Who will have the right to claim the stars? A space ethicist discusses the overlooked issues in our conversations

The Future of Space: Who Will Work Among the Stars?

At a technology summit in Italy last October, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, envisioned a future where millions would reside in space within the next twenty years. He suggested that most would choose this lifestyle, as robots would handle the bulk of labor more efficiently than humans.

However, just weeks later at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, Will Bruey, CEO of Varda Space Industries, offered a different perspective. He predicted that in 15 to 20 years, sending a human worker into orbit for a month would be more economical than building advanced robots for the same tasks.

While the audience at the event seemed unfazed by this bold claim, it sparked important questions: Who will actually be working in space, and what will their working conditions be like?

Examining Ethics and Power in Space Labor

To delve deeper, I spoke with Mary-Jane Rubenstein, a Wesleyan University professor and author of Worlds Without End: The Many Lives of the Multiverse. Rubenstein, who has recently focused on the ethical implications of space expansion, highlighted a core issue: the imbalance of power between workers and employers. She pointed out that workers on Earth already struggle with job security and safety, and these challenges would only intensify in space, where employees would depend on their employers not just for income and healthcare, but also for essentials like food, water, and even air.

Rubenstein was candid about the realities of space as a workplace. While it’s tempting to romanticize space as a new frontier, she reminded me that it’s a harsh, inhospitable environment—far from the idyllic escape some imagine.

Ownership and Resource Rights in Space

Worker safety isn’t the only concern. The question of who controls space resources is becoming increasingly contentious as private space ventures accelerate. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty declared that no country could claim ownership of celestial bodies, asserting that the moon, Mars, and asteroids belong to all humanity. Yet, the 2015 U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act allowed companies to claim ownership of materials they extract from space, opening the door to commercial exploitation and raising international concerns.

Rubenstein likened this to being told you can’t own a house, but you can claim everything inside it—or even the very structure itself. She argued that the resources within the moon are inseparable from the moon itself.

Commercial Competition and International Tensions

Several companies are already moving to capitalize on these legal frameworks. For instance, AstroForge is targeting asteroid mining, while Interlune aims to extract Helium-3 from the moon. The problem is that these resources are finite—once one nation extracts them, they’re gone for others.

The international community responded quickly to the 2015 U.S. law. At a 2016 United Nations meeting, Russia condemned the act as a breach of international law, and Belgium warned of potential global economic disparities.

To address these concerns, the U.S. introduced the Artemis Accords in 2020, forging agreements with allied nations to formalize its interpretation of space law, particularly regarding resource extraction. Sixty countries have signed on, but notably, China and Russia have not.

Rubenstein observed that this approach essentially sets U.S. rules and asks others to follow or risk exclusion. The Accords carefully avoid stating that resource extraction is legal, instead arguing it doesn’t violate the Outer Space Treaty’s ban on national appropriation—a nuanced stance on a complex issue.

Seeking Solutions and the Role of Collaboration

Rubenstein’s ideal solution would be to return authority over space governance to the United Nations and its Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). Failing that, she suggests repealing the Wolf Amendment, a 2011 law that restricts NASA and other agencies from collaborating with China without special approval.

When skeptics claim that U.S.-China cooperation is impossible, Rubenstein counters that if the industry can imagine building space hotels or sending millions to Mars, surely dialogue between nations is within reach.

Rethinking Humanity’s Approach to Space

Rubenstein is concerned about the current trajectory of space development, which she sees as focused on resource extraction, militarization, and treating the moon as a “cosmic gas station.” She notes that science fiction offers alternative visions: stories of conquest and expansion, dystopian warnings, and speculative tales imagining new forms of justice and care.

She laments that the conquest narrative dominates real-world space policy, viewing it as a missed opportunity to bring more thoughtful values into humanity’s expansion beyond Earth.

Paths Forward: Environmental and Collaborative Initiatives

While Rubenstein doesn’t expect sweeping policy changes soon, she sees hope in tightening environmental regulations for space activities, especially as we learn more about the impact of rocket emissions and space debris on Earth’s atmosphere.

Space debris, in particular, presents a unique opportunity for global cooperation. With over 40,000 trackable objects orbiting Earth at high speeds, the risk of a catastrophic chain reaction—known as the Kessler effect—is growing. Rubenstein points out that no nation or industry wants this scenario, making it a rare issue where interests align.

She is now developing a proposal for an annual conference that would bring together academics, NASA officials, and industry leaders to discuss ethical and collaborative approaches to space.

Whether these efforts will gain traction remains uncertain. Legislative moves, such as a recent bill to make the Wolf Amendment permanent, suggest that barriers to international cooperation may persist.

Meanwhile, startups continue to pursue ambitious plans for asteroid and lunar mining, and predictions about the future of human labor in orbit remain unresolved.

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