Aparna Venkatesan He is an astronomer and dark sky advocate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of San Francisco.
John Barentine is an astronomer, historian, author, science communicator and founder of Dark Sky Consulting, LLC.
The Moon has been a calendar, ancestor, ritual, inspiration and origin story for humanity since humankind existed. Monthly and more subtle generation cycles have been meticulously recorded and celebrated by cultures around the world since prehistoric times.
These recurring sequences include “great lunar standstills” that occur every 18.6 years, in which the moon reaches its northern/southmost points, or lunar movements, in a single month. We are now entering the last major pause in 2024-25.
There have been two major pauses since the United States sent the last crewed mission to the moon, Apollo 17, in December 1972. Since then, only four countries have joined the club of small nations to successfully achieve soft moon landings: first, the Soviet Union, China, and since August 2023, India and Japan. In addition to dismantling spacecraft and space hardware, humans left behind instruments, scientific experiments, and even objects. bags full of excreta in our neighboring world.
So in early 2024 we ask: Where will humanity and the moon be during the next lunar pause in the early 2040s?
Relating to: Lunar group pushes for protection of far side of ultra-quiet Moon
In the 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union competed to become the first countries to realize the age-old dream of “putting a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth,” in the words of US President Kennedy. The crewed landing of Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969 was a “giant leap for humanity” as well as a demonstration of not only the superiority of the United States’ technological know-how but also, as some argue, of its political-economic system.
After the collapse of the USSR, its successor, the Russian Federation, joined the United States as a partner in activities such as the establishment and operation of the International Space Station. The Space Race appeared to be over.
But now a new race to the moon is underway, driven as much by the commercial exploitation of lunar resources as by the display of military might in the new frontier of space. a sense of urgency resulting from “manufactured fear” It reflects the Cold War rather than modern collaborative frameworks. As we write this, fears of nuclear threats from orbital space are renewed following Russia’s anti-satellite test in November 2021; In the words of the American Astronomical Society“It endangers human spaceflight…the night sky and its accessibility for ground-based astronomy as well as other scientific, economic, commercial and cultural purposes.”
Due to changes caused by human activities since 1959, historians have recently argued that the moon has entered a new phase in its geological history, where human-made changes to its surface will greatly outpace the rate of evolution due to natural influences alone. Astronauts returning to the moon in the coming years will face a world more than six decades old in this new era. The so-called “Lunar Anthropocene”.
The name of the new moon period deliberately evokes our own planet’s Anthropocene, which increasingly includes the surrounding space environment. In the last seventy years Human activities have radically changed orbital space near Earth. Recently, the pace of this change has accelerated at an alarming rate. According to the European Space AgencyThe number of known objects orbiting the Earth has doubled since 2015.
Space debris proliferates in a similar way. Collisions between space objects (some accidental, some intentional) create piles of debris, each component of which poses a collision risk to other objects. More than 50 tons of debris could be deliberately removed from orbit every week By the end of this decade, unknown consequences will emerge on the chemistry of Earth’s upper atmosphere, oceans, and oceans. All life on earth. Additionally, thousands of operational satellites orbiting the planet currently interfere with ground-based observations. radio astronomy as well as optical and infrared astronomy (SATCON1 And SATCON2 reports).
The moon is not far behind. orbital crowding, environmental degradation and increased light and radio frequency pollution are expected consequences of the new moon space race, reflecting the effects of similar activities near our planet. These developments jeopardize the Moon’s potential to host unique scientific research activities, such as the most sensitive radio astronomical measurements ever made from the far side of the moon. Soon the airless moon will no longer be a “silent” celestial body; Rather, it will be filled with human-generated radio energy.
The Moon represents not only shared (solar system) historical and scientific opportunity, but also shared heritage and cultural-religious significance for many global cultures, including Indigenous communities.
Current practices by government and private space actors violate cultural beliefs, including the January 2024 attempt by the Astrobotic Peregrine One mission to carry human remains to the moon. Widespread condemnation from indigenous communities and international reaction.
The Navajo Nation, in particular, issued a statement to NASA reminding NASA of the need for consultation given the 26-year history of this issue, which represents a desecration of “a sacred place in Navajo cosmology.” Since then, there have been a number of Indigenous-led stoppage calls. The practice of sending humans (and pets) to the moon continues. So the Moon is not only at risk of becoming a battlefield in the future, but also a federally supported grave.
The Moon has been our satellite for approximately 4.5 billion years, and although it moves a few centimeters away from Earth each year, it will remain our closest and most visibly Earth-like companion for billions of years to come. This makes the current foray to invade cislunar space and the moon even more incomprehensible, with an uncertain balance between science and security gains and the potentially permanent loss of the geological record of the early solar system past; environmental and biological contamination of the lunar surface and atmosphere; and disrespect for cultural beliefs around the moon.
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As more lunar exploration initiatives emerge, the question must be asked: Will we responsibly and sustainably preserve the ability of future generations to practice scientific and cultural traditions on, near, or related to the Moon? And will we be able to improve? moon land ethics? With a rapidly growing number of active government and private space actors and the rise of pre-approved, treaty-hopping space initiatives, it will take courage and vision for any nation(s) to set the intentional precedent of moving forward in a way that honors these honors. scientific-cultural heritage of humanityWe prioritize “the right path” over “right now.”
This seems particularly urgent given that US-based, privately owned Intuitive Machines landed on the moon for the first time in 51 years two weeks ago and is carrying scientific experiments as well as man-made “left behinds” on the lunar surface. “Koon’s satellites“.
Examples like this call for gaps in the language to be addressed urgently. 1967 Outer Space Treaty and lately Artemis AccordsSuch as the increasing role of private companies in space and whether their lunar or other missions are compatible with the desired ideals in the Artemis Accords regarding the preservation of heritage or the benefits of space exploration for all humanity.