The announcement by a team of scientists from the University of Cambridge that they've found tentative evidence of life on another planet has been described as a "huge, transformational moment." But if it were ever confirmed that extraterrestrial intelligence exists in another corner of the cosmos, how would the news be relayed to humankind? Well, protocols specifically designed to impart such a historic and politically sensitive declaration are already in place.
Astropolitics is the theory and study of the effects that space has on politics. Besides setting out structured guidelines in response to confirmed signals from extraterrestrial civilizations, astropolitics is dedicated to the interdisciplinary analysis of civil, commercial, military, and intelligence space activities worldwide. But just how powerful is the politics of space?
Click through the gallery and go out of this world to find out.