Of course, this will more than likely fuel the long-running debate about devoting resources to space exploration when so many of the earth’s some seven billion inhabitants, from both the developed and developing world, live in poverty. 

 There is no simple solution or clear-cut answer to this issue as the standard cost-benefit analysis would not suffice. However, if the benefits derived from space exploration technology positively affect the average global citizen, and in particular can improve the lives of the less fortunate in the developing world, then it can stand muster on the ethical test.

 Food production, worldwide, is still very dependent on natural weather cycles.