Monica Rae Vidaurri

Science Shaping Law: The Need for a Policy and Ethics Approach to Science (APL)

February 15, 2020

Science Shaping Law: The Need for a Policy and Ethics Approach to Science 

November 24, 2019

Given the inevitability of the private sector influencing future crewed and non-crewed
missions, both in and beyond low Earth orbit, it is important that the science community
strengthens, agrees upon, and adopts ethics, anti-colonization, and planetary protection protocol on an international level, beginning with the establishment of norms. As scientists,
we must create the internal and international norm of ethical science practices, and ensure
the want to progress scientically does not precede the right of communities to exist and
participate in space. Practicing these norms ultimately shapes domestic and international
law, and the custom of early collaboration with ethicists and planetary protection specialists
is critical for not only mission safety, but mission and science integrity. The most pressing
of these norms is establishing within the science mission traceability matrix planetary
protection, ethics, and anti-colonization, which must fall shortly after mission conception.
Maintaining a safe, responsible, and anti-imperialist space for peaceful purposes cannot wait for governments to create these practices de jure, but must be coordinated starting at the individual level in practice, de facto.

Ethics of Space Exploration: Science Setting the Precedent for Law and Policy
 

August 2019

The current landscape of space law is nearly nonexistent, highly dependent on norms, and of the universal scientific understanding of space as a peaceful medium for the advancement of human technological and scientific capabilities. Given the inevitability of the private sector influencing future crewed and non-crewed missions, both in and beyond low Earth orbit, it is especially crucial that the science community strengthens, agrees upon, and adopts planetary protection, ethics, and anti-colonization protocol on an international level, beginning with the individual establishment of norms.

As future PIs and managers, we must create the internal and international norm of collaboration with planetary protection and ethics, including anti-imperialism, at the forefront of our science missions. These norms ultimately shape international law, and the custom of early and regular collaboration with ethicists and protection specialists is absolutely crucial for not only mission safety, but mission and science integrity. The most critical of these norms is their establishment very early in the science traceability matrix, and with continuous assessment.
 

Creating a safe, collaborative, and anti-imperialist space for peaceful purposes cannot wait for governments to create these practices de jure, but must be started and remain transparent at the individual level and regarded as custom de facto.