The Fate of Civilization

Watch Neil deGrasse Tyson debate the future of space exploration

Neil deGrasse Tyson, the astrophysicist best known now as host of Fox's Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, hosts an annual debate at the Hayden Planetarium in the memory of the prolific science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, who died in 1992.

This year, the topic under discussion was the commercialization of space, specifically: How much risk should businesses assume in space exploration? How can space businesses mitigate risk? How big are the potential opportunities of extraterrestrial resource mining, products, and real estate? What role does government play in the new paradigm of commercial space exploration?

The panelists included a host of space industry luminaries: The Aerospace Corporation president and CEO Wanda Austin; Michael Gold, director of DC operations and business growth for Bigelow Aerospace; John Logsdon, professor emeritus of space policy and international affairs at George Washington University; Space Foundation CEO Elliot Pulham; Space Adventures president Tom Shelley; and Robert Walker, executive chairman of Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates.

Watch the entire debate below. --John Aziz