I was listening to Start The Week on Radio 4 this morning, all about the moon and further afield – our attitudes, fantasies and intentions of exploration and exploitation. It was startling to hear that Elon Musk really wanted to colonise Mars because it would be totally unregulated territory. None of those pesky labour laws or health and safety rules. Startling because it’s obviously true, but not usually stated so baldly. It’s usually disguised in purple prose about Man’s desire to explore or combined with apocalyptic visions of a lifeless Earth.

I wrote my science fiction trilogy (first version) more than twenty years ago, and although I’ve rewritten/am rewriting it substantially (would you believe futuristic fiction has to be updated?) I haven’t had to change the premise that our colonisation of the solar system would be driven by raw greed and the desire to exploit without restraint – no law…