Space Resources: Physical Constraints, Policy Choices, and Ethical Considerations

TY - CHAP

T1 - Space Resources

T2 - Physical Constraints, Policy Choices, and Ethical Considerations

AU - Elvis, Martin

AU - Krolikowski, Alanna

AU - Milligan, Tony

PY - 2022/7/1

Y1 - 2022/7/1

N2 - The governance of the vast resources of the Solar System will be constrained by the nature and distribution of those resources. We outline these constraints for the Moon, Mars, and the Asteroids. Governance is also historically contingent, and the “Founder Effect” means that our actions in the first few decades of harnessing space resources, mostly on the Moon and the near-Earth asteroids, will have a strong influence on the very different circumstances that will obtain later as our space-based economy grows. We review the nascent efforts to put in place principles and concepts for space resource governance. We present four sets of policy choices that will influence moderate-term, 30-year, developments: governments as anchor customers, governments supporting emerging firms, trade-offs between types of activities, and collective management of crowding and interference. We then describe some ways in which these choices are already being formed. There are two general ethical questions we pose: the “tenure and entitlement” problem, and the “near-term justice” problem. They are not unique to space, but the space examples throw them into high relief. The high cost threshold of space activities suggests that a quasi-monopoly power by a few corporations could well result, leading to evidently unfair treatment of workers within the corporations, and manifestly unjust distribution of the benefits to the wider global society outside the corporations, or an over-rapid exhaustion of those resources to at the cost of future generations.

AB - The governance of the vast resources of the Solar System will be constrained by the nature and distribution of those resources. We outline these constraints for the Moon, Mars, and the Asteroids. Governance is also historically contingent, and the “Founder Effect” means that our actions in the first few decades of harnessing space resources, mostly on the Moon and the near-Earth asteroids, will have a strong influence on the very different circumstances that will obtain later as our space-based economy grows. We review the nascent efforts to put in place principles and concepts for space resource governance. We present four sets of policy choices that will influence moderate-term, 30-year, developments: governments as anchor customers, governments supporting emerging firms, trade-offs between types of activities, and collective management of crowding and interference. We then describe some ways in which these choices are already being formed. There are two general ethical questions we pose: the “tenure and entitlement” problem, and the “near-term justice” problem. They are not unique to space, but the space examples throw them into high relief. The high cost threshold of space activities suggests that a quasi-monopoly power by a few corporations could well result, leading to evidently unfair treatment of workers within the corporations, and manifestly unjust distribution of the benefits to the wider global society outside the corporations, or an over-rapid exhaustion of those resources to at the cost of future generations.

KW - Space Ethics

KW - Space Economy

KW - Limited Resources

KW - policy

UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9783527830909

M3 - Chapter

SP - 369

EP - 388

BT - In-Space Manufacturing and Resources

A2 - Hessel, Volker

A2 - Stoudemire, Jana

A2 - Miyamoto, Hideaki

A2 - Fisk, Ian D.

PB - Wiley - VCH

ER -