How shall we live in space? Culture, law and ethics in spacefaring society

The US civilian space program is focused on planning for a new round of human missions beyond Earth orbit, to realize a ‘vision’ for exploration articulated by President George W. Bush. It is important to examine this ‘vision’ in the broader context of the global enterprise of 21st century space exploration. How will extending a human presence into the Solar System affect terrestrial society and culture? What legal, ethical and other value systems should govern human activities in space? This paper will describe the current environment for space policy making and possible frameworks for future space law, ethics and culture. It also proposes establishment of a World Space Conference to aid deliberations on the above.     

The UK parliamentary space committee: The emergence of a space lobby?

In the past few years the UK has become increasingly active as the financial conscience of the European Space Agency. This is not because the UK government has a wish to spend more on its national space effort; it is because it remains unconvinced of the benefits of certain European space activities, notably manned endeavours. In the absence of an effective UK space lobby, the government's policies have remained largely unchallenged. This article traces the growth of the Parliamentary Space Committee in the context of developments in recent European space policy and highlights the need for an active UK space lobby.     

Revisiting the Ariel Trough Work for HF Telecommunication Purposes

Muldrew [1] was the pioneer who reported the midlatitude electron density trough at the topside ionosphere. For about ten to fifteen years the trough, its morphology, dynamical behavior, relationship to the equatorial plasmapause, and physical and chemical processes which lead to the trough formation had been extensively investigated. Then, the work on the trough had been slowed down gradually. As the new space systems have become more vulnerable to space weather effects, a need for robust programs and a long track record in space environment sensing and modeling to produce new space environment models and products that would meet high-priority defense and commercial needs arises naturally. In this context, it is intended to go over the reported trough work dating back to the 1970s and some typical findings of later developments briefly. Most of the aspects of the trough studies have been repeated with new data for newer physical models. From this point of view, the Ariel 3 and Ariel 4 satellite trough results are chosen since the work on the Ariel trough had been very original and very extensive quantitatively and qualitatively in the 1970s. The results reviewed here are based on more than 1000 beautiful selected trough cases. Due to the good quality and quantity of the Ariel satellite data, equal coverage in space and time were maintained, which makes the trough results very important. This paper will end with some reference to the trough models, results that establish a link between the topside and the F2 region of the ionosphere. As one typical application, HF radiocommunication is chosen to be the point of interest. In practical applications of the HF radiocommunications any model that does not include the trough is not complete.     

The ethical dimensions of space settlement

While proposals for settling in the space frontier have appeared in the technical literature for over 20 years, it is in the case of Mars that the ethical dimensions of space settlement have been most studied. Mars raises the questions of the rights and wrongs of the enterprise more forcefully because: (a) Mars may possess a primitive biota; and (b) it may be possible to terraform Mars and transform the entire planet into a living world. The moral questions implicit in space settlement are examined below from the standpoints of four theories of environmental ethics: anthropocentrism, zoocentrism, ecocentrism and preservationism. In the absence of extraterrestrial life, only preservationism concludes that space settlement would be immoral if it was seen to be to the benefit of terrestrial life. Even if Mars is not sterile, protection for Martian life can be argued for either on intrinsic or instrumental grounds from the standpoints of all of these theories. It is argued further that a strict preservationist ethic is untenable as it assumes that human consciousness, creativity, culture and technology stand outside nature, rather than having been a product of natural selection. If Homo sapiens is the first spacefaring species to have evolved on Earth, space settlement would not involve acting ‘outside nature', but legitimately ‘within our nature'.     

Is space an environment?

Expanding the human sphere of influence beyond Earth presents philosophical questions that also have important practical applications. Do we need to worry about the moral implications of our actions in the vastness of space? What kind of explorers will we be - and what kind of explorers should we be? The answers to these basic questions depend greatly on what moral status is assigned to space; how it is conceptualized. This article sets forth arguments both for and against considering space as an environment, that is, as a place deserving of ethical treatment in the same way that terrestrial environments are valued and respected in environmental ethics. It sketches some answers to how space exploration could meet high ethical standards and puts forward the notion of environmental ‘virtue ethics’.     

Human development and the conquest of space

Space age ethics are to be distinguished as a separate set of ethical concepts for several reasons: outer space constitutes a unifying element for mankind; the unique space environment has an international statute; and the impact of space science and the utilization of space technology will always have both positive and negative international consequences and repercussions. Its main objective is an immaterial output-related activity and much of its waste is equally immaterial. Space technology carries another hazard with it - the danger of domination by extrovert cultures. Proper development of space technology requires international cooperation, scientific creativity and technological innovation combined with sociopolitical, economic and cultural aims and objectives and ethical values. Norms and objectives have to take into account religious concepts, humanistic viewpoints and sociocultural criteria. The ethics of the conquest of space have to consider the benefit of all mankind and that of each single individual, group and society as complementary and of equal importance.     

Method and Results of Direct Measurement of the Interstellar Neutral Helium Abundance and Isotopic Composition

One of the important astrophysical problems is the determination of the abundance of helium isotopes ³He and ⁴He in different regions of the Universe, because this abundance can reflect its history by pointing to the intensity of various possible processes of the creation and decay of light elements. This paper describes the method and results of the determination (for the first time performed by a direct method) of the helium isotopic abundance in the local interstellar medium surrounding the Solar system. The experiment was carried out on the manned Mir space station by long-term space exposure of samples of metal foil with their subsequent recovery to the Earth and detailed laboratory mass-spectrometric analysis. As a result, we succeeded in obtaining an estimation of the ⁴He concentration (about 7.5 × 10^–3 cm^–3) and the isotopic ratio ³He/⁴He (about1.7 × 10^–4) for the local interstellar medium.     

The emerging China–EU space partnership: A geotechnological balancer

Through a techno-nationalist lens, this paper will assess the growing China–European Union (EU) space partnership, and its implications for international space cooperation and competition. Techno-nationalism (jishu minzuzhuyi), the idea that technological strength is an effective determinant of national power in a harshly competitive world,³ informs both Chinese and US perceptions of China's space development. Using this lens elevates all space activities—manned, unmanned, military and scientific—to the strategic level. It is our contention that because of the increasing China–EU space partnership, the USA must re-evaluate its approach to China—away from the containment approach, which has thus far predominated, toward an approach which would offer the USA the opportunity to influence and, thereby, decrease the importance of the emerging partnership.     

Contemporary Czech space policy and its future prospects

Czechoslovakia was the third nation to have a citizen in space when Vladimir Remek flew in 1978. It was present at the formulation of international space law principles and ran some space-related projects within Intercosmos. The Czech Republic reassumed this tradition after Czechoslovakia was dissolved in 1993. There are no special funds to support space R&D. Hence, participants must compete for R&D resources with companies from other areas of industry. This improves their competitiveness. Czech society is broadly interested in space-related activities. The graduate system structure reflects this. Not only can one study space-related courses at technical universities but international space law is an obligatory part of international public law courses in the Czech Republic. Strong support for space activities is mirrored in the institutional fragmentation of this sphere. Competences in space applications are distributed among some 20 institutions and organizations. This status harms the Czech potential in space activities and R&D. The Czech Republic became a member of ESA in 2008 but Czech companies have not taken advantage of the full potential of membership. Participation in international projects is very important for a small post-communist economy because economic growth is based on convergence towards developed countries, which may dissipate after 2020. Now is the right time to strengthen the primary research that will establish a strong foundation for innovation-based economic growth.     

Exploring a structured decision approach as a means of fostering participatory space policy making at NASA

In 1996, the National Research Council's Committee on Risk Characterization argued convincingly for the implementation of more participatory approaches to improve policy making by incorporating a wide range of stakeholder values and concerns in policy decisions. Guidance about how to best carry out such an approach in an agency like NASA is less clear. To address this gap, this paper discusses how the use of a structured approach to involve expert and non-expert stakeholders in policy making can improve the quality of stakeholder involvement and resulting decisions for space policy making at NASA. Supporting this discussion are results from two recent experiments. One compared the quality and type of participants’ input in a conventional stakeholder workshop with that of a more structured participatory process. The results from this experiment showed that a structured decision approach leads to more thoughtful and better-informed decisions. A second experiment showed that structured, participatory decision processes can help to legitimize space policy decisions after they have been implemented, leading to future benefits for the space agency.     

An ethical duty: Let astronautical development unfold – to make the people more secure

In examining alternative space-development models, one observes that Heinlein postulated the first Moon flight as the outcome of the focused action of an individual – building upon an ample commercial aerospace transportation infrastructure. The same technological basis and entrepreneurial drive would then sustain a fast human and economic expansion on three new planets. Instead, historically, humans reached the Moon thanks to a “Faustian bargain” between astronautical developers and governments. This approach brought the early Apollo triumphs, but it also created the presumption of this method as the sole one for enabling space development. Eventually, the application of this paradigm caused the decline of the astronautical endeavor. Thus, just as conventional methods became unable to sustain the astronautical endeavor, space development appeared as vital, e.g., to satisfy the people?s basic needs (metabolic resources, energy, materials, and space), as shown elsewhere. Such an endeavor must grow from actions generating new wealth through commercial activities to become self-supporting. Acquisition and distribution of multiform space resources call, however, for a sound ethical environment, as predatory governments can easily forfeit those resources.     

The benefits brought by space—General public versus space agencies perspectives

Space agencies and governments have been long striving to find justification for the budgets allocated to non-commercial space missions. The most frequent justifications were scientific discoveries, technological development as well as national prestige. The current study aims to have a different look at the question “Which are the benefits brought by space?” by investigating/sampling/interrogating the public opinion and identifying the perception and view of the generation that form the bulk of the taxpaying citizens for the immediate future and will be actively financing any future missions. The study focuses on the answers provided to an online survey by an international sample of population. The target individuals are in the age range of 25–44 and are users of social networks. They are either employed or students, but they are not directly involved with the space sector. The survey aims to establish whether the promotional activities of ESA, NASA and other space agencies are aligned with the perceived benefits of this sample population. Is space contributing to what the target people consider important? What could be done to improve/change this perception? How did the public perception evolve? Which are the biggest problems humanity is confronted with today according to the sample population? Could space help addressing these major problems? The paper will firstly present the statistical analysis of the sample answers and the conclusions that can be drawn from them. In a second step it will compare the perceptions and expectations of the public in regards to space with the current space agencies strategies and identify the gaps and discontinuities.     

Some Features of Vibrational Perturbations onboard the MirOrbital Station

A number of scientific and technical experiments were carried out and are still being carried out onboard the Mirorbital station in various fields: physics of fluids, space materials study, astrophysics, biotechnology, and so on. The quality and reliability of space experiments are essentially dependent on a knowledge of real microgravitational situation onboard a satellite, which essentially depends on vibrational perturbations. A lot of vibration processes studies have been done up to now on the Mirstation in the following lines of research: control of dynamic and exploitation regimes when carrying out biotechnological and technological experiments; determination of the contribution of different onboard systems and mechanisms to the total vibration perturbations power; and investigation of distributions of microacceleration levels and dynamics of vibration processes in different modules and segments of the orbital station. This paper presents the results of the analysis of vibration perturbations produced by some standard onboard Mirstation systems in a configuration when the KVANT-2 and KRISTALL modules were arranged along the yaw axis of the mainframe. It is shown that due to strong requirements for tolerable levels of the microaccelerations onboard the International Space Station (ISS), the investigations of microgravitational situation, as an integral part of the technological environment, now have a high priority.     

State of the art, lightweight scientific experiments available for small to micro satellite missions

A selection of light weight scientific instruments originally designed for major international missions but which, because of their modest resource requirements, can now in addition be flown aboard ‘small’ to ‘micro’ satellites are, briefly, described. These instruments have the capability to either make measurements of constituents of the Earth's energetic particle environment, or provide detailed monitoring of multiple parameters of the cold terrestrial ionospheric plasma. Scientific reasons for flying such instruments in LEO are, in each case, advanced. Individually, they constitute representative examples of a mature genre of commercially available (a cost parameter of £100k/kg can be achieved), light weight, space qualified, instruments which can contribute significantly to the implementation of first class scientific programs aboard small/micro satellites. Uniquely fault tolerant data processing units are a feature of these devices.     

Promoting ASEAN space cooperation

In the 21st century space activities are having an ever greater influence on global society, economics, culture and the environment; they are becoming a key tool of sustainable development. However, for many individual developing countries, including those in Southeast Asia, there actually are many obstacles to participating in the space field. Therefore in order to promote sustainable space development and to solve space conflicts within the region, all Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) nations should embark on greater regional space cooperation as soon as possible. Because regional space cooperation can assure equal rights to space benefits, it does not limit returns only to the first beneficiary or the first user to receive space benefits. In the end, the total space benefits will be spread to other cooperating countries equally.     

Gravitational Sensitivity of Solutions–Melts at the Crystallization of Two-Phase InSb–InBi Alloys under Space Conditions

Analyzing the results of space and ground-based experiments carried out in the Baikov Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science to study the processes of the melting and crystallization of two-phase InSb–InBi alloys of an indium–antimony–bismuth (In–Sb– Bi) triple system, we have demonstrated the gravitational sensitivity of the InSb-based solution– melt. It manifests itself as a certain asymmetry of the boundary of the dissolution of the InSb ingot by the InSb–InBi melt and heterogeneity of the melt along this boundary depending on the magnitude and direction of the gravity force acceleration gin the range (1–10^–3–10^–5)g ₀, where g ₀is the acceleration of the gravity force on Earth. For the first time, it is established in the experiments under analysis that the homogeneity of melts of a complex composition with components of various densities can be reached only at magnitudes of quasistationary (residual) microaccelerations g< 10^–6 g ₀.     

The EU should freeze its military ambitions in space

In a clear departure from previous policies and activities, the European Union, together with the European Space Agency, have embarked on a series of military and security related space activities in recent years, often under the umbrella of largely civilian programmes. Such dual-use space programmes not only silently introduce military use of space in the context of the EU, they are to become an integral and essential part of the EU’s growing military ambitions. While these ambitions are opposed by large sections of European society, the EU has made milspace projects a top priority, with no international answer yet to the real and growing risks of military rivalry in space.     

Conceptualizing an economically,legally, and politically viable active debris removal option

It has become increasingly clear in recent years that the issue of space debris, particularly in low-Earth orbit, can no longer be ignored or simply mitigated. Orbital debris currently threatens safe space flight for both satellites and humans aboard the International Space Station. Additionally, orbital debris might impact Earth upon re-entry, endangering human lives and damaging the environment with toxic materials. In summary, orbital debris seriously jeopardizes the future not only of human presence in space, but also of human safety on Earth. While international efforts to mitigate the current situation and limit the creation of new debris are useful, recent studies predicting debris evolution have indicated that these will not be enough to ensure humanity?s access to and use of the near-Earth environment in the long-term. Rather, active debris removal (ADR) must be pursued if we are to continue benefiting from and conducting space activities. While the concept of ADR is not new, it has not yet been implemented. This is not just because of the technical feasibility of such a scheme, but also because of the host of economic, legal/regulatory, and political issues associated with debris remediation. The costs of ADR are not insignificant and, in today?s restrictive fiscal climate, are unlikely/to be covered by any single actor. Similarly, ADR concepts bring up many unresolved questions about liability, the protection of proprietary information, safety, and standards. In addition, because of the dual use nature of ADR technologies, any venture will necessarily require political considerations. Despite the many unanswered questions surrounding ADR, it is an endeavor worth pursuing if we are to continue relying on space activities for a variety of critical daily needs and services. Moreover, we cannot ignore the environmental implications that an unsustainable use of space will imply for life on Earth in the long run. This paper aims to explore some of these challenges and propose an economically, politically, and legally viable ADR option. Much like waste management on Earth, cleaning up space junk will likely lie somewhere between a public good and a private sector service. An international, cooperative, public-private partnership concept can address many of these issues and be economically sustainable, while also driving the creation of a proper set of regulations, standards and best practices.     

On the contribution of space medicine in the public health care

With the beginning of space era, a new branch of medicine has arisen and has been developing along with human exploration of outer space. And even though space medicine mainly faces the same problems as traditional medicine--cosmonauts health care and their high efficiency--this branch, has its own features, associated with the unusual factors of space flight, of which weightlessness is the major one. During the development of manned cosmonautics (duration of a human stay in space has reached already 438 days), methods of cosmonauts medical support and monitoring of their condition have been developed, knowledge of human possibilities and methods of process of organism adaptation to various and frequently severe conditions of external environment have increased. All this led to the fact that nowadays space medicine can become useful for improvement of human health care not only in space but also on the Earth. Moreover, the problem of implementation of cosmonautics achievements, and in particular of space medicine, in practice of public health care presents one of the most important issues concerning human health care. It is also connected with public opinion which is more and more concerned about the efficiency of significant expenses on space activities, especially lately. People often are set by the questions: what has space given, what fruits has space research provided to mankind, which results of this research can be used on the Earth already today for improvement of their life, for discussion of many difficult earthly problems? In terms of using cosmonautics possibilities, its achievements for health care and treatment, it is possible to define a few branches, in which purposeful studies are carried out.     

Between heaven and earth: The legal challenges of human space travel

Since the first space object was launched into orbit in 1957, humankind has been engaged in a constant effort to realise ever more ambitious plans for space travel. Probably the single most important element in this ongoing evolution is the development of technology capable of transporting large numbers of passengers into outer space on a commercial basis. Within the foreseeable future, space will no longer be the sole domain of professionally trained astronauts or the exceptionally wealthy.The prospects for both suborbital and orbital private human access to space give rise to some interesting and difficult legal questions. It also opens up an exciting opportunity to develop an adequate system of legal regulation to deal with these activities. The existing international legal regimes covering air and space activities are not well suited to large-scale commercial access to space, largely because they were developed at a time when such activities were not a principal consideration in the mind of the drafters. The lack of legal clarity represents a major challenge and must be addressed as soon as possible, to provide for appropriate standards and further encourage (not discourage) such activities.This article will examine some of the more pressing legal issues associated with the regulation of space transportation of passengers on a commercial basis, seen in the light of Article 1 of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which states that the ‘exploration and use of outer space […] shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries […] and shall be the province of all mankind’. An appropriate balance must be found between the commercial and technological opportunities that will arise and the principles upon which the development of international space law have thus far been based.