On Earth, multiple layers of legislation, both international and domestic, protect many sites of humanity’s heritage, an array including the megaliths at Stonehenge, Yosemite National Park and the recently listed Smith-Carter House in Madison, Tenn. And Vodafone has hinted at building a cell tower on the moon. Rocket Lab, the builder of small rockets, shot a disco ball-like object into orbit from New Zealand. Various private space actors have already demonstrated a proclivity for celestial shenanigans: Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, launched his car into space. With a few crucial exceptions, what happens off-world stays off-world, and activities on the lunar surface are largely unregulated. Losing lunar historical sites is not an abstract concern. “Just use some joysticks on the ground and drive over them.”
You would not even have to go there to obliterate Armstrong’s footprints.
“Where the objects are, how they’re sitting there - that tells the actual real story and history of humans on the moon,” said Michelle Hanlon, a space lawyer and co-founder of the nonprofit organization For All Moonkind, which is developing an international framework for lunar site preservation. In other words, anyone capable of visiting Tranquillity Base could alter what many believe to be an indispensable part of humanity’s heritage, a place that is analogous to archaeological sites on Earth.
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