Table Of ContentSpace Ethics
Space Ethics
Brian Patrick Green
ROWMAN&LITTLEFIELD
Lanham•Boulder•NewYork• London
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Copyright©2022byBrianPatrickGreen
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Names:Green,BrianPatrick,author.
Title:Spaceethics/BrianPatrickGreen.
Description:Lanham:Rowman&Littlefield,2021.|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2021025441(print)|LCCN2021025442(ebook)|ISBN9781786600264(cloth)|ISBN
9781786600271(paperback)|ISBN9781786600288(epub)
Subjects:LCSH:Astronautics—Moralandethicalaspects.|Astronautics—Socialaspects.|Outerspace—
Exploration—Moralandethicalaspects.
Classification:LCCBJ60.G742021(print)|LCCBJ60(ebook)|DDC174/.96294—dc23
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Contents
1 WhySpaceEthics? 1
2 Questionsof“Should”:EthicsAppliedtoSpace 15
3 RiskandSafety 35
4 SpaceandHumanHealth 51
5 TheDangersofSpaceDebris 67
6 Military,Dual-UseActivities,andInternationalRelationsinSpace 81
7 ProtectingEarthfromHazardousAsteroidsandOtherExtraterrestrialDangers 103
8 AstrobiologyandtheSearchforExtraterrestrialLife 123
9 Contamination,PlanetaryProtection,andResponsibleExploration 135
10 TheSearchforExtraterrestrialIntelligence 153
11 NewPlayersinSpace:NewNationsandCommercial,Private,and
NongovernmentalActivities 171
12 TravelingtothePlanetsandtheStars:VeryLongDurationSpaceflightand
HumanBiology 195
13 BuildingYourMartianHome:LivinginandSettlementofSpace 217
14 Planetary-ScaleInterventionsonEarthandAfar 239
15 Conclusion 257
Acknowledgments 261
Glossary/Keywords 263
Bibliography 271
Credits 287
Index 289
v
Chapter One
Why Space Ethics?
Figure1.1. Likehumansmightsomedaydoinspacewithplanets,Polynesiannavigatorstraveled
enormousdistancesacrossthePacificOceanfindingandsettlinginnumerableislands.
1
2 Chapter1
Space is everything that is around and beyond the Earth; it is “the final frontier”1 of human
exploration.Theuniverseisvast,spanningbillionsoflightyears.Incomparison,theEarthisa
tinyplace.Yeteveryhumaneverbornhaslivedonthisspeck.Andallhumanethicalsystems
have been developed here, with this planet and human beings in mind. Our perspective has
beenlimited.
However, humankind is leaving the Earth, slowly heading for the stars. In the Apollo
missions between 1969 and 1972, humans landed on the Moon and returned to Earth, but no
onehasreturnedsince.IntheinterimwehavefilledorbitsaroundtheEarthwithsatellitesand
sent probes beyond the edges of the solar system. Space was once about political status and
“bigscience,”butnowithasalsobecomebigbusiness,andthenatureofspaceexplorationis
changing. Each one of these various endeavors in space raise many questions, such as: Is it
technicallypossible?Isitpoliticallypossible?Isiteconomicallyworthit?And,ultimately,the
questionofethics:“Isitgood?”Andifso,then:“Shouldwe?”
The purpose of this book is to look at the exploration and use of space through an ethical
lens, and in so doing not only to provide insight into those specific questions but also to
investigatethevarioushumanethicalresourcesavailableforsuchexaminationsandhopefully
tofindnewinsightsintoourpresentethicalproblemshereonEarth.
EXPLORATION
Space exploration is a particular kind of exploration, and as such it is helpful to situate it
within the context of the history of exploration of the Earth. The earliest human ancestors
originatedinAfricaandthenspreadacrosstheworld,evenreachingTierradelFuegoandthe
tiny islands of the Pacific. Later waves of humans also spread forth from various locales on
Earth,propelledbytechnologicalinnovations;political,religious,andeconomicinterests;and
populationpressure.Atthispointintime,therearefewplacesonthelandsurfaceoftheEarth
that humanshavenot explored (thoughtheicecaps of Greenland and Antarctica are not well
explored and the deep oceans even less—and that is most of the planet). Instead, in recent
decades,withlittlelandtoexplore,humanshaveexploredmoreinwardlyanddeeply,through
the arts, sciences, and technology, expanding our knowledge of the universe without going
veryfarspatially.Onefruitofthisscientificandtechnologicalexplorationhasbeenincredible
knowledgeofspace.Thisknowledgeofspace—thatitcontainselementsusableforhumanlife
andnewplaceshumanscouldsettle—alongwiththetechnologytonowreachtheseplacesand
even survive and flourish there has made people interested in doing so. After exploring the
Earth,touchingtheMoon,anddoingafewdecadesofresearchbefore our nextstep, it seems
thatitmightnowbethetimetotakethatnextstepandgoforthintospace.Itseemsthenatural
nextstepintheprogressionofhistory.Butshouldwe?
While many people today might see exploration as an essentially human activity, it is in
fact not.2 Humans can choose to explore or not to explore, and cultures throughout history
havepredominantlychosenoneortheother,sometimeswithabruptswitchesbetweenthetwo.
Ming China is a prime example of a society that boldly ventured forth in exploration, in
massiveexpeditionsledbyZhengHeintheearly1400s,onlytolaterchangeitsmindandlet
the world come to it. Throughout most of history people simply remained near where they
werebornorwithintheterritoryoftheirculturalgroup,andtherewasnoreasontogobeyond
that.The “frontier” (ifsuch anotion evenexisted—andthe notion can certainly be a point of
critique today) was not a place of curiosity and opportunity but of ignorance, disdain, and
peril.
WhySpaceEthics? 3
However, not all cultures were or are the same. The open perspective of the earlier Ming
has appeared in other places in history too. In Western Europe this open perspective on
exploration took root and grew in such a way that has, for better and for worse, strongly
contributed toward transforming the world into what it is today. The optimistic ideal of
exploration that has captured the Western mind for the past few centuries can be condensed
intoaphrasefromEnglishphilosopherandmathematicianAlfredNorthWhitehead,whosaid
in 1933, “Without adventure civilisation is in full decay.”3 Is Whitehead right? Are static
civilizations actually in decay, or are they in fact “progressive” when they are content with
what they have and who they are? How can we know? In this context, Whitehead was
referringtothephysicalexplorationofnewplacesandthementalexplorationofnewintellec-
tual terrain, but we should not underestimate the connection between the two. Indeed, this
volumehopestomakethatconnectionclearer.
Beginning in the 1400s, the Age of Discovery began in Europe, as Portuguese, Spanish,
Italian, Dutch, English, French, and others ventured forth in search of profit, knowledge,
settlement,andthereligiousconversion—andsometimesdestruction—ofIndigenouspeoples.
As Ming China receded from exploration, Europe surged forth, starting colonies around the
globe,includinginthe“NewWorld”oftheWesternHemisphere,andbeginningnewscalesof
international trade. Two “worlds” became one world. Crops, diseases, trade items, technolo-
gies, and peoples—free and enslaved—were transported in a massive process known as the
ColumbianExchangethathascontinuedtoshapeeventseversince.4
Exploration isnot without risk, both for the explorer and the explored. While Christopher
Columbusiscreditedwith“discovering”theNewWorldin1492,thoughhedidnotrecognize
what he had found (and it was already “discovered” by those who lived there, as well as by
previousOldWorldexplorers,suchasLeifErikson),whathereallydidwasconnectmultiple
civilizationsatverydifferentlevelsoftechnologyandvulnerability.Withinafewdecades,the
New World’s Indigenous empires lay in ruins, new empires arose, fortunes were lost and
gainedandlostagain,andmillionsweredead.Thishistoricalcaseisparadigmaticofcareless
andexploitativeexploration.DespitethegreatgoodsthatcamefromthediscoveryoftheNew
World,suchasnewfoodsandresources,massiveeconomicgrowth,scientificdiscoveries,and
new forms of governance, there were extremely negative effects too. Genocide, extractive
colonialism,andtheintroductionsofdiseasesandinvasivespeciesprovidenegativeexamples,
and in the history of exploration, there are many more cases where, in retrospect, contempo-
rary humans might wish better decisions had been made. While the “new worlds” of space
may seem very different from the “New World” of Earth’s Western Hemisphere and other
colonizedlands,humansoughttoheedthelessonsofthepastandpreparetodobetterthanwe
havedonebefore.Thequestionsexplorersfaceareoftenethicalquestions,andhowwedecide
to act in the face of new opportunities and challenges will set a tone for our endeavors in
space.Respectingthispast,thisbookdoesnotrefertospace“colonization”butrathertospace
“settlement,”“colonization”notonlybeingoffensivebutalsolikelyaninaccuratedescription
ofthestatusoffuturehumansettlementsinspace.5
SHOULDWEGO?
While human individuals and cultures can choose not to explore, when they do choose to
explore,it can become second nature. For good and for ill, we can be a very curious species.
TheWesternexperimentinexplorationhasnowbecomeaglobalexperiment probingscience
andtechnology,andthefulloutcomeoftheexperimentisnotyetknown.Sofarthebenefits—
longer and healthier lives, improved communication and transportation, alleviation of suffer-
