NASA and China having landed mobile rovers on the surface of Mars has raised the question of whether the planet should be treated as an exploitable resource or a place to protect. In this article for The New Yorker, Adam Mann sites the opinions of scientists and commentators on the characteristics of an ethical human presence on the ‘red planet’.  Critics of unfettered human activity point to lessons from human exploration and colonization of the Earth, and note that space exploration already presents ethical quandaries, like the proliferation of space junk and the erection of telescopes on sacred land. The issue may turn on humans being part of Mars, as opposed to making Mars part of the human domain. Article I of the Outer Space Treaty states that space exploration is meant to be carried out in the benefits and interests of all countries, but there is a yet no regulatory institution.
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