How do we engage a broad swath of nations in a coordinated lunar village effort?
This post was written by Dr. Annette Froehlich for the third edition of The Transmission. Learn more and subscribe!
Dr. Annette Froehlich | Honorary adjunct lecturer, University of Cape Town for the Master of Space Affairs; Editor, Scientific Publication Series, Southern Space Studies
The use of outer space shall be for the benefit and in the interests of all countries. Even if this fundamental principle of the Outer Space Treaty was agreed upon by the international state community within the frame of the United Nations, its concrete implementation by space actors seems, still, to be very challenging. Upcoming projects such as the lunar village concept are looking for ways to include a large number of participant states from various regions worldwide. Indeed, the construction of a lunar village not only requires profound technical abilities and extensive financial resources but also, in particular, socio-political competence and benevolence from all parties involved. However, earlier initiatives for the common use of outer space have already shown how difficult it is to achieve a joint and combined approach.
The construction of a lunar village not only requires profound technical abilities and extensive financial resources but also, in particular, socio-political competence and benevolence from all parties involved.
Even the discussions around the notions of ‘common heritage of humankind’ or ‘mutual benefit’ seem like minor details at first glance but testify significant differences in terms of joint approaches and best solutions. In addition, it is not a matter of course that all partners, both space-faring countries and emerging space nations, will find a common denominator.
The opportunities for international coordination and collaboration
Although established space-faring nations will most likely assume a large part of the technical and financial efforts of this common global project, emerging space nations will enrich this venture and its accompanying discussions with their proven concepts. Indeed, traditional methods and principles of community rules in decision-making processes within self-governing groups, or concepts of resource governance from Indigenous populations may allow us to find a more just and equal model of governance or natural resources exploitation for the benefit of all.
Credit: NASA (1969), public domain
Building a village on the Moon will inevitably raise a multitude of socio-political issues because this fortified lunar settlement will be populated by interacting humans who are likely to come from different countries and cultures around the Earth. These colonizers are not only shaped by different social models but will also have diverging ideas of how this community of residents should be organized in order to function in a peaceful and sustainable manner, even under distress. This may comprise banal things like organizing a daily routine of every citizen—from civil registrations to security or garbage collection— but also different (legal) concepts on aspects such as the acquisition of property or intellectual property rights. These will all lead to intense discussions.
Moreover, even if current, major space-faring nations lead the way in the establishment and consequently also in the settlement of the lunar village, developing countries should receive a sincere opportunity to participate in this endeavour. This is not only to avoid earlier unfortunate mistakes during the so-called colonization era on Earth but to take advantage of our wealth of diversity, a unique asset of our world community and civilisation necessary to tackle the challenges that come with populating other celestial bodies.
Although established space-faring nations will most likely assume a large part of the technical and financial efforts of this common global project, emerging space nations will enrich this venture and its accompanying discussions with their proven concepts.
Although established space-faring nations will most likely assume a large part of the technical and financial efforts of this common global project, emerging space nations will enrich this venture and its accompanying discussions with their proven concepts. (One example is the organization of neighbourhoods and their communal goods.) Indeed, traditional methods and principles of community rules in decision-making processes within self-governing groups, or concepts of resource governance from Indigenous populations may allow us to find a more just and equal model of governance or natural resources exploitation for the benefit of all. Actually, in societies based on long traditional communities, good co-existence and harmony among all members of the group are essential for the survival of the whole population. This will be a vital common denominator for all as we seek the sustainable viability of the lunar village and its inhabitants.
For more on this topic, please refer to our salon titled, “Accessible Moon Salon: International Coordination for Lunar Exploration - The Practitioners’ View” and “Peaceful Moon Salon: International Collaboration for Lunar Bases.”
About the author: Dr. Annette Froehlich is a scientific expert seconded from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to the European Space Policy Institute (Vienna), and an honorary adjunct senior lecturer at the University of Cape Town (SA) at SpaceLab. Moreover, Dr Annette Froehlich is an author of a multitude of specialist publications and serves as a lecturer at various universities worldwide in space policy, law and society aspects; she also lectures space law defence related topics at the Austrian National Defence Academy (Vienna) and the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College (Hamburg). Her main areas of scientific interest are European space policy, international and regional space law, emerging space countries, space security and space & culture. She has also launched as editor the new scientific series “Southern Space Studies” (Springer publishing house) dedicated to Latin America and Africa.
Image credit: Nancy Liang (CC BY -NC-ND)