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WORKING PAPER: DO NOT CITE WITHOUT THE AUTHOR’S PERMISSION LAST UPDATED DECEMBER 2013 Maghrak 1 Bang! Zoom! Straight to the moon! Introduction Cultural heritage has been a contested topic for centuries, but increasingly so in the last few decades with the increase of international tourism, development, redevelopment, and globalization. While the most well-known and debated case of cultural heritage may be the British Museum’s holding of the Elgin Marbles, there is a vast body of other contested cases. Such cases provide fascinating windows into academic, institutional, bureaucratic, and legal debates and definitions of cultural property, rights, and heritage. However, save for a handful of cases, these debates engage solely with terrestrial concerns. Space exploration since the late 1950s has produced an abundance of material culture on other celestial bodies (Gold 2009; Spennemann 2009; Spennemann and Murphy 2009; Stooke 2009) as well as in orbital space (Gorman 2005a). Much of the material in orbital space is treated as debris, and debates continue as to the best manner in which to clean it up. A variety of proposals include the use of lasers, both ground- and space-based, to destroy orbital debris and intervention missions to collect debris (Gorman 2005a: 1). However, as Gorman details, many objects and artifacts in orbital space may become a destination for space tourism in the distant future. However, with the recent development of private space travel, that future may not be so distant. Virgin Galactic, for instance, has been reserving seats on one of its spacecraft since 2005 (Virgin Atlantic 2013). Equally pressing, however, is the cultural heritage value of material culture on other celestial bodies, including the moon. A recently published book, Handbook of WORKING PAPER: DO NOT CITE WITHOUT THE AUTHOR’S PERMISSION LAST UPDATED DECEMBER 2013 2 Space Engineering, Archaeology, and Heritage , has taken the first step to open debates negotiating the protection of material culture beyond terrestrial boundaries (Darrin and O’Leary 2009). A number of these debates deal explicitly with the at times counterproductive goals of international agreements and (terrestrial) national cultural heritage preservation schemes. A cultural heritage preservation scheme recently put forth by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) demonstrates the difficulties embodied within these debates. The question of how to protect cultural heritage on the moon is an important one, despite these difficulties. It is especially important with the ongoing Google Lunar XPRIZE, a competition that provides prizes to teams that can plan, construct, launch, and land a spacecraft on the moon (Chang 2012; Hall 2013). The competition, which 26 teams from private organizations have entered, offers a $30 million prize to the first teams to land their robots on the moon, travel at least 500 m, and transmit high-definition video and images back to earth (Google Lunar XPRIZE 2013). Additional prizes of $1 million each will be awarded to teams for “precision landing near an Apollo site or other lunar sites of interest” (Chang 2012). The competition rules stipulate that the team’s missions must be ready to launch by 31 December 2015 (Hall 2013). The protection of lunar cultural heritage is of further concern with plans announced by Russia and India to send robotic landers to the lunar surface (Chang 2012). On 1 December 2013, China launched a robotic rover known as the Jade Rabbit to explore the Bay of Rainbows (Buckley 2013). It will be the first lunar soft landing by any country since 1976. These projects raise questions about the cultural heritage on the WORKING PAPER: DO NOT CITE WITHOUT THE AUTHOR’S PERMISSION LAST UPDATED DECEMBER 2013 3 moon, despite the fact that these governments are signatories to most of the United Nations space instruments (UNOOSA 2013b). After an orientation to these international space agreements and NASA’s development and goals, this project examines the NASA-funded Lunar Legacy Project, a bill known as H.R. 2617, and their implications for the preservation of material culture on the moon, on other celestial bodies, and in orbital space. United Nations space instruments The Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA) was first established within the United Nations framework in 1958 (UNOOSA 2013c). Five major agreements concerning outer space have entered into force in the United Nations. While each agreement has a rich history to be detailed, they are addressed here only briefly to guide the analysis of the present project (for a longer discussion of international space law, see Doyle 2009). The first major space treaty to come out of the OOSA, the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (Outer Space Treaty) was opened for signatures on 27 January 1967 (UNOOSA 2013a). The Outer Space Treaty comprises thirteen articles pertaining to the particular agreement, with an additional four articles defining its means of entry into force. Articles I through XIII are summarized below, as they help to frame the analysis of the Lunar Legacy Project. Article I. Research, exploration, and the use of outer space are in the interest of all mankind. Article II. Outer space, and any celestial body in outer space, including the moon, is not subject to national appropriation. Article III. Activities carried out by States Parties to the treaty must be in accordance with international law. WORKING PAPER: DO NOT CITE WITHOUT THE AUTHOR’S PERMISSION LAST UPDATED DECEMBER 2013 4 Article IV. No State Party to the treaty shall place weapons in outer space, or on any celestial body, including the moon. Such celestial bodies “shall be used…exclusively for peaceful purposes.” Article V. Astronauts are to be regarded “as envoys of mankind,” and all States Parties to the treaty shall do anything in their power to offer aid or rescue to astronauts after an accident, distress, or an emergency landing on earth. Article VI. Whether governmental agencies or non-governmental entities carry out activities in space, States Parties to the treaty shall supervise these activities and bear “international responsibility” for them. Article VII. A State Party to the treaty is internationally liable for damages to another State Party to the treaty and its persons, whether on earth, in air space, or in outer space. Article VIII. A State Party to the treaty maintains ownership, jurisdiction, and control of objects it has launched into outer space. Article IX. All activities of States Parties to the treaty in outer space and on other celestial bodies, including the moon, shall be “guided by the principle of cooperation and mutual assistance.” Article X. All States Parties to the treaty must allow for the opportunity for observation of their space launches, flights, and activities by any other State Party to the treaty. Article XI. States Parties to the treaty must inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the public, and the international scientific community, of the “nature, conduct, locations, and results” of their activities in outer space, or on any celestial body, including the moon. Article XII. “All stations, installations, equipment and space vehicles on the Moon and other celestial bodies shall be open to representatives of other States Parties to the Treaty on a basis of reciprocity.” Article XIII. The treaty’s provisions apply to States Parties and to international intergovernmental agencies to which any State Party is a member. (UNOOSA 2013a: 3-6). The second major international agreement, the Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space (Rescue Agreement), was opened to signatures on 22 April 1968. An expansion upon Articles V through VIII of the Outer Space Treaty, its six articles pertaining to the agreement, which are followed by four articles defining its means of entry into force, are summarized below. Article 1. Any Contracting Party that gains knowledge of an accident involving spacecraft and its personnel must immediately inform the launching authority and the Secretary-General of the United Nations. WORKING PAPER: DO NOT CITE WITHOUT THE AUTHOR’S PERMISSION LAST UPDATED DECEMBER 2013 5 Article 2. Any Contracting Party into whose territory the accident places the spacecraft or personnel must immediately take action to rescue and assist them and inform both the launching authority and the Secretary-General of the United Nations of their efforts. Article 3. If such an accident occurs on the high seas or in any place outside the jurisdiction of any State, Contracting Parties that can participate in search and rescue operations shall do so. Article 4. Personnel recovered in such operations shall be returned safely and promptly to the launching authority. Article 5. Any Contracting Party that gains knowledge of the return to earth of an object or component parts, whether within its territory or without, must inform the launching authority and the Secretary-General of the United Nations. On request by the launching authority, the Contracting Party must recover the object and return the object. In the event that such an object poses a hazard, the Contracting Party must notify and direct the launching authority in cleanup. Article 6. For the purposes of this agreement, “launching authority” can refer to a State or international intergovernmental organization responsible for launching, provided that the majority of its States members are Contracting Parties to this agreement and the Outer Space Treaty. (UNOOSA 2013a: 8-10). The third major international instrument regarding outer space, the Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects (Liability Convention), was opened to signatures on 29 March 1972. While this agreement contains many critical articles, for the purposes of the present project they can be summarized rather briefly. The Liability Convention provides for the absolute liability of launching States for damages caused by space objects, whether on the earth or to aircraft in flight. It provides the stipulation that where there is a joint launch, there is joint liability. However, if a space object launched by a State causes damages to the State’s own nationals or participating foreign nationals, liability is waived (UNOOSA 2013a: 11-18). The fourth international agreement regarding outer space, the Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space (Registration Convention), was opened to signatures on 14 January 1975. The Registration Convention requires a running inventory of objects launched into outer space by a given State Party to be maintained by
