 59 active state-based conflicts, the most since the end of WWII. Global military expenditure of $2.7 trillion is at an all-time high, climbing across all five global regions, with 2024 featuring the steepest year-on-year increase since at least 1988. Such investment extends into space, where over a dozen countries have or are further developing counterspace capabilities. Conflicts without end are increasingly a new norm, and experts concur that “many of the leading factors that precede major conflicts are higher than they have been since the end of WWII.” Without a concerted global initiative to establish peace in space, the world faces catastrophe extending beyond the Kármán line.