This volume provides a rigorous philosophical investigation of the rationales, challenges, and promises of the coming Space Age. It will be a fascinating philosophical and ethical exploration for academics, researchers and students interested in philosophy, space studies, science and technology studies, future studies, and sustainability.

Mirko Daniel Garasic is Assistant Professor of Moral Philosophy at the Department of Education Science, Roma Tre University, Italy. He has been Visiting Professor in Neuroethics at IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca, and Research Scholar at the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights in Rome. He is the author of Guantanamo and Other Cases of Enforced Medical Treatment: A Biopolitical Analysis (2015). His articles have been published in BMC Medical Ethics; Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy; Topoi; and the Journal of Medical Ethics.

Marcello Di Paola is Assistant Professor of History of Philosophy at the Department of Humanities, University of Palermo, Italy. He works in environmental philosophy, particularly climate change, the Anthropocene, and the philosophy of plants. Among his publications are Ethics and Politics of the Built Environment: Gardens of the Anthropocene (2017), and the co-edited Handbook of the Philosophy of Climate Change (2023), Plant Ethics: Concepts and Applications (2018), and Canned Heat: Ethics and Politics of Global Climate Change (2014).

1. Outer Space and Humanity: History, Concepts, and Themes of a New Philosophical Frontier 2. A Memorial with No Observers: Carl Sagan's Golden Record 3. Earth and the Ontology of Planets 4. Signs of Life: The Epistemology of Indirect Sensing 5. Alien Ways of Knowing and Being: Speculations from the Lives of Earthly Non-Human Animals 6. Thought Experiments and the (Fictional) Exploration of Outer Space 7. Conspiracy Theories about Space: Are They Epistemically Special? 8. Sustainability and Humanity's Future in Space: A Conceptual Exploration 9. Improving Outer Space 10. Unearthing Global Justice: From Space to Inter-Planetary Ethics 11. Space Adaptation: How Life Can Be Shaped by Space Travel 12. The Ethical Considerations of Pantropy in the Colonization of Mars 13. Faking Biosphere 14. In Space There Is No Status Quo: Space Communities as Social Experimentation Regarding Reproduction and Kinship 15. Longtermism, Space Colonization, and Human Consciousness