Moon Added to List of Threatened Heritage Sites

Above: Neil Armstrong, Apollo ll mission commander, on the historic first extravehicular activity on the lunar surface. Image copyright: Wikimedia Commons

The Facts

  • New York-based non-profit World Monuments Fund placed the moon on a list of threatened heritage sites on Wednesday, citing potential risk of commercial looting and destruction.

  • The organization claimed that rampant tourism would risk 90 lunar sites, including the Apollo landing site. The listing was announced the same day that SpaceX launched two private lunar landers.

  • The inclusion also comes as NASA's Artemis III mission plans to land the first astronauts on the lunar surface since the 1970s and aims to build a permanent settlement on the Earth's natural satellite.


The Spin

Narrative A

Unregulated lunar mining and infrastructure projects could irreparably damage scientifically unique sites. The moon boasts locations ideal for radio telescopes, cold traps valuable for infrared astronomy, and craters holding ancient ice crucial for understanding the origins of water and life. Yet these risk destruction from commercial exploitation. Safeguarding such sites is crucial to ensuring humanity's expansion into space — groundbreaking scientific discovery cannot be sacrificed for corporate profit.


Narrative B

In a burst of cosmic hubris, humanity now seeks to classify the moon — a lifeless, perilous expanse riddled with lethal dust, violent quakes, and deadly radiation — as a heritage site needing protection, as if Earth's fragile species could truly shield a celestial body. Our brief lunar visits, totaling mere days, have offered little grasp of its deadly risks. Yet, we overestimate our reach, mistaking fleeting landings for mastery, and a barren rock for a strategic prize worth racing over.



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