Moderators: Mehak Sarang, MIT Space Exploration Initiative and Michelle Hanlon, For All Moonkind
Webinar: https://mit.zoom.us/j/94545293509
The MIT Space Exploration Initiative is a proud co-convener of the Moon Dialogs along with the Open Lunar Foundation, Arizona State University Interplanetary Initiative, Secure World Foundation, and For All Moonkind.The Moon Dialogs is a partnership focused on governance and coordination for the Moon. We bring together organizations and people exploring guardrails and frameworks that aim to help companies and countries going to the Moon to thrive and do so wisely and collaboratively.In addition to monthly Full Moon webinars exploring a myriad of topics related to near-term policy considerations on the lunar surface, this year we have launched three action teams centered around Accessibility, Peace, and Sustainability. Our April salon will be hosted in tandem with MIT Space Week and will be the launch of the Accessible Moon theme area, co-led by the SEI.
Overview: How will the next decade of negotiations and international relations on Earth affect our collective futures on the lunar surface? This panel features a roundtable discussion amongst experts in the space industry who are experienced advocates in multilateral fora for issues such as sustainability, standards development, and heritage site designation. Our panelists will draw upon their experiences to offer practical advice and guidance as we look ahead to ensure lunar exploration is truly the province of all humankind. This salon is part of the Moon Dialogs Accessible Moon salon series.
Questions and Grounding Issues:
All three of our panelists have extensive experience working in international convening bodies (the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, the World Economic Forum, and others) to not only discuss, but implement standards, regulations, protections, and guidelines for space actors.
We ask our panelists to draw upon their professional experiences and reflect on the utility of these fora (‘the tried and true way of diplomacy’) in resolving issues (and, with particular attention to the accessible moon theme, advocating for nontraditional space actors) and coalescing the international community as we look ahead to governing activities on the lunar surface.
Our panelists will also help frame our Accessible Moon theme: what does it mean, practically, to ensure that the Moon remains the “province of all humankind”? What are the near-term challenges to accessibility? What protections do our panelists wish to see in place (especially with lessons-learned from seeing events unfold both on Earth and in low-Earth orbit). Do we need to establish a new forum with a broader set of actors to discuss such issues?
Accessible Moon will focus on international collaboration strategies, specifically to bring new voices across academic fields, industry, and governments into lunar activities. This action team has a goal of coordinating multi stakeholder activity with a shared respect for the space commons, while promoting the peaceful use of outer space. Salons will include discussion of strategies to build broader participation within the US space industrial base as well as learning from successful international cooperations and public-private partnerships towards lunar governance structures.