Bremen Human Space Exploration Seminar

Guest: Dr. Jacques Arnould

Jacques Arnould is an Ethics Advisor at Centre national d’études spatiales, Paris.

The planet Mars is still close enough to attract us, but already too far away, too hostile to be easy to explore. These difficulties question the limits of our human and terrestrial condition, as well as the foundations of our propensity to explore. Aside from meeting a unique challenge, do we really have reasonable motives for sending humans to the red planet? Will we be able to be content with exploring it, for the "beauty of the gesture" and the advancement of knowledge? Or will we also seek to defend our interests, to make profits? Is Mars beyond the limits of our human reason?

Born in 1961, Jacques Arnould is an engineer in agronomy and forestry (AgroParisTech), holds a Ph.D. in the History of Sciences and a Ph.D. in Catholic Theology. He takes an active interest in the interrelation between sciences, cultures and societies, with a particular interest in two sets of themes: the first related to the life sciences and evolution; the second related to space conquest. He has been the French Space Agency (CNES) Ethics Adviser since 2001, and a member of the CNES Ethics Committee. Among his books published in English on space activities: Icarus’ Second Chance. The Basis and Perspectives of Space Ethics, Springer, 2011 as well as Ethics Handbook for the Space Odyssey, ATF, 2020.

Website: jacques-arnould.com

Bremen Human Space Exploration Seminar

The seminar will take place every second Thursday at 2 pm CET/CEST at the Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM) from 2025 during the lecture period. 

The invitation for the seminar will be send via email to all registered members of the space-exploration mailing list. You can register for the invitation here.