Who gets to inherit the stars? A space ethicist on what we’re not talking about

The article discusses emerging ethical and legal challenges related to human labor and resource ownership in space, prompted by differing visions of space industry development. Jeff Bezos predicted that robots would primarily do space work, making human space residents mostly voluntary. However, Will Bruey of Varda Space Industries argued that sending working-class humans to orbit could be cheaper than improving robotics within 15 to 20 years. This raises concerns about the conditions and rights of space workers, as Mary-Jane Rubenstein, a space ethicist and professor at Wesleyan University, highlights the severe power imbalances and risks faced by workers dependent on employers for basic survival needs like air, food, and water in the harsh space environment. Beyond labor issues, the article addresses the contentious question of space resource ownership. While the 1967 Outer Space Treaty prohibits national sovereignty over celestial bodies, the 2015 U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act allows companies to own resources they extract from space, a move criticized internationally as a legal