Space, ethics and society. A CMES study

~ Pergamon www.elsevier.com/Iocate/actaastro PI i: Acta Astronautica Vol. 48. No. 5 - 12, pp. 917-920, 200 I © 2001 International Astronautical Federation Pubhshed b) Elsevier S o e n c e Ltd Printed m Great Britain S0094-5765(01)00075-3 0094-5765/01 $ - see front matter Space, Ethics and Society. A CNES Study Jacques Arnould (CNRS, Paris, France) Abstract Science In Question Society has entered a period of profound change. Most of the factors which ensured development after the Second World War are now put in question? Politically, the last decade of the 20th century saw the end of the Soviet Union and the disappearance of the structured tension between East and West. Economically, the world expansion through new production methods and markets markedly changed the rules of the game and its balances, while weakening the economic and social systems. In technosciences, finally, where progress in the last fifty years has been so marked and varied, confidence, sometimes too blind, was replaced by a more critical look at the advantages and disadvantages of their applications to society and humanity. Ethical issues have for long been limited to the fields of medicine and biotechnology, whereas to-day such matters encompass a growing number of engineering activities. 21 st century citizens are more enquiring about technoscientific claims and accomplishments. Has their impact on society and the ecological environment been measured and quantified? With all this accumulated knowledge and progress do they have the ability and means to resolve these selfcreated difficulties7 Or will a totally new approach have to be sought? The debates include space activity not only because of the public funding needed but also because of the possible consequences on humans as well as the terrestrial, orbital or outer environment. Since the fall ofi998, CNES has undertaken the study of the role played by space activities in to-day's society and that of the future, seeking to clarify the objectives of the former with the expectations of the latter, and how they converge. The purpose of this study is to determine precisely the ethical responsibility of the space agencies and to pursue more sociological and philosophical research on the ethical scope of space activities. If 21st century citizens have to recognize how far progress has benefited everyday life, at least in Western society - transport and communication, health and nutrition, scientific discovery and exploration of the infinitely great and the infinitely small, etc they are also more discerning about technoscientific claims and accomplishments. Does their impact on society such as unemployment and disparity along with the ecological environment been assessed? Does this accumulated knowledge and progress have the ability and means to resolve these selfcreated difficulties? Or will a totally new approach have to be sought? - The views which are developped in this communication bind only his author and not the organisms on which he depends. © 2001 International Astronautical Federation. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. Where next? And how? We now have to add the question of ethics which extends beyond medicine and contemporary biology? The debate on the problems caused by the civil nuclear industry, the 917 918 51st IAF Congres~ European "Mad Cow" disease and crisis, and the large-scale use of Genetically Modified Organisms reveal how society in general along with technoscientific leaders have so far been unable to lay out appropriate structures and methods to work out ethical duties and moral obligations or, at the very least, put forward a coherent answer to these new social problems. Required Ethical Studies Answers to these questions become more pressing as attitudes and factions harden their position. The socio-economic strategies of large industrial groups within the USA gradually escape control, not to mention public opinion and democratic debate. Groups no longer shrink from the use of force to defend their beliefs or to undermine the systems they criticize, as, for example, with the paramilitary operations carried out by Greenpeace activists or the forcible takeovers of the anti-abortionists. Meanwhile, other groups - usually political with the prefix 'neo' -actively campaign in favour of ideas inherited from the past. More recently, advocates of space exploration lobby hard for an increase in public appropriation allocated to Research and Development so as to maintain the image and efforts of the Sixties and Seventies. This situation is, in fact, no surprise. There are numerous areas where recent development was the outcome of an urgent need: the intensification and industrialization of agriculture were an essential engine for the construction of Europe, medical progress is linked to the idea of a right to health; many civilian applications originate from the space industry or from military applications. Today, these needs no longer stand out and a possible argument for their convenient use is sometimes questioned as lacking respect for humans, the natural environment and future generations. C N E S and Space Ethics Just like its strategy, its policy or its programs, CNES cannot alone work out its ethics or its moral obligations: it is structurally dependent on ministries and various civil and political institutions. It cannot, however, abstain from debate nor can it avoid ethical questions. Moreover, it is already committed as in branches of industry already subject to legislation such as space law and environmental requirements, or to professional deontology as, for example, in the medical profession. But future prospects remain limited. More is needed than is currently available. Since the fall of 1998, CNES has undertaken the study of the role played by space activity in to-day's society and that of the future seeking to clarify the objectives of the former with the expectations of the latter, and how they converge. The purpose of this study is to determine precisely s on the one hand, fields of space enterprise requiring ethical examination, an analysis of the contents, conditions and what is at stake in this examination, observing how various participants try to provide an answer, defining which institutions and persons are competent enough to advise CNES leaders in this matter; • on the other hand, to pursue more sociological and philosophical research on the ethical scope of space activity. A Specific Method, First Results CNES chose to undertake this study by getting to the very roots of ethical questioning at the heart of CNES itself. CNES agents were invited to consider the finality, significance, and value of their work and where it was leading to? A working group of ten agents was set up to start the study and, as a first stage, determine the fundamental concepts ethics, morals, deontology,etc. Accordingly, the working group analyzed the ethical status of the principal fields of 51st IAFCongress space activity, military activity, science, inhabited flight, Earth observation and remote sensing, telecommunications and broadcasting, global positioning, different types of pollution (i.e. space debris and planetary contamination), settling on other planets, and how programs were chosen and managed. It was not merely a matter of judgement in terms of good or evil, moral or immoral, legal or illegal, but also explaining and evaluating these activities, ethical problems encountered, along with answers already provided and those still to be found. The report ! completed at the end of this first stage was used to assist the widening of the study to a larger number of agents within CNES, as well as distinguished external members of CNES, notably by means of conferences in the main CNES centers and by using thematic workshops. The aim is to finish this study by the end of 2000 when it should have fulfilled three objectives: • engage CNES in an ethical "awakening" • publish a report or book on the ethical stakes of Space, accessible to a large audience * offer the necessary bases for reflection on the appropriateness and establishment of an ethics committee The continuation of this study still needs to be worked out; it will, in any event, include the participation of CNES in a round-table discussion organized during the next IAA-AAF conference in Toulouse in 2001: "'Ethical Issues Arising in Space Activity" which will examine ethical issues affecting Space policies and programs. Recent space agency studies will be highlighted. S i m i l a r S t u d i e s - N o w and in the Future CNES apart, other studies have for some years been undertaken with regard to the ethics of space activities. That completed by NASDA related especially to the social and cultural stakes of future activity on the International Space Station. ESA's 919 contribution was led by a team from the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology of UNESCO, headed by Professor Alain Pompidou. Whilst this general work has been in progress, other studies with more precise themes have been under way. The problem of space debris was studied by several groups, national and international, in particular the Inter Agency Space Debris Committee (IADC), composed often members, who drafted a proposal to the United Nations, within the framework of the Committeefor the Peaceful Use of the Outer Space (COPUOS), in order to specify the views taken in I972 by the "Agreement on the international responsibility for the damage caused by space objects". The programs of exploration for the planet Mars also pose ethical problems. The concern of not contaminating Earth or other celestial bodies by means of probes sent or recovered is long standing: when missions of exploration were sent to the Moon, the Lunar Receiving Laboratory was built to accommodate and isolate astronauts on their return from the lunar surface. This concern remains iopical for several reasons: • during the Apollo program, precautions with regard to Earth contamination by elements from the Moon were considered excessive; it was already known there had never been life on the Moon because of its poor mineralogy. This does not apply to the Martian rocks: although weak, the probability remains that a form of life existed on the Red Planet and could have left some trace (or still exist). One of the current aims for the exploration of the planets is to discover forms of life other than on Earth; it is particularly advisable not to contaminate that planet with some biological element of terrestrial origin. • public opinion is particularly sensitive to the phenomenon of contamination (AIDS, Ebola virus, mad cow, etc.) and has discovered the relative ease of jumping borders between living beings and the species. Without doubt, science shows that 920 51st IAF Congress viruses hardly miss the disappearance of their usual surroundings.; similarly, the prion still remains a hypothesis and, finally, one must admit that public opinion is only slightly sensitized to the topic of exobiology. Nonetheless, one must remain on standby as cultures and the media are very sensitive to these issues. In this domain of planetary exploration, it should be recognized that ethical considerations are still in their infancy. Whatever is the immediate future of the missions to Mars (Mars Sample Return or Mars Express), it will need the backing, in particular, of the Planetary Protection Committees. a way of sugaring the pill for public opinion on the space budget. That is not my belief. Indeed, the finality of space is not simply a necessary useful activity to be regulated simply by codes of good will or common legislation for human activities. Space is also characterized by scientific and even mythical purposes. Through space, humanity discovers and, simultaneously, fulfills part of its own nature and the great questions which animate it such as its origin and its destiny, personal accomplishment and collective responsibility. Consequently', leaders of space policy and programs have to undertake ethical studies and take part in ethical reflection and consideration in the name of all humanity and what is certainl.~ one of its features - - the capacity to choose. Conclusion and Prospects Ethics are in vogue to-day; companies have used them as a sales pitch. Questioning of the ethical stakes for space activities may be an intellectual exercise or Jacques Amould, Space and Ethics PresentatJon and analysis of the mare ethics questions raised by space activities. CNES, Paris, December 1999 (English translation).