Space as a physical location for sustainable development – with Juliana Rinaldi-Simione

Abstract

Sustainable development is about meeting the needs of the present without compromising future generations’ ability to do the same. When we think of sustainable development, the future of society, or what we will leave behind for the next generations, nearly all of us picture the future of Earth. But with countries, companies, and individuals making meaningful advances toward inhabiting the Moon and Mars, our responsibilities, and future now concern both Earth and space. While space conversations around sustainable orbital traffic, sustainable in-situ resource utilization, and mining have gained significant traction, these are only a part of the sustainability picture. Very little attention is paid to the implications of the social, political, and economic sustainability of our space activities. This fuller picture of sustainability has two sides to it: what happens on Earth to make space exploration possible and what happens in space once we settle there. The space sector must consider space itself a location for sustainable development precisely because we are setting up space to be a location for future generations of humans. This talk will elaborate on this two-sided consideration and present practical ideas about what sustainability on Earth and in space might look like when it comes to human settlements on Mars, in particular.

A short bio

Dr. Juliana Rinaldi-Semione is the Research Fellow in Future Worlds & Freedom and the SDGs in Space project lead in the Faculties of Engineering and Social Sciences at the University of Nottingham (UK). Juliana’s research interests center on applied space ethics within a sustainable development framework, including future directions for cross-sector initiatives in aerospace production and for governance and societal structures around off-world colonization. She is passionate about synthesizing disparate bodies of knowledge to create and implement solutions to complex problems on Earth and on new worlds. With many years of implementing research in “real life,” Juliana has designed impact pathways involving government, policy, and industry stakeholders. Previous projects have examined human rights in the transition to clean energy; developing a sustainability requirement for an electro-mechanical engineering apprenticeship course; and establishing how Mars can act as proof of concept for the global ethics and human values we ostensibly hold. Juliana has previously worked with global non-governmental organizations and in the public sector, specializing in managing cross-sector, multi-agency collaborative work. She is an alumna of the Space Generation Advisory Council. Originally from California (USA), Juliana holds an MA from King’s College London and a PhD from the University of Nottingham.

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