Research programme

The battalions

Each battalion is a body of research on a single subject, run through the same staged pipeline: systematic reviews first, then chartered candidates, then adversarial defense before the Conclave, then chair ratification. They sit at five different stages, and this page shows that difference rather than flattening it.

1st Battalion

Space policy, missions and economics

Partly graduated

The founding cohort. Cliometric and econometric analysis of space policy, missions and economics, ranked by a weighted mission-priority list. Twelve candidates have graduated and the remaining backlog is large and unstaffed.

Candidates: 233
Graduated: 12
Backlog: 221

The twelve graduates cleared a six-seat Conclave gauntlet and were ratified by the chair on 2026-06-19: one outright pass and eleven passing with a named revision carried as a binding precondition. Each graduate minted a retrieval brain, and those brains now anchor part of the examining bench.

A survey of this corpus established that it contains no biology at all: every track is cliometric or econometric. That absence is the reason Battalion 4 exists.

Browse the dissertations

2nd Battalion

Space exploration sociotechnology

Chartered, awaiting ratification

One hundred and five candidate charters across thirty-five capability areas, three research facets each. The charters examine how institutions combine capability to meet a demanding technical baseline. They are written and the docket awaits chair ratification, so no candidate has entered the pipeline.

Charters: 105
Capability areas: 35
Defended: 0

Each charter is a falsifiable inquiry into institutional capability and partnership, scored against a reference baseline for its capability area. Of the thirty-five areas, twenty-seven reach or exceed that baseline with the best available partner and eight remain below it even with the strongest pairing, which marks where partnership alone is not sufficient and capability must be built or acquired.

The approval docket carries no approved charters. Until the chair ratifies it, every entry here is charter intent rather than a result.

Browse the candidates

3rd Battalion

Reserved

The 3 slot is reserved and has not been chartered or staffed. It is held deliberately rather than skipped, and the sequence gap between the 2nd and 4th Battalions is intentional.

Battalion 4

Food, nutrition and health in space

In progress

Ten systematic reviews across the sub-domains of astronaut food, nutrition and health. Phase A is underway. No defense may be seated yet, and the reason is recorded rather than hidden.

Records screened: 38,930
Analysable studies: 2,037
Sub-domains: 10
Defenses seated: 0

No defense may be seated in this battalion yet. The reason is a disclosed gate, not an oversight, and it is stated in full on the battalion page.

Read the Phase A progress and the open gate

Battalion 5

Space cybersecurity

Complete and ratified

Five systematic reviews over real published literature, and twenty-four defended candidates. All twenty-four passed chair ratification, each carrying its recorded caveats.

Records screened: 10,433
Confirmed: 357
Systematic reviews: 5
Candidates ratified: 24

Read the reviews and the roster

How to read a claim on this site

Real finding: Drawn from real published literature screened and appraised under a stated protocol, or from real verified records. Citable as a finding about the state of the evidence.
Methodology demonstration: The chartered design was executed on proxy data because the real data was not obtainable by this programme. It establishes that the design is constructible, executable and informative, and that commissioning the real study is warranted. It establishes nothing about real space systems.
Charter intent: A stated research intention that has not yet produced a defended result. Read it as a plan, not as an outcome.

The 3rd Battalion slot is reserved and unstaffed. It is held deliberately, so the gap between the 2nd and 4th Battalions is a reservation rather than a missing page.