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 in general. when applied to scientific research or studies that impact living organisms directly or indirectly, ethics is used as a means to evaluate matters of right and wrong, or good and bad through an ethical review committee. This report will examine whether it is ethically justifiable to colonise another planet by exploring the ethics related to the areas that will be impacted by the colonisation of Mars as it progressively becomes a reality. These areas include, but are not restricted to, the ethical consequences of diverting resources and money to Colonising mars and the effects it has on life on earth, the ethical implications of exposing human beings to long-term space travel and settlement, the physical and psychological impact this will have on the first colony on Mars, human conduct in space and the related ethical responsibility to maintain and safeguard an extra-terrestrial environment with possible signs of early life. While the romanticized idea of interplanetary travel and colonisation may be argued to be beneficial for the survival of humanity. The implementation of life on Mars not only affects those set to become the first colony but also the people that are left behind on earth. Is it right to divert the limited resources available on earth, to creating life on Mars, when the larger population on earth will be suffering from the devastating effects of global warming and depleted level of resources? should the focus instead be shifted to attempting …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