NASA To Future Lunar Explorers: Don't Mess With Our Moon Stuff 346
coondoggie writes "NASA today gently reminded any future Moon explorers that any relics of its Apollo missions or other U.S. lunar artifacts should be off limits and are considered historic sites. NASA issued the reminder in conjunction with the X Prize Foundation and its Google Lunar X Prize competition which will use NASA's Moon sites guidelines as it sifts through the 26 teams currently developing systems and spacecraft to land on the Moon."
Just ONE word to nullify what they say (Score:4, Interesting)
SALVAGE.
They abandoned that stuff out there on a rock in space. They have no intention of doing anything further with it and have no authority over it. How is it not salvage to pick up some leftovers?
Cool moment in history (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyone else think it's pretty cool that we've reached a point in history where we have to start seriously talking about property rights on the moon?
Jurisdiction. . . (Score:5, Interesting)
There's a very legitimate question of jurisdiction. The U.S. has no legal authority over the moon, any more than they do venus or mars.
In essence, it would be kind of a dickish thing to do to mess with historical sites on the moon, but the U.S. government has no legal authority over the moon. I'd say something which has been left unattended for 50+ years would qualify as "abandoned", so it's not like theft laws should apply.
There is the issue that if the craft is a U.S.-based craft, then like ships in international waters, it might carry U.S. jurisdiction around with it wherever it goes, but if it's, I dunno, a Chinese or Russian spacecraft? What's NASA/USGovt gonna do?
Re:Or what? (Score:4, Interesting)
Hello? What about that Surveyer 1 camera? (Score:5, Interesting)
(Kind of ironic that they took the camera; the Apollo 12 astronauts ineptly fried their camera by pointing it at the sun, and ruined the live TV coverage of the entire mission).
Re:Or what? (Score:2, Interesting)
"the Indians"? do you have any idea how many nations and tribes of "Indians" there were? the early colonists certainly did NOT make an agreement with all "Indians". Your viewpoint is imperialist bullshit.
Native Americans might not agree (Score:3, Interesting)
After all, it's not like the United States of America gave a shit about all the historical and sacred sites of the Red Man, "manifest destiny" apparently gave White Man the right to trample over, destroy, steal, rape and pillage, all in the name of "homesteading" so that all the money they paid France for that land didn't go to waste.
Re:Or what? (Score:4, Interesting)
Also, don't forget the bodies of the two astronauts killed by those escaped Kryptonian criminals.
Re:Or what? (Score:3, Interesting)
So they should have made an agreement with all the nations when they were trading for land owned by one nation?
Indians certainly had the concept of tribal land ownership. They fought for land, slaves and resources just as regularly as other stone age societys.
There is private property on the Moon! (Score:4, Interesting)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunokhod_2
So Russia at least does recognize these objects as property.