The French space agency CNES announced 28 June that it had created a Space Mission Ethics Committee that will be tasked with informing the agency’s governing bodies on any question of ethics relating to space activities.
The creation of the new committee is a consequence of the agency’s adoption of a charter of ethics and professional conduct in December 2021.
Although the committee will be available for a broad range of issues, CNES has stated that it will primarily be utilized to address issues relating to the evolution of the NewSpace industry and the privatization of space.
“In a context of privatization and opening of the space sector to new actors, the committee will seek to favor the right balance between cooperation, competition, sovereignty and responsibility by following the principles of international space law resulting from the United Nations treaty of 1967, while taking into account respect for terrestrial and planetary environments and the interests of future generations,” explained a CNES press release.
Although the committee will consider the views of outside experts on a case-by-case basis, it will include four permanent members.
- Edouard Geffray (chairman) – Director general of French school education
- Eric Dautriat – Former director of launchers at CNES and the current vice president of the Air and Space Academy
- Jean Gabriel Ganascia – Chairman of the ethics committee of Pôle Emploi and chairman of the ethics committee of NumAlim
- Pierre Henri Gouyon – Professor at the National Museum of Natural History and member of the INSERM ethics committee
According to CNES, the work of the committee will begin in the fall of 2023.
