With the recent and dramatic increase of space tourism, there is a great discussion regarding whether or not private companies should have the privilege of harvesting the resources that reside on other planets. I believe that these companies should be able to exploit these newly found materials, with the condition that a large margin of them be taxed by the government to help better the community.
On the one hand, how ethical is siphoning these supplies from celestial bodies? I believe that in moderation these practices are perfectly ethical as no life resides on these planets, so any resource taken wouldn’t negatively affect any creature. However, if this act is done without any restrictions it might cause a shift in the planet’s orbit depending on how large the operations stated before are. As a result, a strict policy should be put in place to prevent any cosmic calamities.
On the other hand, these recent revelations could aid us in the everlasting struggle of humanity’s destruction of Earth. The materials extracted from celestial bodies would be a phenomenal substitute for the materials on Earth. This strategy does unfortunately bring a few flaws with it, some of these being the amount of supplies being harvested not being sufficient enough and the cost of transporting these materials being very hefty. To address the former issue stated, the resources could never suffice humanity’s needs; however, it could slow our advances to deplete Earth of its resources, and as humanity becomes more and more efficient with resource management, it could be much more significant in how we gather materials. To argue with the latter, although space travel is an expensive practice, the cost is worth the reward of a copious reservoir that helps better humanity.
To sum it all up, companies should be allowed to exploit the found supplies, and considering all the benefits, I firmly subscribe to the idea of harvesting materials from celestial bodies, as long as it has the proper restrictions. I also support the taxing of these found riches. The reason I believe that action to be positive is to prevent us from exhausting Earth of its riches.