Scholars say it’s time to declare a new epoch on the moon, the ‘Lunar Anthropocene’

Human beings first disturbed moon dust on Sept. 13, 1959, when the USSR’s unmanned spacecraft Luna 2 alighted on the lunar floor. Within the following many years, greater than 100 different spacecraft have touched the moon—each crewed and uncrewed, typically touchdown and typically crashing. Essentially the most well-known of those have been NASA’s Apollo Lunar Modules, which transported people to the moon’s floor to the astonishment of humankind.

Within the coming years, missions and tasks already deliberate will change the face of the moon in additional excessive methods. Now, in keeping with anthropologists and geologists on the College of Kansas, it is time to acknowledge people have change into the dominant pressure shaping the moon’s surroundings by declaring a brand new geological epoch for the moon: the Lunar Anthropocene.

In a remark printed in Nature Geoscience, they argue the brand new epoch could have dawned in 1959, due to Luna 2.

“The concept is far the identical because the dialogue of the Anthropocene on Earth—the exploration of how a lot people have impacted our planet,” stated lead creator Justin Holcomb, a postdoctoral researcher with the Kansas Geological Survey at KU.

“The consensus is on Earth the Anthropocene started sooner or later up to now, whether or not lots of of hundreds of years in the past or within the Nineteen Fifties. Equally, on the moon, we argue the Lunar Anthropocene already has commenced, however we wish to stop huge injury or a delay of its recognition till we will measure a major lunar halo brought on by human actions, which might be too late.”

Holcomb collaborated on the paper with co-authors Rolfe Mandel, College Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, and Karl Wegmann, affiliate professor of marine, earth, and atmospheric sciences at North Carolina State College.

Holcomb stated he hopes the Lunar Anthropocene idea may assist dispel the parable that the moon is an unchanging surroundings, barely impacted by humanity.

“Cultural processes are beginning to outstrip the pure background of geological processes on the moon,” Holcomb stated. “These processes contain transferring sediments, which we consult with as ‘regolith,’ on the moon. Sometimes, these processes embrace meteoroid impacts and mass motion occasions, amongst others.”

“Nonetheless, once we contemplate the affect of rovers, landers, and human motion, they considerably disturb the regolith. Within the context of the brand new space race, the lunar panorama will probably be completely totally different in 50 years. A number of international locations will probably be current, resulting in quite a few challenges.”

“Our objective is to dispel the lunar-static delusion and emphasize the significance of our affect, not solely up to now however ongoing and sooner or later. We goal to provoke discussions about our affect on the lunar floor earlier than it is too late.”

Whereas many outside fans are acquainted with “Leave No Trace” ideas, they do not appear to exist on the moon. In keeping with the authors, refuse from human missions to the moon contains “discarded and deserted spacecraft parts, luggage of human excreta, scientific tools, and different objects (e.g., flags, golf balls, images, spiritual texts).”

“We all know that whereas the moon doesn’t have an environment or magnetosphere, it does have a fragile exosphere composed of dust and fuel, in addition to ice inside completely shadowed areas, and each are prone to exhaust fuel propagation,” the authors wrote. “Future missions should contemplate mitigating deleterious results on lunar environments.”

Whereas Holcomb and his colleagues wish to use the Lunar Anthropocene to focus on the potential for humanity’s potential unfavorable environmental affect on the moon, additionally they hope to name consideration to the vulnerability of lunar websites with historic and anthropological worth, which at present don’t have any authorized or coverage protections towards disturbance.

“A recurring theme in our work is the importance of lunar materials and footprints on the moon as worthwhile assets, akin to an archaeological record that we’re dedicated to preserving,” Holcomb stated. “The idea of a Lunar Anthropocene goals to boost consciousness and contemplation relating to our affect on the lunar surface, in addition to our affect on the preservation of historic artifacts.”

The KU researcher stated this “space heritage” discipline would goal to protect or catalog gadgets equivalent to rovers, flags, golf balls, and footprints on the moon’s floor.

“As archaeologists, we understand footprints on the moon as an extension of humanity’s journey out of Africa, a pivotal milestone in our species’ existence,” Holcomb stated. “These imprints are intertwined with the overarching narrative of evolution. It is inside this framework we search to seize the curiosity of not solely planetary scientists but in addition archaeologists and anthropologists who could not sometimes have interaction in discussions about planetary science.”