Alien: Prospects of Space Colonisation

Ridley’s ‘Alien’ envisions a universe where space exploration is so efficient that it is not solely for survival but used for monetary purposes.How far is humanity from this and what can be learnt from the world of Alien?

Directed by Ridley Scott, the 1979 production follows a crew of interstellar engineers who encounter a lethal ‘Alien’ whilst on a job. Scott uses this as a backdrop to create a ‘riveting thriller’, hailed as one of the best sci-fi horror movies to date.

"You still don't understand what you're dealing with, do you”- Ash

Space is relatively unexplored and there is a consensus that human settlement is not possible in the foreseeable future. To put this into perspective, the 2017 paper ‘The Terraforming Timeline’ details a 200,000 year multi step process to alter the environment of a whole planet to make it Earth-like. Nonetheless, some projects have proposed shorter timelines by suggesting human colonies orbiting the Earth .

Space settlement is becoming a priority. In 2016, NASA introduced the “space exploration, development and settlement act'', adding human space expansion to NASA’s objectives and purpose. Similarly, non-government funded projects such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX are generating more public interest and funding. However, before space settlement can become a real possibility, scientists must first solve barriers to development, including biological limitations of the human body and technological advancements required.

“A survivor, unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.”- Ash

The true horror of the alien is in this form. An android like being, devoid of typical human characteristics and weaknesses. Easy to fear and therefore justified to kill.

With rhetoric of resources on Earth depleting and similar rhetoric surrounding nuclear warfare, survival is a common justification for space exploration. *However, it is human action and following consequences that follow that have limited stake in the conversation.* Is humanity not remorseful of our damage to Earth? Do we have autonomy and authority over the universe? How can we morally ‘colonise’ space without fully understanding potentially existing life? Was it justified for the protagonist Ripley to kill the Aliens even though the humans were the trespassers?

The pervasiveness of the term ‘colonisation’ affirms a disregard of socio-cultural implications within the scientific community, or more worryingly, a willingness to replicate violent tactics historically used by colonisers. Alien acts as a warning that space colonisation could be a sum of our greatest fears. We must remember....

In space no one will hear you scream”.

Epilogue

This article was first written before ‘the billionaire space race’ . A true spectacle where we witnessed Richard Branson, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos flexing their pockets to be the first billionaire in space. However, I prefer the term ‘ private industry space race’. The race showed the world the level of investment that now goes into space industry, it also affirmed the increased public interest in space technology. We make movies about, tweet about it, write about it. So although this plan many seem unforeseeably far in the future; there is a somewhat certainty that it will be. Given...we survive that long.