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For thousands of years, the Moon inspired humans from afar, but the bright beacon in Earth’s night sky, located more than 200,000 miles (321,868 kilometers) away, remained out of reach. That all changed on September 13, 1959, when the former Soviet Union’s unmanned spacecraft, Luna 2, landed on the surface of the moon.
The Luna 2 probe created a crater when it landed on the Moon between the lunar regions of Mare Imbrium and Mare Serenitatis, according to NASA.
That crucial moment, of stirring lunar dust, marked the beginning of humanity’s efforts to explore the Moon, and some scientists now suggest that it was also the beginning of a new geological epoch (or time period in history) called ” Lunar Anthropocene”, according to a commented article published in the journal Nature Geoscience on December 8.
“The idea is very similar to the discussion about the Anthropocene on Earth: exploring how much humans have impacted our planet,” said the paper’s lead author, Justin Holcomb, a postdoctoral researcher at the Kansas Geological Survey at the University of Kansas. in a sentence.
“The consensus is that on Earth the Anthropocene began at some point in the past, either hundreds of thousands of years ago or in the 1950s,” Holcomb said. “Similarly, on the Moon, we maintain that the Lunar Anthropocene has already begun, but we want to avoid massive damage or a delay in its recognition until we can measure a significant lunar halo caused by human activities, which would be too late.”
Scientists have been trying for years to declare a definitive Anthropocene on Earth and recently presented new evidence from a site in Canada that some researchers believe marks the beginning of a transformative chapter in our planet’s history.
The idea of the Lunar Anthropocene comes at a time when civilian space agencies and commercial entities are showing renewed interest in returning to the Moon or, for some, landing on it for the first time.
And the paper’s authors argue that the moon’s environment, already shaped by humans during the beginning of the Lunar Anthropocene, will be altered more dramatically as exploration increases.
The lunar footprint of humanity
Outdoor enthusiasts and visitors to national parks are probably familiar with the concept of “Leave No Trace”: respecting and maintaining natural environments, leaving things as they were found, and properly disposing of waste.
The moon, however, is littered with traces of exploration.
Since the landing of Luna 2, more than a hundred spacecraft have crashed and made soft landings on the Moon and “humans have caused surface disturbances at at least 58 additional locations on the lunar surface,” according to the document. Landing on the lunar surface is incredibly difficult, as evidenced by numerous crashes that have left their mark and created new craters.
The Cold War space race launched a series of lunar missions, and most have been unmanned since. NASA’s Apollo missions were the first to send humans around the Moon during the 1960s before safely landing astronauts on the lunar surface for the first time in 1969 with Apollo 11. In the end, 12 astronauts from the NASA walked on the lunar surface between 1969 and 1972.
With the arrival of humans came a host of objects left behind, including scientific equipment for experiments, spacecraft components, flags, photographs and even golf balls, bags of human excrement and religious texts, according to the newspaper.
From Earth, the moon appears unchanged. After all, it doesn’t have a protective atmosphere or magnetosphere like our life-sustaining world has. Micrometeorites regularly hit the surface because the Moon has no way to protect itself from space rocks.
Declaring a Lunar Anthropocene could make it clear that the Moon is changing in a way it would not naturally due to human exploration, the researchers said.
“Cultural processes are beginning to overtake the natural background of geological processes on the Moon,” Holcomb said. “These processes involve the movement of sediment, which we refer to as ‘regolith’, on the Moon. Typically, these processes include meteorite impacts and mass motion events, among others. However, when we consider the impact of rovers, landers and human movement, they significantly disturb the regolith.”
The moon also has features such as a delicate exosphere composed of dust, gas and ice within permanently shadowed areas that are vulnerable and could be disturbed by continued exploration, the authors wrote in their paper. “Future missions should consider mitigating harmful effects on lunar environments.”
Lunar exploration frenzy
A new space race is heating up as several countries set their sights on landing robotic and manned missions to explore the Moon’s south pole and other unexplored and hard-to-reach lunar regions.
India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission made a historic successful landing on the moon in 2023 after the Russian Luna 25 spacecraft and Japanese company Ispace’s HAKUTO-R lander crashed. This year, multiple missions are headed to the moon, including the Japanese “Moon Sniper” lander, which is expected to attempt a landing on January 19.
Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine spacecraft launched this week amid objections from the Navajo Nation that the vehicle was carrying human remains that customers paid to send to the lunar surface, sparking a new debate over who controls the moon. But a propulsion problem detected hours after takeoff means Peregrine will not be able to attempt a lunar landing and its fate is currently uncertain.
NASA’s Artemis program intends to return humans to the lunar surface in 2026. The agency’s ambitions include establishing a sustained human presence on the moon, with habitats supported by resources such as water ice at the South Pole. mole. China’s space ambitions also include landing on the Moon.
“In the context of the new space race, the lunar landscape will be completely different in 50 years,” Holcomb said. “Several countries will be present, which will create numerous challenges. Our goal is to dispel the myth of lunar static and emphasize the importance of our impact, not only in the past but also in the present and future. “Our goal is to start discussions about our impact on the lunar surface before it is too late.”
The archaeological record of the moon
Humanity’s footprints on the moon have come to be seen as artifacts that essentially need some kind of protection. Researchers have long expressed a desire to maintain the Apollo landing sites and catalog the items left behind to preserve “space heritage.” But this type of preservation is difficult to achieve because no country or entity “owns” the moon.
“A recurring theme in our work is the importance of lunar material and footprints on the Moon as valuable resources, similar to an archaeological record that we are committed to preserving,” Holcomb said. “The Lunar Anthropocene concept aims to raise awareness and contemplation about our impact on the lunar surface, as well as our influence on the preservation of historical artifacts.”
The Apollo 11 moon landing marked the first time humans set foot on another world. The footprints left by astronauts in lunar dust are perhaps the most emblematic of humanity’s ongoing journey, which will likely include planets like Mars in the future, researchers said.
“As archaeologists, we perceive the footprints on the Moon as an extension of humanity’s journey out of Africa, a fundamental milestone in the existence of our species,” Holcomb said. “These traces are intertwined with the overall narrative of evolution. It is within this framework that we seek to capture the interest not only of planetary scientists but also of archaeologists and anthropologists who do not normally participate in debates about planetary science.
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