Source: AFP
The United States will soon launch its first spacecraft to attempt a soft landing on the Moon since the Apollo era in a historic partnership with the private sector — but not everyone is celebrating.
The Navajo Nation, the largest Native American tribe, has expressed concerns about the presence of cremated human remains on the lander, calling the mission a “desecration” of the moon that holds a sacred place in their culture.
On Jan. 8, Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander is set to hitch a ride on a giant United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket making its maiden voyage as part of a commercial NASA partnership aimed at saving the US space agency money.
Peregrine’s science instruments will investigate the lunar surface radiation, helping NASA better prepare for crewed missions that will go there later this decade as part of the Artemis program.
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But the robot box manifest also includes payloads from two companies — Elysium Space and Celestis — that will contain cremated remains and DNA to stay forever on the Moon, inside the lander.
While Elysium hasn’t released details, Celestis has 69 individual “participants,” including the late Star Trek creator Gene Rodenberry, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, and a dog named Indica-Noodle Fabiano.
Customers paid prices starting at $12,995, according to the company’s website.
In a Dec. 21 letter to NASA and Department of Transportation officials, Navajo Nation President Bu Nigren expressed what he called “our deep concern and deep disappointment on a matter of the utmost importance” and called on NASA to delay the launch.
“The Moon holds a sacred place in many indigenous cultures, including our own,” Nygren wrote.
“The act of depositing human remains and other materials, which could be perceived as waste in any other location, on the Moon is tantamount to desecration of this sacred space.”
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NASA promises meeting
Nygren added that the situation was reminiscent of the Lunar Prospector mission launched in 1998 by NASA, which deliberately crashed a probe on the surface of the Moon. On the ship were the remains of the famous geologist Eugene Shoemaker.
Then, too, the Navajos objected. NASA apologized and pledged to consult with Native Americans in the future, according to a contemporary report in The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Washington.
NASA’s acting deputy administrator for exploration Joel Kearns said Thursday that an intergovernmental team had arranged a meeting with the Navajo Nation, but added that the agency had no control over its private partner’s payloads.
“We take very, very, seriously the concerns expressed by the Navajo Nation and we believe we will continue that conversation,” Kearns told reporters.
Celestis was less accommodating.
“We respect the right of all cultures to engage in religious practices, but no culture or religion should veto space missions based on religious principles,” the company said.
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Denying that the mission “desecrates the Moon”, he stressed that the material would remain on the lander rather than be deposited on the surface.
Kearns said NASA’s growing private partnerships could lead to “changes in how we look at this” or the establishment of industry standards.
It wouldn’t be the first human DNA left on the barren celestial body — that distinction belongs to the nearly 100 bags of feces and urine left behind by American astronauts during the 1969-1972 Apollo moon landings.
Source: AFP