Abstrakt
Whether we should establish human colonies on Mars is fiercely debated in the space community. Vocal advocates for the Mars colony include Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, both of whom are currently proposing more feasible architecture and sustainability than existing national space agencies could, having secured a constant flow of funding from their global businesses that could help keep a space colony thriving (Starlink and Amazon).
What is presently missing in this debate, is a critical analysis of the unique sociological, political and biological dilemmas exposed in these efforts. Relevant ethical considerations include what goals and benefits can justify the introduction of Earth life to a foreign planet, whether altering humans to survive in the harsh Martian environment is better than letting them suffer in a biologically incompatible environment, such as a post-climate change Earth, and how we can prevent authoritative governance of a Mars colony funded by extremely rich individuals, who will only become richer and more powerful when free of the social and legal constraints of Earth societies.
This presentation analyses drivers leading to the economic boom in space leading to massive infrastructure that can significantly concentrate capital useful for the establishing of a thriving colony on Mars. We do not speculate but we do build on current efforts using research methods known from intelligence studies forecasting near future and build scenarios of the future behind the corner.
Based on the depicted scenarios our goal is to analyze which future is in the interest of humankind and why certain ethical and philosophical measures are necessary in the current rush towards decade old depicted idealistic vision of space exploration. Terraforming other planets sounds like science fiction, however, the concept is supported by solid science and the field of research is constantly growing.
As technology evolves, space infrastructure will start to be built autonomously, thereby paving the way for continuous Mars terraforming under a new economic model and perspective on labor. Solid discussions of desirable governance approach are necessary and this presentation wish to contribute in this way.