Moon is in danger – NGO

Space tourism threatens the “symbols of human achievement” left on the lunar surface, the World Monuments Fund has warned

The World Monuments Fund (WMF) has added the Moon to its list of threatened historic sites for the first time, citing the risk posed by commercial space travel to the landing sites of the first lunar missions.

Every two years, the WMF publishes a list of 25 sites at risk from climate change, tourism, conflict, and natural disaster. The organization’s activism has led to the construction of improved flood defenses in Venice, the refurbishment of the Mahadev Temple in Nepal, and the protection of several temples in Cambodia’s Angkor Wat complex.

Published on Wednesday, the latest edition of the list features sites in 29 countries, including the largely-destroyed urban landscape of Gaza and the Swahili Coast, which spans four East African countries. It also includes the first-ever extraterrestrial heritage site.

“As a new era of space exploration dawns, the physical remnants of early Moon landings are under threat, jeopardizing these enduring symbols of collective human achievement,” the organization said on its website. “On July 20, 1969, when the Apollo 11 mission landed in the Sea of Tranquility, 650 million people on Earth watched humans walk on the Moon’s surface for the first time.”

The Apollo 11 astronauts left behind 106 artifacts at the Tranquility Base landing site, including the landing module, scientific instruments, and Neil Armstrong’s iconic boot print.

“Tranquility Base is one of over 90 historic landing and impact sites that mark humankind’s presence on the Moon’s surface and testify to some of our most extraordinary feats of courage and ingenuity,” the WMF said.

While these sites have been preserved in relatively stable condition due to the absence of wind and flowing water on the Moon’s surface, “a recent resurgent interest in human activity on the Moon, including a burgeoning commercial space industry” places them at risk, the organization warned. 

SpaceX launched two lunar landers on Wednesday, while humans are set to return to the Moon when NASA’s repeatedly delayed Artemis III mission takes place in 2027. The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program plans three uncrewed missions between 2025 and 2028, while the China Manned Space Agency aims to conduct crewed lunar landings by 2030.

While no commercial tourist landings are planned, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Blue Origin have all declared their interest in taking paying customers to the Moon.

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”Exploitative visitation, souveniring, and looting by future missions and private lunar exploration could eventually compromise this truly unique cultural heritage, removing artifacts and forever erasing iconic prints and tracks from the Moon’s surface,” the WMF said.

There is currently no dedicated international agreement addressing lunar heritage protection. However, a group of archaeologists and scientists formed the International Scientific Committee on Aerospace Heritage in 2023 to promote the preservation of what they called “humanity’s tangible and intangible aerospace heritage.” The organization has called on world leaders to draft a formal treaty protecting lunar sites from commercial exploitation.