Plans to send human ashes to the Moon generate legal debate – 02/09/2024 – Science

A series of unconventional, corporate-funded plans to explore the Moon, including its use as a site for human ashes and beverage containers, has gained traction in recent years as NASA seeks to make it more accessible. However, with these same plans came concern about possible gaps in United States oversight and legal issues regarding the suitability of the Natural Earth satellite.

The expectation is that, in the coming years, landers built by private sector actors and emerging space powers will join the American flag and other remnants of past programs on the Moon. Other initiatives could include using the Moon as a location for capsules of human remains, beverage advertising and perhaps even a two-story Christian cross made from the satellite’s own dirt.

“We are just at the beginning of exploring the Moon and we need to be careful not to contaminate it — not just with biological and chemical contamination, but also with trash,” says Leslie Tennen, a lawyer specializing in international space law.

Among the payloads on board a recent private lunar mission from the American company Astrobotic, which ended up failing to reach the surface of the Moon, were dozens of capsules of human ashes and a can of the Japanese isotonic drink Pocari Sweat.

These items and anything else can be sent to the Moon as long as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other agencies certify that launching a rocket payload from Earth will not endanger health and safety. public safety, U.S. national security and/or the country’s international obligations.

Today, there are no laws or standards in the United States that establish what is acceptable on the surface of the celestial body.

NASA, for example, plans to install long-term lunar bases and hopes to stimulate a competitive commercial market — the American agency is increasingly turning to private companies to reduce the costs of trips to the Moon.

The lack of regulation worries lawyers specializing in space law. They fear this vacuum could put American companies into conflict with other countries operating on the lunar surface. There is also concern that international disputes will arise over which private developments can be considered land grabs or sovereignty claims.

The vacuum of guidelines has aroused the interest of some people.

Justin Park, a Washington, D.C.-based entrepreneur, wants to build a Christian cross on the Moon, potentially as large as a two-story building and made from hardened lunar dirt. The venture, estimated at US$1 billion, was discussed with American legislators and Catholic organizations.

“Nobody owns the Moon,” Park said. Overly restrictive regulations for satellite activities, he said, “would destroy an industry before it even gets off the ground.”

‘Religious test’

Texas-based Celestis, which launches cremated human remains into space and had arranged the ashes in Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander, was criticized by the Navajo Nation, which considers the Moon sacred and saw the company’s memorial mission as sacrilege.

For Celestis CEO Charles Schafer, memorials for the dead in space are inevitable as more humans traverse the cosmos.

“We do not make space mission decisions based on a ‘religious test,'” Schafer said. “I have a photo of 20,000 Buddhist monks celebrating our launch. So which religion prevails?”

NASA officials responsible for the program that helped fund Astrobotic’s mission said they have no control over what companies put in their landers and what payload standards might be created in the future.

“You’re going to see this evolve quite a bit over time,” said Chris Culbert, head of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. “But I think the first step is a successful landing — that’s what matters most to us in these first steps.”

Some officials at NASA and other countries’ space agencies viewed the ash and sports drink as obstructions and waste that would set a negative precedent, according to two U.S. officials who asked not to be identified.

With another private U.S. lunar lander scheduled to launch this month, the lack of lunar regulation risks putting Washington at odds with the widely ratified 1967 Outer Space Treaty, lawyers said. This pact establishes that countries must authorize and supervise the activities of non-governmental entities.

Few countries, however, have adopted standards for behavior on the Moon, and the rules remain uncertain in international law, in the opinion of lawyers.

“We are already late and we need to start now, very urgently, to discuss the Moon at an international level,” said Martha Mejía-Kaiser, space lawyer and board member of the International Institute of Space Law.