Protecting and expanding the richness and diversity of life, an ethic for astrobiology research and space exploration

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard O. Randolph ◽  
Christopher P. McKay
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Environmental Ethics ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Ethical Guidelines ◽  
Microbial Life ◽  
Life On Mars ◽  
Operational Policies ◽  
Diversity Of Life ◽  
Human Exploration

AbstractThe ongoing search for life on other worlds and the prospects of eventual human exploration of the Moon and Mars indicate the need for new ethical guidelines to direct our actions as we search and how we respond if we discover microbial life on other worlds. Here we review how life on other worlds presents a novel question in environmental ethics. We propose a principle of protecting and expanding the richness and diversity of life as the basis of an ethic for astrobiology research and space exploration. There are immediate implications for the operational policies governing how we conduct the search for life on Mars and how we plan for human exploration throughout the Solar System.

scholarly journals The search for life in our Solar System and the implications for science and society

2011 ◽  
Vol 369 (1936) ◽  
pp. 594-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher P. McKay
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Environmental Ethics ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Tree Of Life ◽  
Science And Society ◽  
The Comparative Study ◽  
Diversity Of Life ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Second Genesis

The search for another type of life in the Solar System addresses the fundamental question of life in the Universe. To determine if life forms we discover represent a second genesis, we must find biological material that would allow us to compare that life to the Earth’s phylogenetic tree of life. An organism would be alien if, and only if, it did not link to our tree of life. In our Solar System, the worlds of interest for a search for life are Mars, Europa, Enceladus and, for biochemistry based on a liquid other than water, Titan. If we find evidence for a second genesis of life, we will certainly learn from the comparative study of the biochemistry, organismal biology and ecology of the alien life. The discovery of alien life, if alive or revivable, will pose fundamentally new questions in environmental ethics. We should plan our exploration strategy such that we conduct biologically reversible exploration. In the long term we would do well, ethically and scientifically, to strive to support any alien life discovered as part of an overall commitment to enhancing the richness and diversity of life in the Universe.

scholarly journals Space logistics on the planets of the solar system and the star fieldspace logistics is not a vision anymore but has become reality

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 66-82
Author(s):  
Sándor Estók
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
Space Program ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Distant Future ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Commercial Distribution ◽  
Space Competition

In my article, after a short overview of space exploration of the past decades, I analyze the current situation and vision of research of the Solar System. I present the possibilities of exploiting the Moon and Mars, along with the feasibility of living conditions, with logistics in the main focus. I demonstrate the emergence of the private sector in the space program of the USA, as a new potential, the continuously intensifying space competition and the role of the participating countries. I highlight the application of logistic and hybrid logistic solutions in the area, with the correlations of risk and security. I also touch upon the legal background of lunar mining and the extraction of rare earths, ownership of the extracted and acquired materials and the possibilities of their commercial distribution, as well as the distant future of space logistics in space exploration.

scholarly journals Sequencing DNA, RNA and related molecules as a tool to advance space exploration

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 10-13
Author(s):  
Aaron S. Burton
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
International Space Station ◽  
Human Body ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
Space Station ◽  
The Moon ◽  
International Space ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Harmful Organisms ◽  
New Challenges

As humans seek to return to the Moon, and eventually to Mars and beyond, new challenges must be overcome to keep astronauts safe and healthy. This includes protecting crew members from harmful organisms in their environment, treating infections that may arise, monitoring nutrition and understanding how the human body adapts to spaceflight during missions that could last multiple years. Since the International Space Station (ISS) was first occupied in 2000, crew health has been monitored with thorough check-ups before and after flight, and the collection of many samples during flight that are brought back to Earth for analysis. During longer missions to more distant solar system locales, where returning samples to Earth is no longer practical, being able to analyse samples aboard the spacecraft could be very important.

The Coming Space Age

2021 ◽  
pp. 270-280
Author(s):  
William Halal
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Solar System ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Global Order ◽  
Space Tourism ◽  
The World ◽  
Knowledge Age ◽  
Space Age

This chapter draws on forecasts from The TechCast Project to map out the beginning of the Space Age about 2050. The author's work on the Life Cycle of Evolution shows that the world is moving beyond the Knowledge Age, which began about AD 2000, and is now entering an Age of Consciousness about 2020. This seems to mark the culmination of civilization on Earth, when the planet reaches a stage of maturity needed to resolve historic threats such as climate change. If this passage to a unified global order is successful, it should mark the beginning of space exploration beyond the solar system. The commercialization of space will likely be well underway, and colonies established on the Moon and possibly Mars, solar satellites will likely be functioning, and space tourism will become normal. With Earth a stable civilization, attention should then turn to this final frontier of space. The intellectual resources of roughly 10 billion educated people will be drawn on to make the breakthroughs in our understanding of physics needed to travel to star systems.

scholarly journals Virtual Environment Systems for Simulating Robots in Manned Space Fligts.

2020 ◽  
pp. 61-75
Author(s):  
M.V. Mikhailyuk ◽  
A.V. Maltsev ◽  
A.V. Timokhin ◽  
E.V. Strashnov ◽  
B.I. Kryuchkov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Manned Space ◽  
Human Exploration ◽  
Robotic Space Exploration

The article considers computer-based prototyping as part of simulation stands and space simulators for future human-robotic space exploration, as well as features of using virtual environment systems (VES) for this purpose. The article describes the formulation of research tasks related to the use of VES-based simulation stands and systems in modeling the cosmonauts’ activities relying on the experience of designing orbital simulators. In prospect it will justify the composition and purpose of the VES modules for lunar projects and clarify the use of VR-technologies in the simulation of robotic operations during human exploration of the moon.

The Origin of the Moon

1962 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 149-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. L. Ruskol
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Solar System ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Origin Of The Moon

The difference between average densities of the Moon and Earth was interpreted in the preceding report by Professor H. Urey as indicating a difference in their chemical composition. Therefore, Urey assumes the Moon's formation to have taken place far away from the Earth, under conditions differing substantially from the conditions of Earth's formation. In such a case, the Earth should have captured the Moon. As is admitted by Professor Urey himself, such a capture is a very improbable event. In addition, an assumption that the “lunar” dimensions were representative of protoplanetary bodies in the entire solar system encounters great difficulties.

The Origin of the Moon and its Relationship to the Origin of the Solar System

1962 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 133-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold C. Urey
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Origin Of The Moon

During the last 10 years, the writer has presented evidence indicating that the Moon was captured by the Earth and that the large collisions with its surface occurred within a surprisingly short period of time. These observations have been a continuous preoccupation during the past years and some explanation that seemed physically possible and reasonably probable has been sought.

Exploring the Solar System

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karel Schrijver
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Planetary Systems ◽  
Interplanetary Dust ◽  
Terrestrial Planets ◽  
The Moon ◽  
System P ◽  
Asteroids And Comets

In this chapter, the author summarizes the properties of the Solar System, and how these were uncovered. Over centuries, the arrangement and properties of the Solar System were determined. The distinctions between the terrestrial planets, the gas and ice giants, and their various moons are discussed. Whereas humans have walked only on the Moon, probes have visited all the planets and several moons, asteroids, and comets; samples have been returned to Earth only from our moon, a comet, and from interplanetary dust. For Earth and Moon, seismographs probed their interior, whereas for other planets insights come from spacecraft and meteorites. We learned that elements separated between planet cores and mantels because larger bodies in the Solar System were once liquid, and many still are. How water ended up where it is presents a complex puzzle. Will the characteristics of our Solar System hold true for planetary systems in general?

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