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SETTLEMENTS OR COLONIES? A TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY PERSPECTIVE

The responsibility to develop space resources completely and beneficially requires that human behavior, principles, and ethics be as advanced as the newest technologies. Reflecting the ethical aspects of space exploration, the U.S. State Department in the mid-1970s specifically prohibited the use of the term "space colony." Twenty-first-century human expansion into space must be guided by the traditional values of "liberty and justice for all." Colonialism is an inappropriate structure and value for humanity in the space age because it denies human equality. Although a new space settler or settlement (habitat, city, sphere, domicile, or residence) initially may require special status and support, progress and productive human relationships on the space frontier need to be based on equality and mutual benefit.