Exploring Space in the Spirit of Kinship
must agree to a definitive list and location of all the sites and objects on the Moon . A digital catalog of these items is maintained by the nongovernmental organization , For All Moonkind , and would be an excellent starting point . 87 Once affirmed , sites and objects should be categorized . The two extreme categories would be : 1 ) debris or trash , available for inspection , and even recycling and reuse upon negotiation with the State which is the owner of the object ; and 2 ) cultural heritage of universal value . The COPUOS may initiate a nomination process and invite States to nominate their object and the sites upon which they sit for consideration of universal value . Subsequent categories may include an identification of operative equipment used for scientific purposes and operative equipment used for commercial purposes . Finally , the COPUOS will need also to consider commercial property that has no purpose . For example , companies like Astrobotic are offering to take private object to rest on the Moon as part of their DHL Moonbox™ kit , 88 and Celestis 89 promises to take human remains to the lunar surface . What should “ due regard ” entail for these items ? Viewing all of these sites from the prism of history will provide new perspective on all these matters .
A final benefit of approaching the task of implementing due regard through the establishment of a safety zone regime is that the entire process will be accomplished from a baseline of conservation rather than exploitation . As we have learned on Earth , development need not be halted by preservation efforts ; however , humans have been given a unique gift in the 50-year gap between crewed visits to the Moon . The site of one of our own momentous evolutionary accomplishments sits pristine , waiting for our return . We will never know where our ancestors took their first bipedal footsteps , where we first harnessed fire , or where we made our first tools . But we know where exactly our first human-made object impacted the Moon , and where our first off world footsteps were taken . These sites will forever hold the remnants of our birth as a spacefaring community , the cradle of our spacefaring species .
VI . Conclusion
It is appealing to consider this our generations Nubia moment , which the author has done in the past . 90 Like Nubia , the cradle of our spacefaring future is threatened by the need for development , here the development of space resource utilization , specifically on the Moon . However , unlike Nubia , saving our history on the Moon will not cost $ 80 million , nor will it require moving shrines and temples . It simply requires formalizing and oralizing a tacit un-
87 https :// moonregistry . forallmoonkind . org / 88 https :// www . astrobotic . com / moon-box 89 https :// www . celestis . com /
90 Michelle Hanlon , Our Nubia Moment , Spacewatch . Global , https :// spacewatch . global / 2018 / 02 / spacewatchglthemes-space-archaeology-nubia-moment-michelle-hanlon /
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