Dilemmas encountered in establishing the Ethical Code for Outer Space

Dilemmas encountered in establishing the Ethical Code for Outer Space Zvi Sever sever.zvi@gmail.com Abstract Most human settlements on planet Earth were created without the establishment of any ethical code, and this has resulted in immense damage to the natural infrastructure, along with disharmony among humans and a consequent lack of cooperation among states and other bodies. It might seem that the field of ethics in space has been dealt with extensively by public bodies (UN, EU, COSPAR and countries), all of which are assisted by both academic institutions and private economic entities (tourism companies, space industry, etc.), as well as by ordinary citizens, who have created forums, associations, activities and the establishment of websites. Among all these, however, there is not one single document that offers a comprehensive and binding ethical code for human activity in outer space. Consequently, I have published (Sever 2020) 'eight ethical disciplines' that will comprise a moral roadmap for our activities in outer space, two of which incorporate decisions taken by the UN in 1957. The current article presents the dilemmas that face us on our path to accepting the 'eight ethical disciplines', as presented on the one hand to the current decision-makers and on the other hand to the next generation of decision-makers, to the high-school pupils and university/college students, in the framework of 'lesson plans' on this issue. An ethical code for outer apace should be available to all the world's population, and constitute a focal document to be presented to international bodies, countries, legislators, educators and the general public. Sever, Z. 2020. The ethical code for space activity. Space Research Today, Vol. 208: 44-48.