Abstract
The scientific exploration of Mars might yield results of extraordinary importance for our own planet, particularly the search for extant or fossil Martian life, which would make it possible to understand terrestrial life in a more profound way. This potential scientific treasure places on us an ethical obligation to minimize the disruption of the Martian environment until our scientific exploration has been greatly advanced. We also have ethical obligations to the human scientific explorers of Mars, ethical obligations that require a series of scientific investigations, e.g., about how the low Martian gravitation may affect those explorers’ physiology.
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Notes
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Although the emphasis has been mine all along, in making these remarks I find myself paraphrasing Harold P. Kline's many comments on earlier drafts of this essay.
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The controversy spread to public arguments in the newspapers; see for example the front-page article “Life on Mars: Scientists ‘thrilled’ by prospect,” Seattle Times, August 7, 1996.
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A good source for the state-of-the-art research on how gravity affects life can be found in the proceedings of the annual meetings of the IUPS Commission on Gravitational Physiology, published as supplements to The Physiologist (1982, 1984). See also the series of reports from Spacelab entitled “Life Sciences” (1984). For possible future experimentation see The Fabricant Report on Life Sciences Experiments for a Space Station (1983).
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Munévar, G. (2019). Science and Ethics in the Exploration of Mars. In: Szocik, K. (eds) The Human Factor in a Mission to Mars. Space and Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02059-0_11
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