Opinion by Editorial
With a rise in lunar mining and commercialised space travel, the Moon has been declared a threatened cultural site by the WMF. Does one step for man translate to one giant leap for man’s greed?
In the years since, burgeoning commercialisation of space exploration, including private space tourism, has raised a philosophical dilemma: Where does curiosity end and greed begin?
Jan 18, 2025 08:35 IST First published on: Jan 18, 2025 at 07:30 IST
In Orbital, Samantha Harvey’s 2024 Booker Prize-winning novel, the exhilarating distance of space evokes a sobering realisation in her six astronaut protagonists: “The planet is shaped by the sheer amazing force of human want, which has changed everything, the forests, the poles, the reservoirs, the glaciers, the rivers, the seas, the mountains, the coastlines, the skies, a planet contoured and landscaped by want.” Going by the World Monuments Fund (WMF), the international body dedicated to the conservation of cultural heritage, it appears that the Earth is not the only celestial body scarred by human desire. On the day that India successfully docked two satellites in space, the WMF’s list of threatened cultural sites saw an extra-terrestrial addition — the Moon. In particular, Tranquility Base, Apollo 11’s landing site and other associated areas.
In 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first stepped on the Moon, it marked a triumph of imagination and ambition. It was a moment that framed the technological aspirations of the 20th century, affirming the belief that human ingenuity could overcome the greatest odds. But the Moon landing was also the beginning of a geopolitical race. In the years since, burgeoning commercialisation of space exploration, including private space tourism, has raised a philosophical dilemma: Where does curiosity end and greed begin?
There is a counterargument, one that resists the imposition of conservation ideals on uncharted domains. The Moon is, after all, a place of scientific opportunity. The challenge, then, is not just about how the Moon’s heritage is preserved, but over its reconciliation with human ambitions. The WMF’s intervention comes as an invitation to deliberate on how progress and preservation can coexist in a world of ever-expanding frontiers.
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