How to preserve history on the moon? : NPR



[ad_1]

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin walks on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. The landing site of the Tranquility Base has remained virtually intact, although it may change if more and more countries and even commercial companies begin to explore the moon.

NASA


hide legend

toggle the legend

NASA

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin walks on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. The landing site of the Tranquility Base has remained virtually intact, although it may change if more and more countries and even commercial companies begin to explore the moon.

NASA

The historical conservatives are hoping that the next 50th The anniversary of the lunar landing of Apollo 11 this summer will persuade the UN to do something to protect Neil Armstrong's tracks in the lunar dust.

Some of his boot tracks are still up there, after all, as well as other valuable artifacts from the first steps of humanity on another world. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left behind tools and scientific equipment, a plaque saying "We came in peace for all humanity" and the American flag, which was probably whitewashed by five decades of ultraviolet light.

In addition to lunar soil dust or the random impact of micrometeorites, the tranquility base has been an intact control capsule since the departure of astronauts – although this may change as more countries and even commercial companies begin to explore the Moon. .

"There has never been any historical preservation of our planet, it is a really difficult subject," says Michelle Hanlon, a law professor and space law specialist at the University of Toronto. University of Mississippi, co-founder of For All Moonkind, a non-profit group dedicated to the protection of historic sites. in the space.

Last week, she brought the issue before the United Nations, saying it's the first time the issue has been discussed. Speaking before a subcommittee of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, Hanlon told the group that the landing site of Apollo 11 was a cultural treasure similar to UNESCO World Heritage sites such as the Egyptian pyramids or the Great Wall of China.

Any nation can designate a site on its sovereign territory for inclusion on the World Heritage List, she explains. The problem with the moon is that, according to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, no country can claim sovereignty over anything in outer space.

This legal gray area is the reason why Hanlon wants the US Space Board to issue some kind of statement stating that the Apollo 11 landing site has an unprecedented cultural significance that deserves a special recognition.

The question is whether countries will be willing to agree on this kind of small step for preservation, or whether they will be hesitant to set a precedent for the setting aside of part of the moon.

His group also wants the group to recognize the Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 in the same way, the first human-made object to reach another celestial body. He is still sitting on the lunar surface after touching the ground 60 years ago in September.

Hanlon said that a Chinese delegate had contacted her immediately after her speech to find out more and that her organization would be doing additional communication activities at another meeting of the subcommittee in April. . Its goal is to get some kind of statement when the full space committee will meet in June.

"I have a very good team of lawyers from many countries who will be attending in April, and I think we can really make a very good effort in this regard," Hanlon said. "What we need to do is find a country ready to sponsor our mission, if you wish."

"I think they're just as lucky as anyone," says Lisa Westwood, an archaeologist at California State University in Chico, who has been interested in preserving lunar history for about a decade. "I think their hearts are in the right place and that they are working very hard to try to reach an international consensus – they certainly speak to the right people."

The preservation efforts of historic sites on the Moon date back at least to 1998. It was at this time that Beth O 'Leary was teaching a graduation seminar at New Mexico State University on the laws federal and state governments protecting archaeological and historical resources. Ralph Gibson, a student, asked him if federal preservation laws applied to the moon. "You know, you have a good question, you have to throw it," O. Leary recalls. Gibson and another graduate student got a grant to study the issue.

Historic conservatives want the United States to take action to preserve artifacts and important objects on the moon, such as the footprints of Apollo 11 astronauts in the lunar soil.

NASA


hide legend

toggle the legend

NASA

Until now, early advocates of historical preservation on the Moon have listed the artifacts and objects of the tranquility base in the historical records of the states of New Mexico and California. "It's symbolic in nature," says O & # 39; Leary. "It recognizes the history of space and archeological archives of the history of space."

The Treaty on Outer Space, she says, establishes that nations retain ownership of any object or structure they have placed on the moon, so that no one, for example, can 'go with the American flag. But that would not protect the footprints of Apollo astronauts.

"I do not think anyone can argue that it's not a significant event, which breaks the Earth in the history of humanity," said O. Leary, "and any humanity has participated. " She herself was a student exchange with a host family in Norway when the astronauts landed on July 20, 1969. She remembers watching the information broadcast on a black and white television during that the advertisers spoke in Norwegian.

Since no one has ever tried to protect cultural artifacts on the moon, it is not clear exactly How to preserve them.

But some reflections have already gone in this direction, as a group formed by NASA made recommendations that "space entities" could voluntarily follow if they ventured onto the moon. The recommendations define areas around fragile sites that should not be entered with mobiles, for example, and warn against physical contact with equipment without prior authorization from NASA.

These recommendations were created in response to the Google Lunar X Prize, a competition launched in 2007 that offered a cash prize to the first privately funded project that landed a robotic spacecraft on the moon. This offered a huge bonus if the satellite could return images or video from one of the Apollo project's multiple landing sites, which alarmed some experts because of the risk of inadvertent destruction.

"I've been contacted by some of the companies vying for the Google Lunar X Prize," recalls Philip Metzger, scientist in Planetary Science at the University of Central Florida. At the time, Metzger was at NASA to study the effects of the explosions caused by the Apollo lunar landings. He and his colleagues discovered that these landings produced surprisingly violent explosions of sand and dust. "[The companies] wanted to visit the Apollo sites during these missions and they did not want to sand and ruin the Apollo sites. "

Metzger knew that it was a real danger. In 1969, the Apollo 12 astronauts landed 160 meters from the Surveyor III spacecraft, which had been resting on the moon for two years. The astronauts approached and removed a few pieces of gear to bring them home so that they analyze the impact of the lunar environment on the equipment. "Well, the main thing we found was that the Apollo Lunar Module took off like crazy," says Metzger.

This image taken in 1969 shows two lunar landers: the Apollo 12 lunar module in the distance and the uninhabited Surveyor III spacecraft, which landed on the moon in 1967. Surveyor III was so damaged by the rocks and debris of the Apollo landing 12 that he turned from white to brown.

NASA


hide legend

toggle the legend

NASA

This image taken in 1969 shows two lunar landers: the Apollo 12 lunar module in the distance and the uninhabited Surveyor III spacecraft, which landed on the moon in 1967. Surveyor III was so damaged by the rocks and debris of the Apollo landing 12 that he turned from white to brown.

NASA

It was a shock because NASA thought it had landed far enough for the robotic spacecraft to be safe. But Surveyor III suffered so much damage that it changed color from white to brown, while tiny pieces of lunar soil were blown to the surface. And Surveyor III was even spared most of the damage because it was in a crater and protected from flying debris.

Since then, said Metzger, they analyzed videos showing that Apollo landings could eject gravel and even fist-sized rocks at high speed. "If you land within 100 meters of something sensitive, you could definitely have a bad day by hitting it with a rock 50 miles to the hour," he says.

In fact, computer modeling shows that it is impossible to have a major landing on the moon without causing some damage to all the dust and rock that have moved – which has made it difficult for the NASA group to make recommendations on the future missions should go ahead without unduly damaging the treasures of Apollo. "Whenever you land on the moon within 100 kilometers, you will cause some damage," says Metzger, "and so we were faced with this impossible question: how far is it from putting your Rocket on the moon?

The group finally decided to keep the landings about two kilometers from the Apollo sites. "The border has nothing to do with real science," notes Metzger. "It's just a figure we invented because we could not do better at the time."

He says it's important to retain access to Apollo sites for scientific and cultural reasons, while protecting them from excessive damage. "We would like people to visit these sites and send back images not only for scientific value, but for cultural value, so that people can see again that we have visited the moon and that will make people want to come back , "says Metzger.

Archaeologists and historians have been busy compiling lists of every human artifact on the moon, and there are many. The Apollo astronauts lightened their ascension vehicle by throwing out everything they did not need before returning home: hammers, towels, cameras. "They created, just before taking off, a draw zone, a multitude of artifacts," said Westwood, who said more than 100 objects had been inventoried at the tranquility base.


NASA Goddard
Youtube

Metzger personally thinks that human dung bags are one of the most interesting objects of the Apollo landing sites on a scientific level.

"I think the most important thing about the moon would be the human poop bags, because they are extremely valuable for science," he said. "These are samples of human biological material, including microbial life, that we have set on the moon decades ago, we would like to know, did anything survive?"

Some research of this type might be suitable for conservators like Hanlon.

"It's like archeology on Earth, it's not a matter of storing something, locking it up and throwing away the key," says Hanlon. "We make sure that the right people go to these sites first, so that we can exploit all the scientific knowledge possible, while preserving what should be preserved for posterity."

Hanlon says that all that remains of the Apollo 11 astronaut boots footprints, however, must be protected. While the launch vehicle hit could have erased the very first Armstrong footprints in the lunar soil, satellite images show that some more distant traces of the probe have remained. Hanlon would even possibly see some kind of structure built on them, to create a kind of lunar history museum.

[ad_2]

Source link