ETHICS, ROCKETS & SPACEFLIGHTUCT Summer School 2015

Keith GottschalkPolitical Studies (rtd.)

University of the Western CapeFellow, British Interplanetary Society

• 970 Feng Jishen• projection of power & wealth: – firework for fun– weapon for war

• 1300s: Venturi nozzles Mobile multiple missile launchers

2-stage ship-to-ship missiles• 1792, 1799 Haidar Ali & Tippu Sahib

Seringapatam 1.5kms range

PREHISTORY:Rocketry before the Space Age

PREHISTORY:Rocketry before the Space Age

• Congreve rockets; 1806 2.7 kms range• US national anthem “by the rockets’ red glare”• toughest problem - Guidance• after 1860s rifled gun barrels more accurate• CIVILIANS, SPACEFLIGHT, & ROCKETS:• Jules Verne (1828-1905) popularizes spaceflight• Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935)• Robert Goddard (1882-1945)

ROCKETS & ETHICS: 1932 – 1990The role of engineers in police states?

• The Wernher Von Braun (1912-1977) debate• Sergei Korolev (1907 – 1966)• Qian Xuesen (1911- 2009)• ETHICAL ISSUE 1:• Making the world’s biggest rockets for WW2 & atomic

war, gambling that they would not be used for bombardment, but become available for spaceflight;

• Complicity with totalitarian police states by making bombardment weapons of mass destruction.

ROCKETS & ETHICS: 1932 – 1990

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED:Four spaceflight enthusiasts who suffered huge career sacrifices, or had to abandon the project that was their life’s work, due to ethnical choices they made -• Rudolf Nebel 1894 – 1978• Willy Ley 1906 – 1969• Frank Joseph Malina 1912 – 1981• Raghavan Gopalaswami 1936- • Only later did rocket engineers get the choice

of working for a civilian employer

ROCKETS & ETHICS: 1932 – 1990• 1958: NASA or USAF, USAFRL, NRO (1961), DARPA• 1962: INCOSPAR (1969-ISRO) or DRDO• 1962: ELDO (1975-ESA) or military• 1970s: liquid-propellant rockets, especially

cryogenic propellant rockets, militarily obsolete• COLD WAR - STRINGENT RESTRICTIONS ON

PROLIFERATION OF DUAL-USE TECHNOLOGY:• USA: International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) 1976• Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) 1987• South Africa Space Affairs Act 84 of 1993

ETHICAL ISSUE 2:DANGERS TO ASTRONAUTS & PASSENGERS

pre-1971• Microgravity• “space weather” - Radiation• “space situational awareness” - space debris• SHORT STAYS IN SPACE - – Before 1971, longest stay in space: fortnight– Space adaption syndrome– Orthostatic hypertension– Sleep disorders

ETHICAL ISSUE 2:DANGERS TO ASTRONAUTS & PASSENGERS 1971 -

• LONG TERM STAY IN SPACE: Salyut, Mir, ISS• Valeri Polyakov endurance record 437 days (1994-95)

• Sergei Krikalev has spent cumulatively 803 days– Loss of bone density– Loss of muscle mass– Decreased immune system functioning while e.g.

salmonella poisoning more virulent– Deterioration of eyesight; sometimes irreversable– Endothelial cells become dysfunctional– Enhanced risk of mutations & cancers

ETHICAL ISSUE 3: pollution • Outer Space Treaty 1967 Article IX:• “shall pursue studies of outer space, including the

Moon and other celestial bodies, and conduct exploration of them so as to avoid their harmful contamination and also adverse changes in the environment of the Earth resulting from the introduction of extra-terrestrial matter and, where necessary, shall adopt appropriate measures for this purpose”

• “Forward Contamination”• “Backward Contamination”• NASA Office of Planetary Protection

Forward Contamination

• Measles & smallpox – exterminate 95% of natives in 1600s New England; 1700s Western Cape; 1800s Pacific isles

• Common cold – 1900s exterminates Tasmanian aborigines (inspired HG Wells’ War of the Worlds)

• If contaminate eg Mars, would never know if due to panspermia or contamination

• Earth life could be invasive species of bacteria or archaea to other planets or moons

Backward Contamination

• Alien vegetation invasive in Cape floristic region• When we emigrate to other “shirtsleeve” planets -

with no resistance to their own viruses, bacteria, fungi?

• Or have to build O’Neill orbiting cities?• meet extra-terrestrial life: must be treated as bio-

hazard level 4 – as deadly to us as Congo-Crimean, Ebola, Marburg, Meningitis

• Must wear bio-hazard suits

Ethical issue 4:Meeting extra-terrestrial intelligent life

• Roswell & Area 51 • for half a century UFO & alien abduction cults – tens of

thousands of Americans allege that they have already met ET intelligent life – as kidnappers & torturers

versus • Fermi paradox: where are they?• Centuries of debate by philosophers & theologians• but never involve International Relations or other

political scientists!

Declaration of Principles for Activitiesfollowing the Detection of

Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence

• IAA – International Academy of Astronautics• IISP – International Institute of Space Law• IAU – International Astronomical Union• URSI – International Union of Radio Science• UN COSPAR – Committee on Space ResearchAdopted between 1989 – 1992 but only by NGOs; no standing in international law; but norm-making & setting standards

Declaration of Principles for Activitiesfollowing the Detection of

Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence

• Discoverer must first verify claim• Communicate to other signatories of Declaration• Communicate to Central Bureau for Astronomical

Telegrams & UN Secretary-General; if detected by EM waves also inform International Telecommunications Union

• Media conference• Publish all data• Do not respond to signal - solution to Fermi paradox ?• IAA & IAU to continually review protocol

But the horse bolted before the stable door was closed

• Voyagers 1 & 2 launched 1977 with gramophone record & needle carrying data about Earth & human beings ….

• If SKA after completion can detect radar on a planet or moon up to 50 light years away, any ET civilization who has constructed a 100 SKA can detect our VHF transmissions, starting in 1950s, from further away still ….

Declaration of Principles for Activitiesfollowing the Detection of

Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence

• SKA, after completed, will be able to detect airport radars on planets & moons up to 50 light years away

• Reply involves round-trip delay of one century• Exchange of software & intellectual property?• Stimulation to budgets for space travel• British Interplanetary Society: projects for research,

publication & debate on interstellar travel by “world ships” – fleet of trillion (1012) tonne spaceships for inter-generational journeys

Declaration of Principles for Activities following the Detection of Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence

• Hollywood mostly sterotypes ETs as imperialist invaders conquering Earth with star wars weapons

• but what if Neill Blomkamp is closer to the mark?• What if 1.8m ET aliens arrive as refugees,

suffering from malnutrition, & can only eat cat food? • & cannot return home because they are refugees?• Will all have to be issued with biohazard suits;• Struggle to develop vaccines