'Unacceptable to our people': Diverse cultural beliefs, Indigenous rights, and the future of human activities on the Moon

TL;DR

This paper explores the intersection of Indigenous rights and commercial activities on the Moon, highlighting legal, ethical, and cultural challenges in space governance and proposing more inclusive future frameworks.

Contribution

It analyzes historical and legal contexts to suggest that future space governance should involve co-creation with Indigenous societies rather than mere consultations.

Findings

Indigenous perspectives are often overlooked in space activities.

Current legal frameworks are rooted in Western colonial histories.

Inclusive governance models are necessary for just space exploration.

Abstract

The human presence in outer space is undergoing a transition from one in which nation states are the dominant actors to an emerging status quo in which states merely supervise the activities of private entities. Such largely commercial ventures include extracting natural materials from the Moon, a celestial body of great cultural and spiritual reverence for some Indigenous societies. However, the existing international legal framework governing activities in space focuses on its "exploration and use", centered in a Western worldview that attaches to a past history of colonialism. While that framework, articulated in the Outer Space Treaty (OST), claims to guarantee that outer space will remain "the province of all [hu]mankind," only entities with significant political power have to date decided the limits of the acceptable uses of space. This paper examines the historical record for clues about how states, private actors and Indigenous societies might interact in the future on matters of outer space governance to achieve more just ends. It analyzes a key case study: the dispute between the NASA and the Din\'e people of the American Southwest over the launches of human cremated remains to the Moon in 1998 and 2024, acts the Din\'e president called "deeply disturbing and unacceptable to our people and many other tribal nations." In a future in which space becomes increasingly commercialized and entities like NASA transform into mere contract-administering agencies, it is unclear how an impending, exploitative human presence on the Moon can simultaneously honor Indigenous rights and perspectives on lunar issues. The presentation concludes that best practices for future engagement with the Moon must transcend the mere "due regard" and "international consultations" required by the OST in favor of arrangements where participants co-create a human future in outer space.