Announcing a project on the long term sustainability of space activities.

By JordanStone @ 2024-08-10T17:33 (+8)

Hello! I'm excited to share a project investigating our impact on humanity's long term future in space. 

This project is not affiliated with effective altruism, but I wanted to post it here as it may be of interest to this community and we are currently recruiting members. This project is part of the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) project group on Space Safety and Sustainability. The SGAC represents young professionals and students in the space sector to the UN and is a permanent observer at the Committee for the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). The most important function that I find SGAC serves is that it brings together people from around to World to work on important issues in space, promoting a more unified approach to space governance. 

TL:DR project summary: Outer space is huge, and humanity has a long future. So, most humans who will ever live will likely live in space, but space sustainability does not look beyond this century. As such, considerations of the long-term future in space may simultaneously be one of the most neglected and morally important areas of space policy. So the SGAC project group on space safety and sustainability will initiate a range of projects to investigate long term considerations in space. These will range from wacky ideas related to aliens to present issues surrounding space mining or planetary science. The project is currently recruiting members. 

Project rationale 

The motivations for this project align very strongly with longtermism. In the unlikely scenario that we do not destroy ourselves in the next century, a long and vast future awaits us in space. There are activities that humanity is currently undertaking, or will undertake in the near future, that will impact the trajectory of that long term future. 

Examples of activities that may impact our long term trajectory in space include:

• Uninclusive policy. Value lock-in is a legitimate concern, the first settlers of other planetary bodies will have a huge impact on long term policy (like the US constitution). Policy that is not inclusive may lead to conflict in the space sector from the beginning, setting a bad precedent for the long term future. 
• Sending signals out into space. If aliens are present elsewhere in the galaxy, then announcing our location (with additional information about our species, planet, and technological capabilities) might be a dumb thing to do. Future people might want to remain hidden.
• Contaminating Mars. Spores introduced to Mars during human missions may affect the biology that emerges on a terraformed Mars or ruin future science. 
• Moon plumes. Excessive mining on the moon could give it a dust atmosphere, limiting its potential for machinery, habitats, and astronomy. 
• Rapid expansion. Rapid expansion into space will make it harder to establish good practices in the space sector. We should establish effective governance systems in space while we are all still in the same solar system. Once we start expanding to other solar systems, the communication gaps may make it very difficult to communicate. 

The project will function a lot like a research group. We will investigate lots of these ideas and try to make considerations about humanity's long term future in space more mainstream in the space sector. We will engage with private and public sectors to develop new policies, agreements, and promises from companies and organisations to safeguard humanity's long term future. 

Outreach may feed back into existential risk mitigation by talking more about a potentially incredible long term future that we are morally obliged to protect. 

How can I get involved?

Join the project

The SGAC aims to represent young professionals and students, so limits the age of its members to 35. So if you are under the age of 35, you can apply to join the project. Here is the link to apply: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfmICXb1nPg9Kkt8-YBb3HwFOfp29FFS86oN_c8nmltkYRwXQ/viewform

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for a range of expertise for this project. The main backgrounds that may be valuable in this project are space policy, engineering, physics, international policy, planetary science, and event organisation and outreach. 

A research background in any field will be particularly valuable.

But this project is very investigative, so a range of backgrounds is ideal, so please err on the side of applying anyway even if you think your background is not ideal. 

Partner with the project group

We hope to partner with some EA-aligned organisations that investigate s-risks or issues related to space governance. Additionally, if you are an individual and think that you be able to contribute knowledge and expertise, please get in touch with me at jordan.stone@spacegeneration.org 

Hear about the project

Please email me if you'd like to stay informed on the project, I can email you with publications or developments as they evolve. My email is jordan.stone@spacegeneration.org 

You can also subscribe to the SGAC space safety and sustainability project group newsletter: https://spacegeneration.org/projects/space-safety-sustainability/newsletter