Tournament: Philhistorian | Round: 2 | Opponent: HuaXia Chinese School - Houston JL | Judge: Adja Seck
Hi, my name is Ethan, and I stand strongly on the affirmation side of the resolution: The appropriation of outer space by private entities is unjust.
First, I would like to go over the framework in this debate. In debate, there are many different issues that we can bring up, such as inequality, or nuclear war. Inequality could worsen quality of life, and nuclear war is less probable but kills more people. So how do we compare these issues? That's why framework exists.
In this debate, the standard should be saving lives. This means that the side who prevents the most amount of deaths should win this debate. In other words, if I prove that the appropriation of outer space by private entities kills more people than not having private entities appropriate space, then it is unjust and you should vote aff in this debate.
Second, it's impossible to compare things like suffering, freedom, inequality, and racism since there are so many ways it could happen, and you can't read people's mind and compare how badly they feel because everyone's thought process is different. However, minimizing deaths is easier to compare since it doesn't rely on people's feelings. Additionally, people's feelings can change over time so it's not an exact measure.
According to a publication by Theodore Muelhaupt and others, private companies going to space leads to debris. This piece of evidence is from The International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety, and is great in talking about how private companies substantially increases debris to the point where it becomes a big issue. Specifically, when talking about NewSpace, the new era of space exploration by private companies, it says "The potential for debris creation, the number of conjunctions, NewSpace represents a fundamental change". The evidence also talks about it how needs to be stopped in the following quote: "If no action were taken, we would expect 2-3 collisions per year. This is clearly unacceptable".
Christopher Intagliata, an MA in Journalism from NYU, talks about how space dust destroys satellites. In "The Sneaky Danger of Space Dust", he talks about how debris can cause a lot of damage. He says "the dust-sized stuff might leave more insidious, invisible, marks on satellites – by causing electrical damage". He also talks about how this electrical damage is the culprit for satellite damage from debris.
This is made even worse by the fact that every single collision results in even more debris in space. This is known as the Kessler Syndrome. It states that when satellites collide, the satellites break up into really small fragments, the "space dust" that Intagliata mentioned in the piece of evidence referenced earlier, which causes even more debris, and so on.
In short, private companies create space debris, which destroys satellites and sets off a chain reaction of ever-increasing amounts of junk in space which can further collide with more and more satellites.
As you may already know, Russia has invaded Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin announced that anyone interferes will face "consequences you have never seen". That assumes nukes, and at the very least – war. If a piece of debris took down, for example, a Russian intelligence satellite, we will be a very dangerous situation. Russia could think that another country is starting a war with them and retaliate against the country that they think was most likely to take down an intelligence satellite. And this could set off a war which kills many innocent people. If this war goes nuclear, hundreds of thousands of people will die.
Borsa Tosar, talks about how companies are greatly investing in space mining and wanting to go out into space. He says that space mining companies are "attracting millions of dollars of private investment" and "Neil deGrasse argues that the planet's first trillionaire will undoubtedly be a space miner".
Economic decline in Africa can cause conflict and instability. Andreas Foro Tollefsen, a PHD in Human Geography, talks about how there is a significant correlation between low GDP and conflict. He says "A connection between low income and risk of conflict is among the most robust finding in the literature on civil wars".
Additionally, this can escalate to nuclear terrorism due to lack of restrictions on Africa. A piece of evidence published by Tengetile Swane talks about how African terrorism greatly increases the chance of nuclear terrorism and that Africa is uniquely vulnerable. It says "The danger posed by terrorist groups in acquiring nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons on the African continent is more pronounced now than in the past", and "weak control and regulatory mechanisms which expose Africa's mining and production sites and borders to illicit terrorist activity and possible acts of nuclear terrorism."
For these reasons, I have proven why the appropriation of outer space by private entities is unjust, and am now open to cross examination and further points of clarification.
Debris====
Muelhaupt et al. 19 – Theodore, Marlon Sorge, Jamie Morin, and Robert Wilson, 6/18/19, Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies, Center for Space Policy and Strategy, The Aerospace Corporation, 30 year Space Systems Analyst and Operator, ~"Space traffic management in the new space era," Journal of Space Safety Engineering, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S246889671930045X?via3Dihub~~
The last decade has seen rapid growth and change in the space industry, and
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a handful of actual collisions will occur, the warnings cannot be ignored.
Intagliata 17 ~(Christopher Intagliata, MA Journalism from NYU, Editor for NPRs All Things Considered, Reporter/Host for Scientific American's 60 Second Science) "The Sneaky Danger of Space Dust," Scientific American, May 11, 2017, https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/the-sneaky-danger-of-space-dust/~~
When tiny particles of space debris slam into satellites, the collision could cause the
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damage to satellites. The study is in the journal Physics of Plasmas.
Tosar 20 ~(Borja Tosar, reporter) "Asteroid Mining: A New Space Race," OpenMind BBVA, May 18, 2020, https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/science/physics/asteroid-mining-a-new-space-race/~~
This is not science fiction. There are now space mining companies, such as
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deGrasse argues that the planet's first trillionaire will undoubtedly be a space miner.
Oni 19 ~(David, a space industry and technology analyst at Space in Africa. He's a graduate of Mining Engineering from the Federal University of Technology Akure.) "The Effect of Asteroid Mining on Mining Activities in Africa," Africa News, 9/24/19, https://africanews.space/the-effect-of-asteroid-mining-on-mining-activities-in-africa/~~
At the moment, Asteroid mining poses no threat to terrestrial mining; however,
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dollar question is, what will become of the mining activities in Africa?
Tollefsen 17 ~(Andreas Forø, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and Ph.D. in Human Geography from the University of Oslo) "Experienced poverty and local conflict violence," Conflict Management and Peace Science, 12/21/17, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320740608_Experienced_poverty_and_local_conflict_violence~~
Civil wars are more frequent than any other type of conflict in the modern era
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and Buhaug (2015) identified a similar scenario at the local level.
Zwane 18, Tengetile. Nuclear Terrorism as a possible threat to Africa. Diss. University of Pretoria, 2018. (Department of Political Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pretoria)
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION The danger posed by terrorist groups in acquiring and using nuclear
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sites and borders to illicit terrorist activity and possible acts of nuclear terrorism.