Ep. 770: The Ethics of Mars Exploration

Astronomy Cast

Science, Astronomy, Natural Sciences, Space

4.8 • 3.4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 November 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Astronomy Cast Ep. 770: The Ethics of Mars Exploration By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Nov 3, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay. It is arguable that humanity now has the technological ability to live on Mars. It would be done at enormous expense and sacrifice, and there are some tricky problems that we haven't solved yet. Although we could live on Mars, should we? There is a famous quote from Jurassic Park: "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." This concept is played out across the sciences, and in planetary exploration, it requires us to ask, all because we can launch humans toward Mars, should we? This show is supported through people like you on Patreon.com/AstronomyCast In this episode, we'd like to thank: Andrew Poelstra, BogieNet, Brian Cagle, Burry Gowen, David, David Rossetter, Ed, Gerhard Schwarzer, Jason Kwong, Jeanette Wink, Michael Purcell, Sergey Manouilov, Siggi Kemmler, Sérgio Sancevero

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm
0:02.0	Oh Thank you. I'm Astronomycast, Episode 770, The Ethics of Living on Mars.
0:56.4	Welcome to Astronomycast, our weekly facts-based journey through the cosmos, we'll help you understand not only what we know, but how we know
1:00.1	what we know. I'm Fraser Kane. I'm the publisher of Universe Today. With me, as always, is Dr. Pamela
1:04.3	Gay, a senior scientist for the Planetary Science Institute and the director of CosmoQuest.
1:09.3	Hey, Pamela, how you doing? It is the most amazing fall day outside. It looks like a hallmark special with cloudless blue skies,
1:18.6	orange and red trees. I just want to go take photos during the golden hour, which is far too
1:25.0	early because stupid daylight time shifted.
1:31.0	Winter might have been canceled here.
1:33.0	Really?
1:34.6	All of my fruit trees still have all of their leaves.
1:38.0	So putting on new growth, it is into November now.
1:43.5	Yeah, they have not gotten the message. It has been surprisingly warm,
1:47.9	but eventually, I'm sure it'll cool down. Now, I got a new piece of kit, new piece of gear,
1:53.7	which I just want to talk about. You did. What did you get? I got a eight-inch Dobsonian telescope.
2:01.8	Those are the bestest.
2:03.3	I know.
2:03.8	They are the bestest.
2:05.0	So I was on, I was talking to a patron, actually.
2:08.0	And they were telling me how they were on Facebook Marketplace and they bought a telescope for reasonably inexpensive.
2:13.8	And I was like, oh, I should see what prices are like for Facebook Marketplace, for Telescope. Just get a sense of the lay of the land out there. And I was like, oh, I should see what prices are like for Facebook marketplace,
2:22.7	for telescopes. Just get a sense of the lay of the land out there. And boom, there's a skywatcher, eight inch Dobsonian telescope, which is like the perfect telescope. It is not
	...

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