In archaeology, space archaeology is the research-based study of various human-made items found in space, their interpretation as clues to the adventures humanity has experienced in space, and their preservation as cultural heritage.[1]
It includes launch complexes on Earth, orbital debris, satellites, and objects and structures on other celestial bodies such as the Moon and Mars. It also includes the applied field of cultural resource which evaluates the significance of space sites and objects in terms of national and international preservation laws. Cultural resource looks at what, how and why these artifacts of our recent history should be preserved for future generations.
Space tourism could affect archaeological artifacts, for example, on the Moon.[2][3][4] The notion that cultural heritage is at stake and requires action to prevent deterioration or destruction is gaining ground.[5][6][7] Perhaps artifacts (say, antiquated space stations) could be preserved in "museum orbit".[8] Many such artifacts have been lost because they were not recognized and assessed. Experts assert that continuity and connection to the past are vital elements of survival in the modern world.[9] A model has been suggested for international cooperation based upon Antarctica.[10] Implications for cooperation interest anthropologists as well.[11]
An unexpected ramification of this work is the development of techniques for detecting signs of life or technology on other planets, or extraterrestrial visitation on Earth.[12][13][14] One facet of this work is the use of satellites for identifying structures of archeological significance.[15][16][17][18]
Satellites
Satellites are key artifacts in examining human encounters with space over time and the effect we leave through artificial objects. This list includes:
Vanguard 1 - Launched in 1958, the manmade satellite Vanguard 1 and the upper stage of its launch rocket are the oldest still in orbit. Vanguard 1 lost communication in 1964 but had a few different functions, including the obtention of geodetic measurements and the testing of capabilities.[19]
Asterix-1 - With the intention of testing the French Diamant Rocket, Asterix-1 was the first French satellite launched into space. Asterix-1 had a very short lived transmission period of two days but remains in orbit and is expected to for centuries.[20]
Skynet 1A - Providing communication to Middle Eastern forces, Skynet 1A was launched over the Indian Ocean in 1969. No longer in operation, Skynet 1A has an approximate lifetime of more than one million years.[21]
The complexities and ambiguities of international legal structures to deal with these sites as cultural resources leave them vulnerable to impacts in the near future by many varieties of space travel. An outline of the legal situation was made by Harrison Schmitt and Neil Armstrong, two astronauts who walked on the Moon as part of the Apollo program.[22] The governing law on the Moon and other celestial bodies is the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 based upon guidelines from experience in the Antarctic. Another source of ideas is the Law of the Sea. The Outer Space Treaty contains language stating that space objects remain under the jurisdiction of the originating state, and the civil and criminal laws of that state govern private parties both on the Moon and "events leading up to such activity". State parties are to inform the public about the nature and result of their activities.
The later Moon Agreement of 1979 was signed but not ratified by many spacefaring nations. Schmitt and Armstrong believe this lack of ratification relates to disagreement over wording such as "the Moon and its natural resources are the common heritage of mankind", which is taken as possibly excluding private activity, and objections to wording concerning the disruption of the existing environment.[citation needed]
A non-profit organization called For All Moonkind, Inc. is working to establish legal protections for archaeological sites in outer space. The entirely volunteer group includes space lawyers and policymakers from around the world. As a result of their efforts, the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space agreed, in January 2018, to consider the creation of a "universal space heritage sites program.".[23] Having created a discussion around preservation in outer space, For All Moonkind is now focused on preparing drafts of implementing regulations and protocols.
Background and history
During a graduate seminar at New Mexico State University in 1999, Ralph Gibson asked: "Does federal preservation law apply on the moon?" That question led to Gibson's thesis "Lunar Archaeology: The Application of Federal Historic Preservation Law to the Site where Humans first set foot upon the Moon", to a grant from the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium, and to creation of the Lunar Legacy Project.[24]
A manuscript by scientists at NASA and ESA in 2004 raised the possibility of preserving Apollo landing sites for future "astroarcheologists."[25]
In 2006, Dr. O’Leary with New Mexico State Historic Preservation Officer Katherine Slick and the New Mexico Museum of Space History (NMMSH), documented the Apollo 11 Tranquility Base archaeological site on the Moon.[26] Some legal aspects of this work already have surfaced.[27]
Though its mission is not primarily archaeological, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has imaged all of the Apollo landing sites as well as rediscovering the location of the first Lunokhod 1 rover, lost since 1971 (note: all of the U. S. flags left on the Moon during the Apollo missions were found to still be standing, with the exception of the one left during the Apollo 11 mission, which was blown over during that mission's lift-off from the lunar surface and return to the mission command module in lunar orbit; the degree to which these flags are preserved and intact remains unknown).[28]
Based on an idea by British amateur astronomer Nick Howes, a team of experts was assembled to try to locate the Lunar Module of the Apollo 10 mission nicknamed "Snoopy", which was released during the mission and was thought to be in a heliocentric orbit.[29] The Snoopy mission was encouraged by the 2002 re-sighting of the Apollo 12 third-stage rocket.[29] In June 2019, the Royal Astronomical Society announced a possible rediscovery of Snoopy, determining that small Earth-crossing asteroid 2018AV2 is likely to be the spacecraft with "98%" certainty.[30]
The International Space Station Archaeological Project (ISSAP), led by Justin Walsh and Alice Gorman, began in late 2015.[31] As of 2021, the International Space Station has been visited by almost 250 people from 19 countries, and continuously occupied since November 2000. ISSAP is the first large-scale investigation of a space habitat from an archaeological perspective, not only documenting the ISS's material culture, but interpreting its social meaning and significance. The project has been funded by the Australian Research Council,[32] and published research on its methodology and on the creation of visual displays by ISS crew.[33] ISSAP is using new methods to study the space station without being able to visit it directly. These methods include using more than two decades of photographs stored in space agency archives to document life on board the ISS, observing the processes used for handling cargo returned from the ISS, and developing experiments for the crew to perform on the archaeologists' behalf.[34]
On January 14, 2022, ISSAP announced that it had initiated the first archaeological documentation of in situ material culture in a space habitat, the Sampling Quadrangle Assemblages Research Experiment, or SQuARE.[35]NASAastronautKayla Barron, working on behalf of ISSAP, placed pieces of adhesive tape to mark the boundaries of six square sample areas located in various areas of ISS. These areas were documented with photography by the ISS crew on a daily basis for sixty days. SQuARE is sponsored by the ISS National Lab, which allocated crew time. It was implemented with the help of Axiom Space and funded by Chapman University. The ISSAP team published the first results from SQuARE in 2024, showing that a maintenance workstation was actually used for storage of an eclectic array of objects, and that an area with no designated function near exercise equipment and a latrine was used for body maintenance (cleaning).[36]
↑ The Lunar Land Management SystemArchived 2016-03-10 at the Wayback Machine began in January 2007 and is currently based in the Mojave Desert of California at the Mojave Spaceport. The Mojave Spaceport is "an innovator in the privatization of space travel and is quickly becoming a gateway to the stars."
↑ D Spennemann (2006). "Out of this World: Issues of Managing Tourism and Humanity's Heritage on the Moon". Intl J of Heritage Studies. 12 (4): 356–371. doi:10.1080/13527250600726911. S2CID144304527.
↑ Fraser MacDonald (2007). "Anti-Astropolitik – outer space and the orbit of geography". Progress in Human Geography. 31 (5): 592–615. doi:10.1177/0309132507081492. S2CID130715024.
↑ Campbell, J.B. (2004). "The potential for archaeology within and beyond the habitable zones of the Milky Way". In Norris, R.; Stootman, F. (eds.). Bioastronomy 2002: Life among the Stars. International Astronomical Union Symposium 213. Vol.213. Astronomical Society of the Pacific. p.505. Bibcode:2004IAUS..213..505C. ISBN978-1-58381-171-9.{{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
↑ Glavin, D.P.; Dworkin, J.P.; Lupisella, M.; Kminek, G.; Rummel, J.D. (2004). "Biological contamination studies of lunar landing sites: Implications for future planetary protection and life detection on the Moon and Mars". Int. J. Astrobiol. 3 (3): 265–271. Bibcode:2004IJAsB...3..265G. doi:10.1017/S1473550404001958. S2CID29795667.
Apollo 10 was the fourth human spaceflight in the United States' Apollo program and the second to orbit the Moon. NASA, the mission's operator, described it as a "dress rehearsal" for the first Moon landing. It was designated an "F"mission, intended to test all spacecraft components and procedures short of actual descent and landing.
Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is currently carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration is conducted both by uncrewed robotic space probes and human spaceflight. Space exploration, like its classical form astronomy, is one of the main sources for space science.
The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS), taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft where it was the only item funded for development, as a proposed nuclear shuttle in the plan was cancelled in 1972. It flew 135 missions and carried 355 astronauts from 16 countries, many on multiple trips.
The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the two nations following World War II and had its peak with the more particular Moon Race to land on the Moon between the US moonshot and Soviet moonshot programs. The technological advantage demonstrated by spaceflight achievement was seen as necessary for national security and became part of the symbolism and ideology of the time. The Space Race brought pioneering launches of artificial satellites, robotic space probes to the Moon, Venus, and Mars, and human spaceflight in low Earth orbit and ultimately to the Moon.
Human spaceflight programs have been conducted, started, or planned by multiple countries and companies. Until the 21st century, human spaceflight programs were sponsored exclusively by governments, through either the military or civilian space agencies. With the launch of the privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of human spaceflight programs – commercial human spaceflight – arrived. By the end of 2022, three countries and one private company (SpaceX) had successfully launched humans to Earth orbit, and two private companies had launched humans on a suborbital trajectory.
The Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) is an independent anthropomorphic spacesuit that provides environmental protection, mobility, life support, and communications for astronauts performing extravehicular activity (EVA) in Earth orbit. Introduced in 1981, it is a two-piece semi-rigid suit, and is currently one of two types of EVA spacesuits used by crew members on the International Space Station (ISS), the other being the Russian Orlan space suit. It was used by NASA's Space Shuttle astronauts prior to the end of the Shuttle program in 2011.
Colonization of the Moon is a process or concept employed by some proposals for robotic or human exploitation and settlement endeavours on the Moon. Often used as a synonym for its more specific element of settling the Moon, lunar or space colonization as a whole has become contested for perpetuating colonialism and its exploitive logic in space.
Tranquility Base is the site on the Moon where, in July 1969, humans landed and walked on a celestial body other than Earth for the first time. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 crewmembers Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their Apollo Lunar Module Eagle at approximately 20:17:40 UTC. Armstrong exited the spacecraft six hours and 39 minutes after touchdown, followed 19 minutes later by Aldrin. The astronauts spent two hours and 31 minutes examining and photographing the lunar surface, setting up several scientific experiment packages, and collecting 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of dirt and rock samples for return to Earth. They lifted off the surface on July 21 at 17:54 UTC.
The Space Transportation System (STS), also known internally to NASA as the Integrated Program Plan (IPP), was a proposed system of reusable crewed space vehicles envisioned in 1969 to support extended operations beyond the Apollo program. The purpose of the system was two-fold: to reduce the cost of spaceflight by replacing the current method of launching capsules on expendable rockets with reusable spacecraft; and to support ambitious follow-on programs including permanent orbiting space stations around Earth and the Moon, and a human landing mission to Mars.
Spaceflight began in the 20th century following theoretical and practical breakthroughs by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert H. Goddard, and Hermann Oberth, each of whom published works proposing rockets as the means for spaceflight. The first successful large-scale rocket programs were initiated in Nazi Germany by Wernher von Braun. The Soviet Union took the lead in the post-war Space Race, launching the first satellite, the first animal, the first human and the first woman into orbit. The United States landed the first men on the Moon in 1969. Through the late 20th century, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, and China were also working on projects to reach space.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to space exploration.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. Established in 1958, it succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to give the U.S. space development effort a distinct civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science. It has since led most of America's space exploration programs, including Project Mercury, Project Gemini, the 1968–1972 Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle. Currently, NASA supports the International Space Station (ISS) along with the Commercial Crew Program, and oversees the development of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System for the lunar Artemis program.
Space architecture is the theory and practice of designing and building inhabited environments in outer space. This mission statement for space architecture was developed in 2002 by participants in the 1st Space Architecture Symposium, organized at the World Space Congress in Houston, by the Aerospace Architecture Subcommittee, Design Engineering Technical Committee (DETC), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
Human presence in space is the direct and mediated presence or telepresence of humans in outer space and in a broader sense also on any extraterrestrial astronomical body. Human presence in space, particularly through mediation, can take many physical forms from space debris, uncrewed spacecraft, artificial satellites, space observatories, crewed spacecraft, art in space, to human outposts in outer space such as space stations.
Docking and berthing of spacecraft is the joining of two space vehicles. This connection can be temporary, or partially permanent such as for space station modules.
Alice Gorman is an Australian archaeologist, heritage consultant, and lecturer, who is best known for pioneering work in the field of space archaeology and her Space Age Archaeology blog. Based at Flinders University, she is an expert in Indigenous stone tool analysis, but better known for her research into the archaeology of orbital debris, terrestrial launch sites, and satellite tracking stations. Gorman teaches modern material culture studies, cultural heritage management, and Australian stone tools. Gorman is also a founding member of the Archaeology, Science and Heritage Council of For All Moonkind, Inc., a nonprofit organisation developing and seeking to implement an international convention to protect human cultural heritage in outer space.
Lunar tourism may be possible in the future if trips to the Moon are made available to a private audience. Some space tourism startup companies are planning to offer tourism on or around the Moon, and estimate this to be possible sometime between 2023 and 2043.
The year 2022 witnessed the number of launches of SpaceX's Falcon rocket family surpassing the CNSA's Long March rocket family, making the United States the country with the highest number of launches in 2022 instead of China. This year also featured the first successful launch of Long March 6A, Nuri, Angara 1.2, Vega C, Kinetica-1, and Jielong-3. National space agencies' activities in this year is also marred by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, leading to tension between Roscosmos and Western space agencies, threats of ending collaboration on the International Space Station (ISS), and delays on space missions.
For All Moonkind, Inc. is a volunteer international nonprofit organization which is working with the United Nations and the international community to manage the preservation of history and human heritage in outer space. The organization believes that the lunar landing sites and items from space missions are of great value to the public and is pushing the United Nations to create rules that will protect lunar items and secure heritage sites on the Moon and other celestial bodies. Protection is necessary as many nations and companies are planning on returning to the Moon, and it is not difficult to imagine the damage an autonomous vehicle or an errant astronaut—an explorer, colonist or tourist—could to one of the Moon landing sites, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
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