Sustained human activity beyond Low-Earth Orbit is shifting from isolated, mission-specific operations toward persistent, multiactor infrastructure, yet coordination, interoperability, and resource governance remain fragmented. This article develops a systems-level synthesis and a governance proposal for a Fully Functional Space Ecosystem (FFSE) spanning four interdependent domains (governance, in-space infrastructure, resource utilization, and biological life support) linked across the Earth–Moon–Mars corridor and the asteroid belt by an Interplanetary Logistics Grid. Its central contribution is institutional: a multilateral Space Ecosystem Organization, justified through a mandate-gap analysis of existing instruments (the Outer Space Treaty, COPUOS/UNOOSA, the ITU, and the Artemis Accords) that identifies functions no current body performs for sustained off-world operations. Methodologically, the study applies a structured evidence synthesis, a domain-by-domain gap analysis, a technology-readiness level assessment, and an order-of-magnitude feasibility check, with all sources classified by evidentiary tier and every claim labeled as evidence-based (near-term) or projective (long-horizon). On this basis, the binding technical gaps ( e.g. , in-situ resource utilization-to-propulsion integration, multiagent autonomy under communication latency, and partial-gravity life-support validation) are presented in a phased, criteria-gated roadmap from robotic prototyping to operational hubs. FFSE is based on an evidence-anchored architecture-and-governance framework whose near-term elements are grounded in flight and analog data and whose long-horizon elements are explicitly flagged as requiring further quantitative and empirical validation.
Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba (Wed,) studied this question.