Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T04:54:02.721Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2013

Richard O. Randolph  and
Christopher P. McKay
Richard O. Randolph
Affiliation:
Adjunct Professor of Ethics, Saint Paul School of Theology, Overland Park, KS 66211
Christopher P. McKay*
Affiliation:
Space Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field CA 94035, 650-604-6864
*
e-mail: chris.mckay@nasa.gov
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The 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.

Keywords

contaminationextraterrestrialplanetary protection policiesspace exploration
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , January 2014 , pp. 28 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Callicott, J.B. (1986). On the Intrinsic Value of Non-human Species. In The Preservation of Species, ed. Norton, Bryan G., pp. 138–72. Princeton University Press, Princeton.Google Scholar
Cockell, C.S. (2005a). Duties to extraterrestrial microscopic organisms. J. Br. Interplanet. Soc. 58(11–12), 367–373.Google Scholar
Cockell, C.S. (2005b). Planetary protection – A microbial ethics approach. Space Policy 21, 287–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cockell, C.S. (2005c). The value of microorganisms. Environm. Ethics 27, 375–390.Google Scholar
Cockell, C.S. (2008). Environmental ethics and size. Ethics Environ. 13, 23–39.Google Scholar
Confucius (1998). Analects XV.24, translated by David Hinton in The Analects [of Confucius. Counterpoint Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
COSPAR (2005). COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy (20 October 2002; amended 24 March 2005). http://www.cosparhq.org/scistr/PPPolicy.htm.Google Scholar
COSPAR (2010). COSPAR Workshop on Ethical Considerations for Planetary Protection in Space Exploration. Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 8–10 June, 2010.Google Scholar
Goodpaster, K.E. (1978). On being morally considerable. J. Philos. 75, 308–325.Google Scholar
Kramer, W.R. (2011). Colonizing mars- An opportunity for reconsidering bioethical standards and obligations to future generations. Futures 43, 545–551.Google Scholar
Lupisella, M. (1997). The rights of Martians. Space Policy 13(2), 89–94.Google Scholar
Lupisella, M. & Logsdon, J. (1997). Do we need a cosmocentric ethic? In International Astronautical Congress, Turin, Italy, IAA-97-IAA.9.2.09, International Astronautical Federation, 3–5 Rue Mario-Nikis, 75015 Paris, France.Google Scholar
McKay, C.P. (1990). Does Mars have rights? An approach to the environmental ethics of planetary engineering. In Moral Expertise, ed. MacNiven, D., pp. 184–97. Routledge, NY.Google Scholar
McKay, C.P. (2001a). Let's Put Martian Life First. Planetary Report, July/August 2001. pp. 4–5.Google Scholar
McKay, C.P. (2001b). The search for a second genesis of life in our Solar System. In First Steps in the Origin of Life in the Universe, ed. Chela-Flores, J., pp. 269–277, Springer, New York, NY.Google Scholar
McKay, C.P. (2009a) Planetary ecosynthesis on Mars: restoration ecology and environmental ethics. In Exploring the Origin, Extent, and Future of Life: Philosophical, Ethical, and Theological Perspectives, ed. Bertka, C., pp. 245–260. Cambridge Astrobiology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKay, C.P. (2009b). Biologically reversible exploration. Science 323, 718.Google Scholar
National Academy of Sciences (2006). National Research Council ‘Preventing the Forward Contamination of Mars’. National Academy Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Race, M.A. (2010). Policies for scientific exploration and environmental protection: comparison of the Antarctic and Outer Space Treaties. In Science Diplomacy: Antarctica, Science and the Governance of International Spaces, ed. Berkman, P.A., Lang, M.A., Walton, D.W.H. & Young, O.R., pp. 143–152. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Race, M.S. & Randolph, R.O. (2002). The need for operating guidelines and a decision making framework applicable to the discovery of non-intelligent extraterrestrial life. Adv. Space Res. 30(6), 1583–1591.Google Scholar
Randolph, R., Race, M.S. & McKay, C. (1997). Reconsidering the ethical and theological implications of extraterrestrial life. CTNS Bulletin 17(3), 1–8.Google Scholar
Rolston, H. III (1988). Environmental Ethics, Duties to and Values in the Natural World. Temple University Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Rummel, J.D., Race, M.S., Horneck, G. & the Princeton Work- shop Participants (2012). Ethical considerations for planetary protection in space exploration: a workshop. Astrobiology 12, 1017–1023.Google Scholar
Samuelsson, L. (2010a). On the demarcation problem and the possibility of environmental ethics: a refutation of ‘A Refutation of Environmental Ethics’. Environmental Ethics 32, 247–265.Google Scholar
Samuelsson, L. (2010b). Environmental pragmatism and environmental philosophy: A bad marriage! Environmental Ethics 32, 405–415.Google Scholar
Singer, P. (2009). Animal Liberation: The Definitive Classic of the Animal Movement, Reissue edn. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, New York.Google Scholar
Singer, P. (2011). The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress. Princeton University Press, Princeton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, K.C. (2009). The trouble with intrinsic value: an ethical primer for astrobiology. In Exploring the Origin, Extent, and Future of Life: Philosophical, Ethical, and Theological Perspectives, ed. Bertka, Constance M., pp. 266. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Taylor, P. (1986). Respect for Nature: A Theory of Environmental Ethics. Princeton University Press, Princeton.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. (1990). A refutation of environmental ethics. Environmental Ethics 12, 147–160.Google Scholar