The Artemis rocket, NASA’s massive Space Launch System (SLS) designed to take humanity back to the Moon is scheduled for its first test launch on August 29. Ahead of that launch, the megarocket began unfurling on its designated launch pad, 39B, earlier this week at an incredible speed of 1km/h. The launch, which will send an unmanned Orion space capsule into lunar orbit, is a test to eventually send astronauts for a lunar flyby in 2024 and a lunar landing as early as 2025.
This test launch, which is scheduled to last up to 42 days and should reach within 100 km of the lunar surface, will end just months before the 50th anniversary of the last time man was on the moon. Apollo 17’s twelve-day mission returned home in mid-December 1972. In Greek mythology, Artemis is Apollo’s twin sister.
The Orion capsule, although unmanned, will not be completely empty. It will include two female mannequins that mimic human organs, Zohar and Helga. These are high-tech dummies containing thousands of sensors and radiation detectors designed to test Israeli company StemRad’s new Astrorad radiation protection vests. The names of these dummies seem to reflect the collaboration of the Israeli Space Agency and the German Aerospace Center in this experiment. Orion will also include a third dummy, named Commander Moonikin Campos, which will also measure launch stresses on the human body.
There will also be a Snoopy doll. Snoopy has long been associated with NASA’s space efforts, and this doll and other toys will be used as zero-gravity indicators to let researchers know when the rocket has entered zero gravity. Four Lego minifigures will also be on the flight as a reminder of the long relationship between NASA and Lego and as part of an effort to promote STEM education.
In addition to the scientific endeavors of the Orion capsule, the ship will also carry more than fifty kilograms of memorabilia, including a space-time capsule, seeds and an Amazon Alexa embedded in a device called Callisto, which in accordance with the leanings of mythology NASA Greek, he was Artemis’s hunting assistant.
Despite this memorabilia-laden unmanned Orion capsule, NASA says that once it figuratively leaves earth, its new Artemis program, unlike previous Apollo missions, will be less focused on “flags and footprints ” and more in scientific research and preparing humanity for long-term habitats on the Moon and eventually Mars.
StemRad is not the only Israeli technology that will help NASA with its long-term lunar ambitions. Helios, along with Florida-based Eta Space, has developed technology that can extract much-needed oxygen from the lunar regolith. These and other Israeli technologies are part of a multibillion-shekel, long-term effort to increase the number of companies developing civilian space technology in Israel. To that end, Israel has already launched a space technology incubator, Earth & Beyond Ventures.
In particular, Israel is not the only country that collaborates with the United States in its return to the moon. The Artemis program is a multinational effort of which Israel is a recent member. Saudi Arabia just signed on as the 21st nation of the Artemis Accords during US President Joe Biden’s recent trip to the Middle East. Canada is another contributor to the Artemis project. The Canadian government will provide a third iteration of its famous robotic Canadarm, as well as a lunar rover for the project. A Canadian astronaut will also occupy one of the four seats on Artemis’ first manned flight to the Moon.
Given its interest in humanity’s return to the Moon, Canada wants its astronauts to be on their best behavior. As such, there was a recommendation to amend Canada’s criminal laws to specifically include the possibility of prosecution for misdemeanors committed on the moon by Canadians. Crimes committed on the International Space Station by Canadians already fall within the long arm of the Canadian justice system.
While the United States has yet to follow suit with similar legislation, US Vice President Kamala Harris recently announced her interest in revising other aspects of US space regulations to bring them more in line with the current state of commercial space exploration. A follow-up tweet announced that this will be explored in more detail next month, around the same time the Artemis rocket will be in lunar orbit.
However, expansion by Canada, or any other jurisdiction, on the moon could conflict with what NASA Administrator Bill Nelson says is China’s goal of claiming the moon as its own. : “We should be very concerned about China landing on the moon. moon and saying: Now it’s ours and you stay out.” In its defense, China rejects this claim.
Of course, China isn’t the only domestic player that could lay claim to part or all of the moon. The Artemis Accords, of which Israel is a signatory, allow national efforts to mine and extract valuable resources from the moon and other celestial bodies, a potentially very profitable endeavor. Despite the non-appropriation and the “province of all mankind” language within the universally accepted Outer Space Treaty.
If China claims the moon, or just strategic parts of it, it will not be the first interested party to do so. Dennis Hope is just one of many private citizens who claim to own things in space. Dennis filed what he believes are the necessary documents with his local representatives more than 40 years ago to claim not just the moon but every celestial body in the solar system. His company, Lunar Embassy, has sold fragments of these celestial bodies to more than six million people, including former presidents Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush.
All these claims to lunar lands could create some interesting legal precedent. The last time NASA had a legal fight with would-be owners of private property in space. won against the pro se plaintiff on a technicality (Nemitz v. NASA, 126 Fed. Appx. 343 (2005). Hopefully with so many potential plaintiffs and the possibility of a manned moon base, the next time NASA is sued to land on someone’s lunar claim, the result will be more interesting.
Professor Dov Greenbaum is the director of the Zvi Meitar Institute for the Legal Implications of Emerging Technologies at the Harry Radzyner School of Law at Reichman University.