A Covenant to our Companion Species

What happens when Indigenous wisdom meets the stars?

 

Prathima Muniyappa is an artist, designer, and conservationist whose work explores the

intersections of indigenous knowledge, space exploration, and emerging technologies. As a

researcher at the MIT Media Lab’s Space Enabled group, whose mission is to advance justice in Earth's complex systems using designs enabled by space, her research investigates alternative cosmologies and cultural ontologies for their potential to contribute to emerging discourse on techno-imaginaries in the realm of space exploration, synthetic biology and extended intelligence.

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The Balanite seed, chosen by Nashulai Maasai elders, will journey into orbit, symbolizing resilience, adaptation, and Indigenous contributions to humanity’s future beyond Earth.

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 Why the Balanite Seed?

• Cultural Symbolism: Deeply tied to Maasai traditions & survival.

• Environmental Adaptability: Thrives in arid conditions, mirroring challenges of extraterrestrial life.

• A Call for Balance: Bridging ancient knowledge with modern scientific frontiers.

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The animate mysteries of the cosmos have served as the seedbed for humanity’s origin

stories and Indigenous people across the globe have remained explorers of this enigma

through rich cultural cosmologies evolved over millennia of observation. Their knowledge

represents diverse ontologies that offer insight into radically different relationships that

humans have evolved about space and its exploration and is a fount of intangible heritage

that rarely makes an appearance in mainstream discourses. As humans become

prominent actors in extraterrestrial realms, it stirs in its wake complex questions of identity

politics. Whose identity becomes a blueprint for ‘humanity’? What cultures are represented

and how? Do certain forms of epistemological positions and histories generate extractive

futures and agendas? Does space exploration need decolonisation? What cultures and

narratives are silenced by deliberate obscuration or worse by ignorance and apathy?

These questions emerge as a dialectic to monolithic identities and monocultures of mind

that currently underpin the mainstream discourse and the storied cultural heritage, and

alternative cultural ontologies relating to the cosmos and other dimensions, and extended

voyages may thicken and lend much-needed nuance for a more inclusive and diverse

mythology of future space exploration.

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This project explores various epistemologies embedded in the traditional ecological

knowledge and cosmologies of a diverse group of Indigenous communities in India, Kenya

and Chile and proposes artistic interventions that seek to restore agency and active participation with modern techno-imaginaries in the realm of space exploration. During her time on Studio Verde’s artist residency program in the Maasai community of Nashulai Conservancy, she engaged with elders and community members to document their celestial wisdom, learning about their traditions, stories of the stars, and their relationship with the cosmos.

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The Maasai creation tale begins when the god, Enkai gave his third son, ancestor of the

Maasai, a long herder's stick and a rope by which cattle slid down to earth from space, a

cosmologic that de-seats human centrality and dominance within narratives of space, and

introduces narratives of non-human mastery in space-based journeying. Cosmologics like these reveal the bias inherent in Western frameworks that place human intelligence, and indeed human intelligence that has imperial ambition and colonial desire as the benchmark of intelligence in the search for extraterrestrial life and Indigenous ontologies that presume the animist, enspirited nature of plants, animals and other beings, geological or vegetal, life ornon-life can offer us ways to frame our legal imagination differently, not the right to land but rather the rights of the land itself, not our right to contact and search for extra terrestrial life, but rather the right of extra terrestrial life to consent to being surveilled. Inspired by the Maasai’s story of Enkai sending cows from the moon to Earth, she saw an opportunity to reframe our covenant to the companion species that make up our shared ecosystem. This vision led her to propose an initiative to send Indigenous seeds into space gathered from various communities across the globe, the Khasi and the Soliga in India, the Likanantai in Chile, the Lakota in America, the Maya in the Yucatan and the Maasai in Nashulai. These seeds will make the incredible journey to low earth orbit and return to earth and some of them upon arrival will undergo a process called electron sputtering to be made into mirrors so that they can reflect our gaze back onto ourselves. The challenge of the Chthulucene, as Donna Harraway, so eloquently reminds us is one of staying with the trouble to bear witness to our own darkness without looking away.

Consider the fact that our current ecological crisis to which space exploration is inexorably

linked, is not only a crisis stemming from the lack of biodiversity but is also a crisis emerging

from a profound lack of ethnodiversity. We are fast becoming monocultures of mind. Indigenous cultures epitomise the old-growth forests of the mind, cultural ecosystems that are last bastions of diversity in an increasingly homogenising world. The reality of climate change necessitates a radical imagination of previous modes of consumption, extraction and inhabitation, and the future of space demands a radical examination of ideas of exploration, contact and settlement and nestled among the storied wisdom of Indigenous communities are alternative ontologies to help us orient ourselves towards the cosmos.

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The Balanite Seed: A Symbol of Maasai Resilience in Space

 

In a cross-cultural collaboration between the Maasai community and space exploration

initiatives, the Nashulai Conservancy elders carefully selected a seed to represent their heritage and vision for the future. After deep discussion, they chose the Balanite seed (Balanites aegyptiaca)—also known as the Desert Date—a plant deeply embedded in Maasai culture, survival, and sustainability.

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Why the Balanite Seed?

The Maasai community’s decision to send this seed into space was rooted in several profound

reasons:

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Cultural Significance: The Balanite tree has been a cornerstone of Maasai traditions for

generations. Its fruits, seeds, and oils are essential in ceremonies, medicine, and daily

life. Sending it to space symbolises the endurance and adaptability of the Maasai

people.

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Medicinal and Nutritional Value: The tree provides vital nourishment and healing

properties. Its oil is used to treat ailments, while its fruit offers essential nutrients. This

resilience mirrors the sustainability needed for long-term survival beyond Earth.

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Environmental Adaptability: The Balanite tree thrives in harsh, arid conditions, making

it an emblem of survival against climate change. This characteristic draws parallels with

the challenges of growing life in extraterrestrial environments.

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Symbolic Connection to Space Exploration: The Maasai community recognizes the

importance of balancing tradition with the future. By sending this seed into space, they

bridge ancient wisdom with modern scientific frontiers, showing that indigenous

knowledge has a place in humanity’s journey beyond Earth.

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This initiative stands as a powerful testament to the Maasai’s relationship with nature, their

contributions to global conservation, and the broader discourse on space ethics. It challenges

dominant narratives about space exploration, reminding the world that humanity’s future among the stars must be guided by ecological wisdom, sustainability, and respect for all life forms.

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As this seed embarks on its journey beyond Earth, it carries with it the spirit of the

Maasai—rooted in tradition yet reaching for the cosmos.

 

Update on the Launch

The Balanite seed’s journey to space was originally scheduled for launch on the 13th of

February on a Blue Origin New Shepard Payload. The payload carried other experiments from the Space Enabled group, but they generously gave 15 gms of the payload to house the seeds. However, due to unforeseen weather conditions, the mission has been temporarily postponed.

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Despite this delay, the seed remains ready for its historic journey, and the Maasai community

eagerly anticipates its eventual voyage beyond Earth.

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This moment serves as a reminder that just as the Balanite tree endures the challenges of

harsh environments, this initiative, too, embodies resilience and patience. When the launch

does take place, it will carry not only the seed but also the hopes, stories, and wisdom of the

Maasai people into the vastness of space, marking a profound milestone in the intersection of

Indigenous knowledge and space exploration.