One small step for lunar preservation. Credit: NASA
The Moon is peppered with human-made artifacts and historical sites that document humankind’s zeal for exploring the Moon.
Robert Kelso, director of lunar commercial services for NASA, has developed a set of guidelines intended to safeguard the historic and scientific value of more than three-dozen “heritage sites” on the Moon.
“It has been over 40 years since we last had landers on the surface of the Moon. The images of that flight hardware and the six American flags left at the Apollo sites are as they looked four decades ago…the last time we saw them,” Kelso said.
Teamed here with anthropology professor Beth O’Leary at New Mexico State University (NMSU), Kelso spoke today at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight (ISPCS).
Kelso spoke about future returns to the Apollo sites and how best to protect invaluable U.S. Government artifacts on the Moon.
Cultural resource management
O’Leary has spent more than a decade working with historians and archaeologists researching how to study and curate human artifacts on the Moon. With a small grant from NASA and the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium, O’Leary spearheaded efforts to gain protection for the Apollo 11 landing site.
“Over 10 years ago, my cultural resource management students and I began the Lunar Legacy Project to investigate the Apollo 11 site on the Moon,” said O’Leary. “In April 2010, with six anthropology grad students, we successfully nominated the Apollo 11 site to the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties.”
New Mexico joined California, which was the first to add Apollo 11’s Tranquility Base to its state historic register. O’Leary is currently working to gain a national historic landmark designation for the Apollo 11 artifacts, according to a NMSU press statement.
No-fly zones
One reason that NASA has moved forward on Moon artifact preservation is the Google Lunar X Prize’s offer of $20 million to any private team that lands a robotic rover on the lunar surface and an additional $4 million for landing near one of the Apollo moonwalking landing sites and snapping pictures of artifacts there.
NASA’s guidelines propose the Apollo 11 and 17 sites remain off-limits, with ground-travel buffers and no-fly zones to avoid spraying rocket exhaust or dust onto historic equipment.
Other areas on the Moon may be open for limited activity. Although not legally binding because the lunar surface has no owner, NASA’s guidance for teams planning to land on the moon will help preserve and protect the lunar landing sites.
By Leonard David