The Ethical Approach To ‘Life on Mars’
With the current state of Earth as global warming causes extreme weather changes set to intensify through the coming years, combined with the depleted level of resources available, due to unsustainable extraction, consumption and waste, and the rapid advances in technology, the race to colonise Mars is becoming increasingly alluring. At present, there are many interested government bodies such as NASA and private companies such as Mars One along with associates and sponsors in the early stages of a planned one-way mission to Mars with the possible prospect of returning to earth in the future. However, this raises many ethical questions. Ethics is defined as the moral principles that are acceptable by society …show more content…
However, will limiting our options to the recovery of earth and righting the wrongs done on this planet be beneficial in the face of the many possible catastrophic events, besides lack of resources and global warming, that can wipe out humanity and all life as it is known on earth, such as an epidemic or nuclear warfare? The answer is no, colonising Mars may be the solution to the decreasing resources on earth. Mars is rich in many resources that are important on Earth (Barlow 2008, 91). A study conducted on planetary material sourced from Mars has shown high yield and fertility (Mautner 2014) the colonisation of Mars may lead to finding more sources of fuel or new elements that may have long-term uses in building material. Though, if that is deemed unfeasible then an alternative could be the use of the already developed technology for space travel, with minor adjustment, to mine asteroids for more resources, which will be less fuel intensive (). Furthermore, as demand and necessity add a sense of urgency for the development of new technology, that can assist the colony on Mars, new discoveries are undoubtedly going to be made, that will potentially help in restoring earth to its former
With the current state of Earth as global warming causes extreme weather changes set to intensify through the coming years, combined with the depleted level of resources available, due to unsustainable extraction, consumption and waste, and the rapid advances in technology, the race to colonise Mars is becoming increasingly alluring. At present, there are many interested government bodies such as NASA and private companies such as Mars One along with associates and sponsors in the early stages of a planned one-way mission to Mars with the possible prospect of returning to earth in the future. However, this raises many ethical questions. Ethics is defined as the moral principles that are acceptable by society …show more content…
However, will limiting our options to the recovery of earth and righting the wrongs done on this planet be beneficial in the face of the many possible catastrophic events, besides lack of resources and global warming, that can wipe out humanity and all life as it is known on earth, such as an epidemic or nuclear warfare? The answer is no, colonising Mars may be the solution to the decreasing resources on earth. Mars is rich in many resources that are important on Earth (Barlow 2008, 91). A study conducted on planetary material sourced from Mars has shown high yield and fertility (Mautner 2014) the colonisation of Mars may lead to finding more sources of fuel or new elements that may have long-term uses in building material. Though, if that is deemed unfeasible then an alternative could be the use of the already developed technology for space travel, with minor adjustment, to mine asteroids for more resources, which will be less fuel intensive (). Furthermore, as demand and necessity add a sense of urgency for the development of new technology, that can assist the colony on Mars, new discoveries are undoubtedly going to be made, that will potentially help in restoring earth to its former