January 5th, 2023 |
By David Bullock, VP of Project Management and Communications
A Product of the Cislunar Technology Strategy Interagency Working Group, which consisted of several Executive Branch government organizations, created a report called, “The National Cislunar Science and Technology Strategy” last month. This document lays out four objectives to create a US presence in Cislunar space. Cislunar is the part of outer space, which is entirely within both the gravity wells of the Earth and the Moon.
These four objectives are as follows: Support research and development to enable long-term growth in Cislunar space, expand international S&T cooperation in Cislunar space, extend U.S. space situational awareness capabilities into Cislunar space and implement Cislunar communications and positioning, navigation, and timing capabilities with scalable and interoperable approaches.
While laying out a political roadmap to expand human presence within the solar system, the report omits several considerations that were brought about by academia, NGOs, and think tanks that are following the initiative closely.
Rebecca Heilweil in the publication “recode,” highlighted the fact that this report leaves open the “legal, political, and environmental questions about how life on the lunar surface should work.” Many experts on the panel hinted that the expansion of humans into the cislunar environment may not be sustainable if imposed incorrectly.
Michelle Hanlon from The Beyond Earth Institute (BE) Board of Advisors was quoted in the article saying, “It would be tragic for Neil Armstrong’s boot prints to be erased, either inadvertently or maliciously, because of all these activities on the moon… It’s gonna get very crowded soon.”
This is why it is important to have a ready-to-go policy for the settlement of space by humans. Most of the time, both industry and government are on board, but not all the time.
BE will be trying to examine the policy so that we can have sustainable cislunar development for millennia to come. Sustainability comes under the umbrella of environmental, legal, political, and financial sustainability, among other forms of sustainability.
Tune into BE’s webinars, reports, blog posts, and our annual symposium to follow the evolution of human space settlement policy as it unfolds.
