The Ethics of the Colonization of Mars: Principle of Continuous Improvement Volume 3. 19 August by Sifwat Ali. Paperback · 1, FREE Delivery.
Table of contents
Robotic spacecraft to Mars are required to be sterilized, to have at most , spores on the exterior of the craft—and more thoroughly sterilized if they contact "special regions" containing water, [84] [85] otherwise there is a risk of contaminating not only the life-detection experiments but possibly the planet itself. It is impossible to sterilize human missions to this level, as humans are host to typically a hundred trillion microorganisms of thousands of species of the human microbiome , and these cannot be removed while preserving the life of the human.
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Containment seems the only option, but it is a major challenge in the event of a hard landing i. One possible ethical challenge that space travelers might face is that of pregnancy during the trip. NASA wants its crewmembers to treat each other like coworkers would in a professional environment. A pregnant member on a spacecraft is dangerous to all those aboard. The pregnant woman and child would most likely need additional nutrition from the rations aboard, as well as special treatment and care.
At some point during the trip, the pregnancy would most likely impede on the pregnant crew member's duties and abilities. It is still not fully known how the environment in a spacecraft would affect the development of a child aboard. It is known however that an unborn child in space would be more susceptible to solar radiation, which would likely have a negative effect on its cells and genetics.
It is unforeseen how the first human landing on Mars will change the current policies regarding the exploration of space and occupancy of celestial bodies. Since the planet Mars offers a challenging environment and dangerous obstacles for humans to overcome, the laws and culture on the planet will most likely be very different from those on Earth. Mars colonization is advocated by several non-governmental groups for a range of reasons and with varied proposals. Mars to Stay advocates recycling emergency return vehicles into permanent settlements as soon as initial explorers determine permanent habitation is possible.
Elon Musk founded SpaceX with the long-term goal of developing the technologies that will enable a self-sustaining human colony on Mars. I think it is absolutely realistic. I think over the next 20 years, we will take literally hundreds of thousands of people to space and that will give us the financial resources to do even bigger things". In June , Buzz Aldrin , American engineer and former astronaut , and the second person to walk on the Moon , wrote an opinion, published in The New York Times , supporting a human mission to Mars and viewing the Moon "not as a destination but more a point of departure, one that places humankind on a trajectory to homestead Mars and become a two-planet species.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Health threat from cosmic rays and Effect of spaceflight on the human body. Caves of Mars Project. Retrieved 12 June Russia Shoots for Moon, Mars". The Case for Mars: Retrieved 15 March Construction of the first prototype spaceship is in progress. Retrieved 1 October Retrieved 4 December Audacity, madness, brilliance—or maybe all three". Retrieved October 3, Prospective Energy and Material Resources illustrated ed. Archived from the original on February 22, Archived from the original PDF on Archived from the original on 23 June Planetary and Space Science — Eslevier.
Archived from the original PDF on October 16, Archived from the original PDF on 8 June International Journal of Astrobiology. Centennial Of Flight Commission. Archived from the original on April 30, Retrieved September 22, Archived from the original on The New York Times. Retrieved 15 May Retrieved 28 June Archived from the original on May 30, Retrieved 31 May Retrieved 30 September From Stargazers to Starships.
I can get humans to Mars in a month". Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets. Assured Communication with Mars". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Paper presented at Mars Special Edition, interview with Gwynne Shotwell audio file. Event occurs at Archived from the original mp3 on It is a transportation system between Earth and Mars.
SpaceX calls time on expendable launch vehicles". We have already spoiled one planet. Will we spoil others? Theologian Crysdale recommends that we incorporate this risk into our ethical vision. I say this in direct reference to the actions we take in terraforming or colonizing or exploring other planets. My caution is to point out that the conditions of possibility that we establish in the hopes of one outcome may at the same time establish conditions under which totally unforeseen schemes of recurrence become established" [ 29 ].
Crysdale has wisely asked us to consider human nature that is, human sinfulness when making plans. No ethical justification could suffice without acknowledgement of who we are as humans. Nevertheless, anticipating the unforeseen damage we humans are capable of is a principle one must incorporate into any such project, regardless of whether it is justified by appeal to an intrinsic or utilitarian ground. Should we terraform Mars or any other celestial body within our solar ghetto? On the one hand, McKay's argument that life is better than non - life provides a sound point of departure.
On the other hand, transplanting terrestrial life to an extraterrestrial location looks a great deal like colonizing. As we bring the history of terrestrial colonization to mind, we cannot avoid recalling the imperialism and greed that motivated colonization and the devastating impact of exploitation and genocide on the lands colonized. The Crysdale incorporation of risk based upon what we know from history about human nature gives one pause. Our pause cannot last too long. The Mars Society is already making plans to colonize the red planet.
Yes, and more places in the solar system. His "Mars Direct" colonization plan "advocates a minimalist, live-off-the-land approach to exploring the planet Mars, allowing for maximum results with minimum investment. Using existing launch technology and making use of the Martian atmosphere to generate rocket fuel, extracting water from the Martian soil and eventually using the abundant mineral resources of the Red Planet for construction purposes, the plan drastically lowers the amount of material which must be launched from Earth to Mars, thus sidestepping the primary stumbling block to space exploration and rapidly accelerating the timetable for human exploration of the solar system" [ 30 ].
Money raised from the private sector will support this effort. They are in a space race and plan to beat NASA to the fourth planet. While on the Mars surface, the ERV will set up and operate nuclear reactors, which will generate the fuel needed for the return trip, 13 months later. The second Earth-to-Mars launch will take place 26 months after the first, sending two more craft, a second ERV and a habitat module for the astronauts to live in.
After a year and a half on the Martian surface, the first crew returns to Earth, leaving behind the habitat, the rovers associated with it and any ongoing experiments conducted there. From this point on the cycle is repeated, with more and more of Mars opening up to human exploration and habitation. This will be the beginning of a permanent human settlement on the planet Mars.
As of the summer of the project planners began their selection of the first crew headed for the Red Planet in The crew would be given seven years of training in engineering, medicine, agriculture, and astrophysics. This would be a one way trip. Once the astronauts have landed, they would become Martians. The mood of the Mars Society and the Mars One project is one of promethean expectation.
The human race is being called by destiny to go, go, and go. To spread our race throughout the solar system fulfills our inherited evolutionary mandate, to fill every niche with life. Some Muslims find the prospect of Mars colonization objectionable, especially the risk of self-sacrifice on the part of the first explorers. Because the first wave of travelers from Earth to Mars will know in advance that they will not be returning, the one way trip idea looks like a plan for suicide. To this, Muslim theologians object.
In early the fatwa committee of the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment in the United Arab Emirates issued the fatwa after determining that "such a one-way journey poses a real risk to life, and that can never be justified in Islam. Indeed, Allah is to you ever merciful. It would seem to me that we need not think of one way trippers to Mars as necessarily committing suicide. There is a risk of death, to be sure; but there is also the prospect that earthlings might live a normal life span in the atmospheric bubble on Mars' surface.
To die of natural causes off-Earth does not necessarily count as suicide, in my judgment. When the Spanish crown commissioned Christopher Columbus in to sail west across the Atlantic Ocean, it was hoped he would return with gold and mineral wealth.
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Europe's race to the new world had begun a race to maximize national power and wealth through exploiting foreign land. Might we see a repeat here? Not exactly, Even if the Mars Society or Mars One are successful at establishing a permanent habitat for earthlings on Mars, it is not clear that this would lead to profits for those back on the third planet who funded their expedition. If profit is to be made, it would not likely occur within the lifetime of those planning the mission.
This gargantuan mission will have to rely on the promethean spirit, at least for the near future. Back on the third planet, the vast majority of earthlings will still be living here. The very thought that Mars might provide a safe refuge for Homo sapiens once we have polluted our home planet is utterly preposterous, according to anyone who has considered the matter.
We had better make our peace with one another and with our own biosphere, because Earth will continue to be our home for the foreseeable future. If we Homo sapiens do not get our act together and end up so fouling our habitat that we go extinct, the non-intelligent might we say "stupid" life in our solar system will not be limited to Titan microbes. Nevertheless, even with sober ecological policies, Earth will continue to be a dangerous home. The heavens hold plenty of threats. The Sun occasionally launches solar flares, which fry electricity grids by generating intense currents in wires.
Colonization of Mars - Wikipedia
A solar megastorm in sparked fires in telegraph offices. If such a flare would reach Earth today, it would knock out satellites and shut down power grids for months or longer. Such an event would incur trillions of dollars in economic damage. Although we rely upon the sun for our daily life, some day it just might kill us. In addition to solar threats, we need to anticipate the possibility of a large comet or asteroid strike.
On February 15, , more than Russian people were injured when an asteroid exploded just above the city of Chelyabinsk. The object vaporized roughly 15 miles above the surface of the Earth, causing a shock wave that triggered the global network of listening devices that was established to detect nuclear test explosions. The force of the explosion measured between and kilotons, equivalent to a modern nuclear bomb [ 32 ].
Within hours of the Russian disaster, another asteroid, DA14 passed between Earth and our geosynchronous satellites. Once or twice every two million years our planet gets smacked by rocks two kilometers or more in diameter, leading to extinctions. It is widely believed among scientists that 65 million years ago an asteroid ten kilometers in diameter hit Earth and triggered the mass extinction of dinosaurs. Can we protect Earth from future asteroid catastrophes? The Action Team identified three primary components of threat mitigation: The Action Team emphasized the value of finding hazardous NEOs as soon as possible in order to avoid unnecessary delays in NEO threat mitigation missions.
Recommendations of the Action Team are meant to: Solar flares and asteroid strikes. Such an event - expected once every million years or so - would double the amount of ultraviolet light reaching the ground and scorch phytoplankton, which make up the base of the ocean's food web. Astronomers are unable to predict such bursts, so we have no way of knowing whether such a rare event is imminent.
What about long-soft bursts? Long-soft bursts are rarer than short-hard bursts. In addition, they are easier to spot in advance because they come from larger, brighter stars [ 34 ]. How does knowledge of these potential threats from the heavens provoke ethical concerns? Because these damage scenarios lead us to think ahead. We need to plan for our planet's future, and we need to incorporate such possibilities into our planning. With regard to solar flares, fortunately, there are ways to mitigate the damage should it occur: With regard to a comet or asteroid strike, we will be given advanced notice.
A diversion strategy could be effective, perhaps by hitting the object while it is yet far away with a nuclear bomb. We have no way to prevent gamma ray bursts from striking our Earth, but we could provide protective shields in sanctuaries for life forms we wish to restart following the event. These matters belong to our ethical quandary. Just how will we respond? We have been suggesting that the community most appropriate for deliberating over such matters would consist of all the peoples of Earth working together. Race has been making this point based on the principle of inclusivity.
This suggests that ethicists must be "proactive in expanding the dialogue" so that it becomes planetary in scope. Space ethics must rely on the equivalent of "informed societal consent" [ 1 ]. Perhaps the matter of establishing a single planetary community of moral deliberation is even more urgent than Race's push for inclusivity. When confronting scenarios that have a planet-wide impact such as a threatening asteroid, the planet as a whole should become the community of moral deliberation and provide the network to shoulder the responsibility.
Planetary plans to meet such threats should be international or supranational. The principle of distributive justice may require that each nation contribute to a coordinated effort in proportion to its capability by providing either technological expertise or funding for such expertise. Planetization is a corollary to the notion of a cosmic commons. Ecoimages such as "green globalization" or "spaceship Earth" connote the circumstances that lead to the concept of a single planetary society.
A longterm global ecoethic or accompanying cosmic astroethic should be the product of a single planetary society that rises above the selfdestructive greed of competing subsidiary economic forces. Despite the fact that the field of astroethics is the new kid in school, already a considerable list of issues appears on its report card.
Within our solar ghetto, we must provide ethical deliberation prompted by the prospect that we will be traveling in outer space and that we may discover primal or microbial life, what we affectionately call stupid life, within our solar neighborhood. These prospects elicit an ethical quandary regarding matters such as: These quandaries prompt in us a sense of responsibility. The very knowledge that such challenges may be approaching us in the future is sufficient to prompt in us the question: The matter becomes more complex when we ask: It appears obvious that challenges to the future of all life on Earth actually, all life in the cosmic commons lead to the prospect of planetization.
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All peoples of Earth in cooperation need to deliberate over what is best for our planet as a whole, and our cosmic commons as a whole. Can the peoples of Earth think of themselves as a single planetary society shouldering responsibility for all biota and even abiotic factors in our solar ghetto?
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Select your language of interest to view the total content in your interested language. Please leave a message, we will get back you shortly. Home Publications Conferences Join Contact. Guidelines Upcoming Special Issues. Mar 18, Abstract The field of Astroethics addresses moral and societal issues arising out of speculation regarding terrestrial contact with extraterrestrial life in both its intelligent and non-intelligent forms.
Strom RG We are not alone: Extraterrestrial Technological Life in our Galaxy. Peters T "Astroethics: The Emerging Science of Astrobiology, eds.
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