It is a sign of the times. The last time the philosophy of “migration to other planets” went mainstream was when the Americans globally showcased their moon landing. The “Apollo” program, late ‘60s, early ‘70s. “Man on the moon” was then so powerful that it allowed every other fantasy: “man on Mars”, “man on Saturn”… In practice, the American space program “proved its superiority” (over the Soviet one), extracted the conclusions and technical applications it wanted for “peace on Earth” (you know what I mean…), and left the planets in peace.
Related literature has made a comeback, but now with “Apocalypse” prophecies. The celebrated Stephen Hawking, for example, declared early this year that the human species has no more than 100 years of life left on planet Earth, due to climate change – this before Trump withdrew the USA from the global Paris agreement. Later (still before Trump) Hawking issued a corrective statement, saying that the 100 years could well be 1 000, but just to be safe we must start preparing. Other pronouncements or prophecies follow the same line: we’ll have to get out of the planet (and if not all of us, at least some…) not necessarily for sport or tourist curiosity but (also) out of necessity.
The current juncture concerns war programs from space and the related funding. These require (ideological) legitimacy in advance, because misunderstandings may arise. A war-from-space could include (for the more techno-ambitious) a “base of interplanetary missiles” on the moon and appropriately “modified” military personnel—but definitely no vegetable gardens, pets, or bike paths there!
Of course, permanent expansion is structural for terrestrial capitalism. Which means that it exists as a system only as long as it keeps spreading. However, before it chases the planets, it still has to colonize 70% of the earth: the ocean depths. Therefore, before the bosses and their companies blast off, they have something closer at hand: to sink.
Although not in the way we would take care of it if we could…