Ebook: Humans in Outer Space — Interdisciplinary Odysseys

The space-faring nations are heading for the human exploration of the Moon, Mars and Near-Earth Objects. They might be soon prepared with regard to technology development. But they also need to benefit from the humanities (history, philosophy, anthropology), the arts as well as the social sciences (political science, economics, law) to implement their plans. The European Science Foundation (ESF), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), supported by the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology, have organized the first comprehensive trans-disciplinary dialogue on humans in outer space. This dialogue goes further than regarding humans as better-than-robot tools for exploration. It investigates the human quest for odysseys beyond Earth's atmosphere and reflects also on the implications of finding extraterrestrial life.

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The space-faring nations are heading for the human exploration of the Moon, Mars and Near-Earth Objects. They might be soon prepared with regard to technology development. But they also need to benefit from the humanities (history, philosophy, anthropology), the arts as well as the social sciences (political science, economics, law) to implement their plans. The European Science Foundation (ESF), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), supported by the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology, have organized the first comprehensive trans-disciplinary dialogue on humans in outer space. This dialogue goes further than regarding humans as better-than-robot tools for exploration. It investigates the human quest for odysseys beyond Earth's atmosphere and reflects also on the implications of finding extraterrestrial life.

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The space-faring nations are heading for the human exploration of the Moon, Mars and Near-Earth Objects. They might be soon prepared with regard to technology development. But they also need to benefit from the humanities (history, philosophy, anthropology), the arts as well as the social sciences (political science, economics, law) to implement their plans. The European Science Foundation (ESF), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), supported by the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology, have organized the first comprehensive trans-disciplinary dialogue on humans in outer space. This dialogue goes further than regarding humans as better-than-robot tools for exploration. It investigates the human quest for odysseys beyond Earth's atmosphere and reflects also on the implications of finding extraterrestrial life.

Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xxvi
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Summary....Pages 3-5
Micro-organisms and extraterrestrial travel....Pages 6-13
Future encounters: learning from the past?....Pages 14-21
Are we alone? Searching for life in the universe and its creation....Pages 22-34
What’s the story, mother? Some thoughts on Science Fiction Film and Space Travel....Pages 35-43
Aiming ahead: next generation visions for the next 50 years in space....Pages 44-53
Front Matter....Pages 55-55
Summary....Pages 57-58
Celestial bodies: Lucy in the sky....Pages 59-68
Why we had better drop analogies when discussing the role of humans in space....Pages 69-81
Front Matter....Pages 82-89
Summary....Pages 91-91
Missing the impossible: how we talk and write about space....Pages 93-93
Towards a new inspiring era of collaborative space exploration....Pages 94-106
Front Matter....Pages 107-118
Summary....Pages 119-119
With the eyes of an astronaut....Pages 121-123
Human spaceflight, technology development and innovation....Pages 124-127
Human—machine cooperation in space environments....Pages 128-134
Space law in the age of the International Space Station....Pages 135-147
Front Matter....Pages 148-161
Summary....Pages 163-163
Humans — more than the better robots for exploration?....Pages 165-166
Front Matter....Pages 167-170
Humans leaving the Earth — a philosopher’s view....Pages 163-163
Human spaceflight as a matter of culture and national vision....Pages 171-174
The need of a legal framework for space exploration....Pages 175-181
Front Matter....Pages 182-195
Summary....Pages 197-197
Mars as a place to live? Past, present and future....Pages 199-201
Philosophical and religious implications of extraterrestrial intelligent life....Pages 202-209
ET culture....Pages 210-219
Front Matter....Pages 220-226
Humans in Outer Space....Pages 227-227
Back Matter....Pages 229-233
....Pages 234-246