The Bioethics of Space Exploration (original) (raw)
Related papers
. Monash Bioethics Review, 2022
We examine the bioethical issues that arise from long-duration space missions, asking what there is that is distinctive about such issues. We pay particular attention to the possibility that such space missions, certainly if they lead to self-sustaining space settlements, may require human enhancement, and examine the significance of reproduction in space for bioethics. We conclude that while space bioethics raises important issues to do with human survival and reproduction in very hazardous environments, it raises no issues that are distinct from those in terrestrial bioethics. Rather, space bioethics raises extreme versions of bioethical issues that are already found in the military, when working in extreme environments (such as Antarctica), or when living in circumstances (such as in prison) where one's autonomy is severely curtailed.
Szocik, Norman & Reiss 2019 SciEngineerEthics Ethical challenges in human space missions
Science and Engineering Ethics, 2019
This article examines some selected ethical issues in human space missions including human missions to Mars, particularly the idea of a space refuge, the scientific value of space exploration, and the possibility of human gene editing for deep-space travel. Each of these issues may be used either to support or to criticize human space missions. We conclude that while these issues are complex and context-dependent, there appear to be no overwhelming obstacles such as cost effectiveness, threats to human life or protection of pristine space objects, to sending humans to space and to colonize space. The article argues for the rationality of the idea of a space refuge and the defensibility of the idea of human enhancement applied to future deep-space astronauts.
The Accessible Universe: On the Choice to Require Bodily Modification for Space Exploration
Human Enhancements for Space Missions: Lunar, Martian, and Future Missions to the Outer Planets
Humanity should not attempt to establish space societies that would not be open to ``baseline'' humans (e.g., those with species-typical oxygen or radiation protection needs). Two arguments are provided for this conclusion: The first argument is via analogy with disability and accessibility. Just as it would be impermissible today to mandate disability-removing medical procedures, so too would it be impermissible to require bodily modification in order to participate in a space society. We should only create space societies that are accessible to humanity, broadly speaking. The second argument is that the requirement of bodily modification would pervert the vision of the human expansion into space. The future we ought to strive for is one in which all humans can travel easily between different destinations in space, in much the way that humans can travel easily between different destinations on Earth.
From ethical challenges to a matter of rights
2017
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2022
There is a growing body of scholarship that is addressing the ethics, in particular, the bioethics of space travel and colonisation. Naturally, a variety of perspectives concerning the ethical issues and moral permissibility of different technological strategies for confronting the rigours of space travel and colonisation have emerged in the debate. Approaches ranging from genetically enhancing human astronauts to modifying the environments of planets to make them hospitable have been proposed as methods. This paper takes a look at a critique of human bioenhancement proposed by Mirko Garasic who argues that the bioenhancement of human astronauts is not only functional but necessary and thus morally permissible. However, he further claims that the bioethical arguments proposed for the context of space do not apply to the context of Earth. This paper forwards three arguments for how Garasic's views are philosophically dubious: (1) when he examines our responsibility towards future generations he refers to a moral principle (which we will call the principle of mere survival) which, besides being vague, is not morally acceptable; (2) the idea that human bioenhancement is not natural is not only debatable but morally irrelevant; and (3) it is not true that the situations that may arise in space travel cannot occur on Earth. We conclude that not only is the (bio)enhancement of humans on Earth permissible but perhaps even necessary in certain circumstances.