Tournament: College Prep | Round: 1 | Opponent: Archbishop Mitty AB | Judge: Nethmin Liyanage
It solves a litany of existential threats – don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Fitzgerald 3/9 (Shanon, Assistant Websites Editor at Liberty Fund), “Why Human Space Exploration Matters,” March 9 2021, https://www.econlib.org/why-human-space-exploration-matters/
Deep space exploration is a shared goal that prevents escalation of US-Russia tensions. But privatization threatens it independent of our other internal links
CSIS 18 (Center for Strategic and International Studies), “Why Human Space Exploration Matters,” August 21, 2018 https://www.csis.org/blogs/post-soviet-post/space-cooperation
It’s make or break for the relationship—Ukraine, decline of US moral authority on international affairs puts us at the brink of the end of Russian diplomacy and even war
Weir 21 (Fred Weir has been the Monitor's Moscow correspondent, covering Russia and the former Soviet Union, since 1998. He's traveled over much of that vast territory, reporting on stories ranging from Russia's financial crash to the war in Chechnya, creeping Islamization in central Asia, Russia's demographic crisis, the rise of Vladimir Putin and his repeated returns to the Kremlin, and the ups and downs of US-Russia relations). “Worse than the Cold War? US-Russia relations hit new low.“ Christian Science Monitor 4-20-2021 https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2021/0420/Worse-than-the-Cold-War-US-Russia-relations-hit-new-low
Space weapons heighten potential for escalation and make perceptions of US-Russia space conflict key.
Alexey Arbatov et al, head of the Center for International Security at the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Major General Vladimir Dvorkin, a principal researcher at the Center for International Security at the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations and Peter Topychkanov, fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center’s Nonproliferation Program, ‘17 “Russian And Chinese Perspectives On Non-Nuclear Weapons And Nuclear Risks” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Publications, https://www.russiamatters.org/sites/default/files/media/files/Entanglement_interior_FNL.pdf
First, tradeoff—
Space exploration must be public-sector – entrepreneurs purposely understate the barriers to colonization, yet exploit its potential for financial gain.
Phillips 20 (Leigh, science writer and EU affairs journalist, author of Austerity Ecology and the Collapse-Porn Addicts.) “We Don’t Need Elon Musk to Explore the Solar System,” May 8, 2021, https://jacobinmag.com/2021/05/elon-musk-space-exploration-mars-colonization
Privatization of space travel makes it politically polarizing and drains public support.
Phillips 20 (Leigh, science writer and EU affairs journalist, author of Austerity Ecology and the Collapse-Porn Addicts.) “We Don’t Need Elon Musk to Explore the Solar System,” May 8, 2021, https://jacobinmag.com/2021/05/elon-musk-space-exploration-mars-colonization
Commercial rocket launches produce space clutter—increased debris could reach a tipping point.
Thompson 20 (Clive, author of Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World, a columnist for Wired magazine, and a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine) “Monetizing the Final Frontier The strange new push for space privatization,” December 3, 2020 https://newrepublic.com/article/160303/monetizing-final-frontier
Privatized space tourism increases collision risks due to orbital debris.
Tehrani 4/1 (James, Editor in Chief of Spark Magazine) “Space Junk: A Safety and Sustainability Problem Moving at 18,000 MPH,” April 1, 2021, https://sphera.com/spark/space-junk-a-safety-and-sustainability-problem-moving-at-18000-mph/
Increased space debris makes future space exploration impossible.
Webb 18 (Amy Webb is a professor at the NYU Stern School of Business and is the chief executive of the Future Today Institute, a strategic foresight and research group in Washington, D.C.), “Space Oddities: We Need a Plan to Stop Polluting Space Before It’s Too Late” WIRED Science April 12, 2018 https://www.wired.com/story/we-need-a-plan-to-stop-polluting-space-before-its-too-late/
Independently, debris causes great power war.
Orwig 16 (Jessica, senior editor at Insider. She has a Master of Science in science and technology journalism from Texas AandM University and a Bachelor of Science in astronomy and physics from The Ohio State University.) “Russia says a growing problem in space could be enough to spark a war,” January 26, 2016, https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-says-space-junk-could-spark-war-2016-1