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The discipline of astroethics responds to earthlings going to space whether or not we meet new extraterrestrial neighbors. “Clearly, the ‘holy grail’ of astrobiology would be the actual discovery of life elsewhere in the Universe, and such a discovery would have profound scientific and very likely also philosophical and societal implications,” exclaims Ian Crawford; “Needless-to-say, there will also be significant scientific and philosophical implications if extraterrestrial life is not discovered, despite ever more sophisticated searches for it” [2.20]. If “astrobioethics” within “astroethics” would focus directly on quandaries arising from engaging off-Earth life, then the more encompassing category of “astroethics” would include matters that may or may not involve off-Earth life forms.

We turn now to ten astroethical quandaries arising within our solar neighborhood, quandaries already familiar to astrobiologists: (1) planetary protection; (2) intrinsic value of off-Earth biospheres; (3) application of the Precautionary Principle; (4) space debris; (5) satellite surveillance; (6) weaponization of space; (7) scientific versus commercial space exploration; (8) terraforming Mars; (9) colonizing Mars; and (10) anticipating natural space threats [2.65].