1 DRAFT – DO NOT QUOTE A Right to Return to Earth? Emigration Policy for the Lunar State James S.J. Schwartz Department of Philosophy Wichita State University james.schwartz@wichita.edu Abstract: I argue that citizens of future lunar states should enjoy the right to emigrate. The lethality of the space environment may result in lunar settlements pursuing oppressive and illiberal norms, policies, and laws in order to resolve societal problems. A right to emigrate, which for the foreseeable future is tantamount to a right to return to Earth, has individual and societal value. For individuals, the right establishes a legal path for lunar citizens wishing to flee from averse social or political circumstances. For the lunar state, protecting the right to emigrate disincentivizes the pursuit of policies which give rise to desires to flee. After presenting the case for the right to emigrate, I respond to several objections, including an objection derived from the “brain drain” debate over terrestrial migration, as well as the objection that protecting the right to emigrate would be financially ruinous for the lunar state. Keywords: space settlement, lunar settlement, emigration, immigration, space policy, ethics 1. Introduction In all of the excitement surrounding the prospect of human settlement of the Moon, it is easy to forget that it will be incredibly difficult for humans to eke out an existence there. The Moon is devoid of immediately available breathing air and drinking water, and lunar settlers will have to devote a considerable portion of their energies to the provision and distribution of the basic necessities of life. Whoever is tasked with overseeing life support production and distribution systems might succumb to the temptation to use their position to extort others by controlling the flow of breathable air or consumable water. Privacy may be virtually nonexistent because pervasive surveillance and security enforcement may be necessary to ensure that airlocks are not misused in ways that lead to depressurization events, and that life support production and distribution machinery is not vandalized or tampered with. And the need to maintain a population that is both large enough to sustain the settlement but not so large it strains life support systems will place possibly unwelcome bounds on the reproductive autonomy of settlers. So, we may find that lunar societies adapt in ways that run contrary to liberal conceptions of the