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Legal questions linger as governments and companies keep pushing into space:
The Perseverance rover's landing on Mars is still fresh in people's memories, privately owned companies are ferrying people and supplies into orbit, and NASA continues to work on "the most powerful rocket" it has ever built. But as world governments and private enterprises continue to eye the skies for opportunities, a SXSW panel called "Who on Earth should govern Space" makes clear that the laws dealing with space aren't evolving as fast as the technology that gets us there.
"People like to think of space as the Wild Wild West — nothing out there, there's open frontier, we can do whatever we want," said Michelle Hanlon, president of For All Moonkind, a non-profit devoted to preserving mankind's cultural heritage in space. "Unfortunately or fortunately, that's not true at all."
Hanlon was referring to the Outer Space Treaty, which was developed in 1966 and ratified by over 60 countries in early 1967. Considering the treaty was put into effect a full two years before mankind landed on the moon, it's little surprise that the document is heavy on broad principles, but light on specifics. Among its greatest hits: outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all states; states should avoid harmful contamination of space; celestial bodies shall only be used for peaceful purposes; and, perhaps most importantly, the assertion that outer space isn't subject to claims of sovereignty by Earth-bound governments.
[...] There have been efforts to more fully codify a set of rules to govern the way we approach space, including most recently the Artemis Accords signed by the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Luxembourg, Italy, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates in 2020. Ten countries are a start, but a slew of significant space-faring states — including China, India and Russia — have not bought into the largely US-brokered accord. It's hard to say exactly what (if anything) it will take for the international community to agree to a comprehensive set of guidelines for the use of outer space. But one thing is clear: With the technology to get us and keep us in space growing more advanced by the day, these are issues we can't afford to keep punting.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Monday March 22 2021, @09:58PM (5 children)
Quite true and the might makes right motto was well applied. I would be highly surprised, if we found direct evidence of life existing on Mars or the Moon. Some radio-carbon dated, what looks like a random X thing, isn't going to cut it. Some, well, if there was life here, there might have been some sort of bacterial presence as shown via these "technical voodoo" mumbojumbo. In the event there was life there, there's no reason there shouldn't be some sort of actual evidence. Sure, we're on a tropical paradise of a space rock and not all life would necessarily look like what we would think. There would be some evidence, by our definition of life.
Now, I'm definitely not "main stream" science or even main stream christian science, necessarily. Still, God didn't say, and let there be a Martian Civilization or let there be all manner of green things or anything growing on Mars. I would be surprised, if we found any evidence of life in our Solar System, other than right here on Earth. Pretty soon there will be evidence of alien life and that will be Satan masquerading as Christ.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by aristarchus on Monday March 22 2021, @10:49PM
Oh, dear!
Are you sure? Mightent it be Christ, masquerading as Satan? Of course, now we know that Lucifer is actually the same as Hesperus, both are the planet Venus. So are you saying there is/was life on Venus?
Seriously, I have known Christians since they first started up, and these modern QAnon Evangelicals are quite strange. Weirder than the Pricillianists!
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Tuesday March 23 2021, @02:11AM (2 children)
Read "A Case of Conscience" by James Blish.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday March 23 2021, @03:14PM (1 child)
That's an interesting story. Not sure what you're getting at there, though.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Wednesday March 24 2021, @11:48AM
Going into more detail in a public forum would be a spoiler for those not familiar with it.
(Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Tuesday March 23 2021, @01:44PM
There are many apparent answers to The Fermi Paradox. Genesis 1 could be one of them.
Genesis 2 also explains some things. [soylentnews.org]
God told Adam that He was going to make Adam a companion and that it would be a woman.
God: "This pretty lady will gather food for you, she will cook for you, and when you discover clothing, she will wash it for you. She will always agree with every decision you make and she will not nag you, and will always be the first to admit she was wrong when you've had a disagreement. She will praise you! She will bear your children. and never ask you to get up in the middle of the night to take care of them. She will never have a headache and will freely give you love and passion whenever you need it."
Adam: "What will a woman like this cost?"
God: "An arm and a leg."
Adam: "What can I get for a rib?"
Some people need assistants to hire some assistance.
Other people need assistance to hire some assistants.