FOREWORD 5

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 7

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 12

LIST OF ACRONYMS 14

I. INTRODUCTION 15

II. TRANSHEMISPHERIC UNDERSTANDINGS OF ‘SPACE’ 19

II.1. Why a transhemispheric perspective needs to be an option 22

III. CURRENT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 25

III.1. Moon 27

III.2. Mars 28

III.3. Astrophysics 29

III.4. Near-Earth Objects (NEO) 30

III.5. Space tourism 32

III.6. Opportunities, risks, benefits and harms 33

III.6.1. Opportunities and benefits 33

III.6.2. Risks and harms 34

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Report of COMEST on the Ethics of Outer Space Exploration and Utilisation

IV. NAVIGATING THE ETHICAL CONCERNS ABOUT SPACE

EXPLORATION AND UTILISATION 37

Global participation 38

Human capacity for well-being in peaceful surroundings 38

Intergenerational ethics 40

Protection of space data and prevention of space piracy 40

Multi-species ethics 41

Dual-use of space technology, space militarisation and the space race 42

Environmental ethics 43

Uncertainty about the long-term environmental or biological impacts 45

Space as a global commons 46

V. COOPERATION FOR A GLOBAL GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK 47

V.1. Regulatory framework 49

V.2. Ownership and utilisation 51

V.3. Dual use and militarisation 53

V.4. Sustainability 55

V.5. Governance, who governs and decides over space 56

V.6. Moving forward on space governance 58

VI. RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 59

VI.1. Recommendations 60

VI.2. Roadmap for implementing recommendations on peaceful and

ethical space exploration and utilisation 62

VI.3. Timeline for the 7-steps roadmap implementation 64

APPENDIX I: RECOMMENDED RESOURCES ON SPACE MISSIONS 65

APPENDIX II: PROPOSAL FOR A SPACE ETHICS SCALE 67

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTHER READING 70

COMPOSITION OF COMEST(2024-2025) 73