The Ethics Of Space

Across the Western world, full membership of society is established through entitlements to space, formalized in the institutions of property and citizenship. Those without such entitlements thus become less than fully human, as they struggle to find a place where they can symbolically and physically exist. The Ethics of Space is an unprecedented account from an anthropologist who accidentally found herself homeless, studying what happens when homeless people organize to occupy abandoned properties. Set against the backdrop of economic crisis, austerity, and a disintegrating British state, Steph Grohmann describes a flourishing squatter community in the city of Bristol, and its eventual outlawing by this state. Contrary to a mainstream discourse that seeks to divide squatters into the 'deserving' homeless and 'undeserving' activists, Grohmann shows that squatters may in fact be homeless people who, choose to challenge property and the State.

This book aims to contribute significantly to the understanding of issues of value (including the ultimate value of space-related activities) which repeatedly emerge in interdisciplinary discussions on space and society. Although a recurring feature of discussions about space in the humanities, the treatment of value questions has tended to be patchy, of uneven quality and even, on occasion, idiosyncratic rather than drawing upon a close familiarity with state-of-the-art ethical theory. One of the volume's aims is to promote a more robust and theoretically informed approach to the ethical dimension of discussions on space and society. While the contributions are written in a manner which is accessible across disciplines, the book still withstands scrutiny by those whose work is primarily on ethics. At the same time it allows academics across a range of disciplines an insight into current approaches toward how the work of ethics gets done. The issues of value raised could be used to inform debates about regulation, space law and protocols for microbial discovery as well as longer-range policy debates about funding.

Throughout history, humans have explored new places, making both good and bad moral decisions along the way. As humanity proceeds to explore space, it is important that we learn from the successes and not repeat the mistakes of the past. This book provides the first comprehensive introduction to ethics as it applies to space exploration and use. It examines real-world case studies that exemplify the ethical challenges we face in exploring beyond Earth: space debris, militarization in space, hazardous asteroids, planetary protection, the search for extraterrestrial life, commercial and private sector activities in space, space settlements, very long duration missions, and planetary-scale interventions. Major themes include human health, environmental concerns, safety and risk, governance and decision-making, and opportunities and challenges of multidisciplinary and international contexts. Ideal for classroom use and beyond, the book provides ways of thinking that will help students, academics and policymakers examine the full range of ethical decisions on questions related to space exploration.

Space exploration and off-world commercial activity engage the attention of both enthusiasts and skeptics. Despite differing opinions, what does seem clear is that such activity has increased and is set to expand further—and dramatically so—during the present century. This book explores some of the ethical issues of the emerging space frontier and evaluates the prospects for the medium-range future: Can terraforming of other worlds succeed? Would it be defensible? Should there be limits to mining in space? Do lifeless planets have an integrity that ought to be respected? Could indigenous microbacteria have intrinsic value? Do we have a duty to extend human life? The ethics of sending generation ships on interstellar journeys and the risks associated with seeding other worlds with rudimentary forms of life are also discussed. As exploration is as much about humanity as it is about space, the book concludes with a study of the connection between the sharing of a home planet and membership of a single moral community.

As space develops as a potential war fighting domain, so does the need to have ethical scrutiny. Since the 1960s there have been core space treaties that together with national laws, provide a clear framework for both military and civilian space activities, yet ethical questions still exist around space warfare. Is it appropriate to respond kinetically on earth to a threat in space? Does just war theory apply in space and does the remoteness of space lower or raise the threshold for armed conflicts? Will the creation of new space forces start a space arms race? New combat environments also create a number of new challenges, including whether future war in space will be conducted by robots or space marines, and how the dual-use nature of satellites will impact on their permissibility as targets in any future conflict. As technologies become more widespread, space may be threatened by the likes of non-state groups and rogue states, leading to a need to inhibit their movement in space. In space, differences are magnified; resources are especially scarce, risks are multiplied, and specialized medical care is a world away. The physical and psychological distance between combatants in modern warfare applies also to space and the impacts of remote warfare need to be considered including the potential for moral injury and psychological trauma. With greater military power comes greater responsibility and this responsibility is carried out at the end of a chain of decisions and technologies. This book's relevancy will not be lost on students at service academies and staff colleges in preparing them for the task of emphasizing ethical responsibility in space to those whom they will lead in the future.

With his particular questioning style, Jacques Arnould takes us on a journey through the history of space exploration and utilisation from a multidisciplinary perspective. This book deals with philosophical and societal questions, national and international policy, legal and responsibility aspects. By asking the right questions, Jacques helps us understand many of the questions most humans ask themselves about why, what, for whom, for how long and how humanity will (or should) expand its presence in and benefit from outer space. The French CNES is the first space agency that decided to employ an expert in the ethics of space activities, and the International Space University and the University of South Australia are the only where space ethics is regularly taught in its programs as part of its unique multidisciplinary curricula.

Not since man set foot on the moon over four decades ago has there been such passion and excitement about space exploration. This enthusiasm and eagerness has been spurred on by the fact that for the first time since the very beginning of the space age, space travel is no longer limited to an elite group of highly trained and well-disciplined military officers and test pilots. Instead, we must understand that the possibility of commercial space travel is already on our horizon and that it comes with a number of significant practical and moral challenges. Our level of scientific development and ability to influence international affairs and policy confers upon us an obligation to study the ethical, legal and social considerations associated with space exploration and understanding the potential consequences from the beginning is critical. This volume provides the first comprehensive and unifying analysis concerning the rise of private space exploration, with a view toward developing policy that may influence real-world decision making. The plethora of questions demanding serious attention - privatisation and commercialisation, the impact on the environment, health futures, risk assessment, responsibility and governance - are directly addressed in this scholarly work.

2011: fifty years separate us from the flight of Yuri Gagarin. Fifty years of extraordinary successes, with the kind of apotheosis represented by the first man on the moon; fifty years also of bitter failures, even tragic when they involved the deaths of human beings; finally, fifty years during which space largely contributed to the scientific and technical, political and economic, cultural and social transformation of humanity. This is a critical analysis of the decisions and the actions which constituted and constitute still the field of astronautic activities, to analyse this field's strategies and choices, their consequences on the natural environment and on humans, in short to work out and apply an ethical investigation. This work is the fruit of research carried out by the French Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) over the past ten years, in collaboration with many organisations, astronautical or not: ESA, NASA and especially ESPI.