A New Frontier: 3. Life on Mars

Matthew Syed continues his four-part mini-series from Sideways examining the ethics of space exploration in a rapidly expanding era of travel and transformation.

In this episode, he explores the role and ambitions of the new actors in space exploration. More people than ever before can now aspire to travel into space with private companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic. This democratisation of space allows those who can afford it to become astronauts and view our world from a different perspective.

But new actors and new purposes bring new challenges. Spacefaring billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos openly share their ambitions to settle on celestial bodies like the Moon or Mars. With a limited body of space laws, questions about land ownership and governance in space - and on Earth - arise.

With sculptor and new astronaut Ed Dwight, anthropologist Deana Weibel, NASA consultant Linda Billings and space Lawyer Michelle Hanlon.

Presenter: Matthew Syed Producers: Vishva Samani and Julien Manuguerra-Patten Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey Sound Design and Mix: Rob Speight Theme music by Ioana Selaru A Novel production for BBC Radio 4