Alice Gorman reports that with India and China planning lunar surface missions, privately-funded space entrepreneurs competing for the US40 million dollars Google Lunar X Prize and discussions around lunar mining intensifying, working out what to do with our moon cultural heritage is becoming urgent.
In an article in the journal Science today, space lawyers Henry Hertzfeld and Scott Pace propose a multilateral agreement at the highest international level, initially between the US and Russia, but open to other moon-faring entities such as China, India and the European Space Agency - ESA. And while there is much to recommend this, I propose we should consider extending the agreement idea further.
The moon has a rich archaeological record created by nearly 40 missions, from 1959 until the present. Most are robotic, but those that really grabbed the public imagination had human crews. In 1969, at the site of Tranquility Base, humans set foot on another world for the first time. The Apollo 11 astronaut footprints in the thick lunar dust and the controversial flag are among the most iconic images of the 20th century.
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