Following the recent launch of two SpaceX lunar landers this week, which will be used to conduct feasibility research for future commercially manned missions to The Moon, the World Monuments Fund has placed Earth’s moon on a list of threatened heritage sites. The organization fears that commercial moon trips will come with associated looting and destruction of a globally-important space object. In particular there are concerns that moon tourists could disturb historically significant sites, like the landing zone in the Sea of Tranquility, and the footprints left behind by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
Bénédicte de Montlaur, the president and chief executive of WMF, said the moon was included on the list of 25 new sites this year because there are “mounting risks amidst accelerating lunar activities,” and that they are “undertaken without adequate preservation protocols.”
“For the first time, the moon is included … to reflect the urgent need to recognise and preserve the artefacts that testify to humanity’s first steps beyond Earth – a defining moment in our shared history,” Montlaur said.
“Items such as the camera that captured the televised moon landing; a memorial disk left by astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin; and hundreds of other objects are emblematic of this legacy … the inclusion of the moon underscores the universal need for proactive and cooperative strategies to protect heritage – whether on Earth or beyond – that reflect and safeguard our collective narrative.”
Private trips to the moon are expected to begin following NASA’s next Artemis mission, which is scheduled for 2027, though that will likely be delayed. Artemis III is planned to be the first crewed lunar touchdown since the mid-1970s. Obviously the NASA-run projects aren’t WMF’s main concern. For some reason they don’t seem very trusting of luxury moon vacations for billionaires, or of the space company owned by the world’s richest man, to be protective and not use the big floating rock as their own playground.
Obviously it’ll be difficult for the Earth-based organization to do much physical protection of the site. The main purpose of this listing is to bring advocacy and awareness of the danger that the moon could be in from space-faring wealthy earthlings. The organization will work with governments, organizations, and communities to develop a conservation plan for the moon, up to and including exclusion zones for the wealthy moon visitors.