A private American space mission plans to transport the ashes of the deceased to the moon next month, but the lucrative activity has drawn the ire of the indigenous Navajo tribe, which has criticized the “desecration of a sacred place.”
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The moon “is part of our spiritual heritage, an object of reverence and respect” and holds a “sacred position” in many Native American cultures, wrote Buu Nygren, president of the Navajo Nation, one of the world's largest tribes. UNITED STATES .
In his letter at the end of December to the US Department of Transportation and NASA, he called for the launch to be postponed.
On Thursday, the American space agency, which itself is sending scientific experiments aboard the same mission, responded by emphasizing that it was not directly responsible for them because they were carried out by the private sector.
As companies are called upon to play an ever-increasing role on the moon, this controversy highlights the debates that are sure to multiply over its future use by private interests.
The lander in question, called Peregrine, was developed by the American company Astrobotic. The launch is scheduled for Monday in Florida on board a new rocket from the industrial group ULA. The moon landing is scheduled to take place on February 23rd.
Among the twenty on-board loads: those from the companies Celestis and Elysium Space, which specialize in “commemorative space flights”.
Celestis confirmed to AFP that it sent “a symbolic portion of the DNA and/or the cremated remains of 69 people” aboard the lunar module.
Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke are on the list released by the company, which says it offers the service starting at $12,995.
The cargo will not be deposited on the surface but will remain in the lunar lander, Astrobotic said, assuring that it complies with “all regulations and laws for commercial activities beyond Earth orbit.”
Elysium Space did not respond to AFP's questions.
Embarrassment at NASA
“No culture or religion should exercise veto power over space missions,” Celestis said in a statement. According to the company, this mission is “the exact opposite of desecration, but rather a celebration.”
NASA seemed more embarrassed.
Because there is a precedent: In 1999, a space agency probe intentionally crashed on the moon with the ashes of geologist Eugene Shoemaker on board. A mission in which Celestis claims to have taken part.
Even then, the Navajo Nation expressed their dissatisfaction. “NASA had apologized and promised to consult the tribes before approving another mission to transport human remains to the Moon,” Buu Nygren noted in his letter. But NASA appears to have “not kept its word,” he added.
Joel Kearns, a senior NASA official, assured that he was taking the tribe's concerns “very seriously” and announced that an “intergovernmental meeting” would be organized with Navajo representatives.
An answer “will be studied and developed,” he promised during a news conference, while emphasizing that the American space agency has no right to inspect cargo from private missions.
“Completely new industry”
However, this privatization movement is actually promoted by NASA, which wants to develop a real lunar economy. By using private companies, the space agency hopes to send more equipment there for less money.
So the company signed a deal with several companies, including Astrobotic, to send experiments and technology to the moon under a program called CLPS. This provides companies with crucial financing.
Astrobotic could become the first private company to land on the moon in late February, but many others are in the running.
This is a “completely new industry,” said Joel Kearns, acknowledging that companies could use these new modes of transportation for “industrial” or even “promotional” purposes, thereby causing “different problems or concerns.”
“I'm sure our perspective on things will change over time,” he said. And added that the industry could “perhaps itself set standards or recommendations” for how to proceed.