Megaconstellations in the night sky, junk in Earth's orbit, the race to the moon along with its resources: planetary sustainability comprising Earth and its space environment is ever more important.
2. European Space Agency is considering
„MOON VILLAGE“
SPACE 4.0
Luxembourg invests in Plans for
SPACE MINING
Space Agencies and Companies offer
SPACE TOURISM
Thousands orbit the Earth:
SATELLITES
Picture Credits: ESA
Picture Credits: ESA
Picture Credits: SyFy
A great Idea. The Devil is in the Detail.
3. ETHICAL CHALLENGES
IN TIMES OF SPACE 4.0
HOW CAN WE DO THIS
IN A SUSTAINABLE
MANNER?
What is the Future of
Space Tourism?
How to address
Space Debris?
Making money out of
our common heritage?
Can Space Mining be
sustainable?
Picture Credits: ESA
4. SUSTAINABILITY DIMENSIONS
• ECONOMIC
• ENVIRONMENTAL
• SOCIAL
• CULTURAL
Debris and Dust.
Problem of contaminating Earth
Who would profit from the revenue?
There are plenty of asteroids, -
but they don‘t regrow
Does science have a say?
What about heritage sides?
EXAMPLE: CHALLENGES CC SPACE MINING
Sustainability has ECONOMIC, ENVIRONMENTAL,
SOCIAL and CULTURAL dimensions.
Picture Credit: SyFy
5. SPACE LAW
Article I Outer Space Treaty
The exploration and use of outer space,
including the Moon and other celestial bodies,
shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries,
irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development,
and shall be the province of all mankind.
Outer space… shall be free for exploration and use by all States…
= recovery (?)
>> Some ask for a revision of the question of property in the O.S.T.
6. THE IDEA OF A PLANETARY
SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainable development is a “development that meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs”.
World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland commission),
Our common future, Oxford 1987
Picture Credits: ESA
7. THE IDEA OF A PLANETARY
SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainable development is a “development that meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs”.
World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland commission),
Our common future, Oxford 1987
Picture Credits: www.militaryaerospace.com
Without cooperation and peace, humanity will perish.
8. THE IDEA OF A PLANETARY
SUSTAINABILITY
&
Sustainable development is a “development that meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs”.
World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland commission),
Our common future, Oxford 1987
“Without our expansion of our instruments and people into
space, humanity could conceivably perish.”
Jim Pass et. al. “The Cultural Imperative to Colonize Space: An Astrosociological
Perspective,” in Space 2006
Picture Credits: Shutterstock (Solarseven)
9. ETHICAL PRINCIPLES OF
PLANETARY SUSTAINABILITY
1. All dimensions of sustainability
2. Technological Imperative
3. Planetary Protection
4. Imperative of Responsibility
“Act so that the effects of your action are compatible with
the permanence of genuine human life” (Hans Jonas)
“Later generations should be able to meet their own needs
without perishing due to events in our solar system.”
10. ENVIRONMENT ETHICS
Is „human life“ enough?
“The biosphere... has something of a moral
claim on us not only for our ulterior sake but
for its own and in its own right.” (Hans Jonas)
Andreas Losch (Ed.), What is Life?
On Earth and Beyond, Cambridge 2017
Anthropocentrism can also be a problem
Sentientism, Biocentrism, Holism
Moral status of a variety of life forms?
Status of extraterrestrial life?
What is Life? (e.g. Gaia-Hypothesis)
Picture Credits: D. Patkowski/Unsplash
13. A. Losch, „The need of
an ethics of planetary
sustainability“, IJA 2019
A. Losch, „The challenges of
cultural sustainability on an
(inter)planetary scale”,
in: T. Meireis / G. Rippl, Cultural
Sustainability, Routledge 2019
C. Beisbart, „Is transplanetary
sustainability a good idea?“
A. Losch, “Interplanetary
Sustainability”, in: K. Szocik (ed.),
The human factor in a mission to
Mars. An interdisciplinary
approach, Springer 2019
A. Galli, A. Losch,
„Beyond Planetary Protection“,
Life Sciences in Space
Research 2019
Special Issue on Planetary Sustainability
S. Di Pippo (UNOOSA); U. M. Bohlmann, G. Petrovici
(ESA); M. Hofmann, F. Bergamasco (University of
Luxembourg); L. F. Martinez (California State
University); J. Wallacher, S. Einsiedel, A. Gösele
(Munich School of Philosophy); M. Vogt, C. Weber
(Ludwig Maximilian University Munich);
C. Beisbart (University of Bern); A. Losch
SPACE ENVIRONMENT ETHICS:
PUBLICATIONS A. LOSCH & OTHERS
A. Losch „Developing our Planetary Plan with
an 18th United Nations Sustainable
Development Goal: Space Environment”
T. Jaehnichen, „The dynamics of economic
action and the problems of its social embedding”
A. Losch, “Planetary sustai-
nability: transitions of an idea”
