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RT-6: Responsible Use

Summary. "Conduct all activities for the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes consistent with international obligations, and principles for responsible behavior in space" (ADD Rev C, p. 83). ADD Rev C sets out the legal and policy basis: the Space Act, the Outer Space Treaty, UN work, the Artemis Accords, and U.S. space policies on sustainability and heritage sites. It notes that CLPS missions are collecting data for responsible behavior, naming SCALPSS's plume measurements. Its forward look is that "significant policy questions and framework gaps" remain and implementation "is still in development". A 2024 white paper, older than Rev C, frames the tenet as "ethical, legal, and societal implications" (ELSI), calls their inclusion in the architecture "an open area of analysis", and reports NASA's first steps (below). One of the nine recurring tenets.

All page numbers below are ADD Rev C, Section 3.5.6 (pp. 95–98).

The assessment

"The responsible use of space follows guidelines and principles set forth in international agreements, international and national policies, and law. To ensure that humanity collectively benefits from Moon to Mars activities, NASA must consider the responsible use of space from several legal, policy, ethical, and societal perspectives" (p. 95).

The legal and policy basis, as the ADD lists it (pp. 95–97):

Instrument What the ADD draws from it
National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 "it is the policy of the United States that activities in space should be devoted to peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind"
Outer Space Treaty (1967) Space "free for exploration and for peaceful purposes". Article VI covers activities by "non-governmental entities" such as companies. Article IX "aids in mission deconfliction" and covers forward and backward contamination, "typically managed under planetary protection"
UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space Guidelines on long-term sustainability, debris mitigation and "the safe use of nuclear power sources in outer space". Its Action Team on Lunar Activities Consultation was set up in 2024 "with a three-year mandate". It recognizes COSPAR's planetary protection guidelines
NASA-STD-8719.27 NASA's planetary protection implementation, informed by COSPAR
Artemis Accords Open international standards and interoperability; transparency about operations; protection of historic sites and artifacts; space resource use "under the auspices of the Outer Space Treaty, with specific emphasis on Articles II, VI, and XI"
2010 National Space Policy "responsible use of space", with a focus on debris
2020 National Space Policy information sharing on space objects, protection of critical systems "with special attention to cybersecurity and supply chains", debris mitigation
2021 United States Space Priorities Framework preserving space for future generations, space situational awareness and traffic coordination, "minimizing backward contamination"
NASA's 2024 Space Sustainability Strategy, Volume 1 Defines space sustainability; "a cislunar volume is forthcoming"
2011 NASA recommendations on lunar artifacts; "One Small Step to Protect Human Heritage Space Act (P.L. 116-275)" (2020; name as printed, the footnote's link says "…Human Heritage in Space Act") Domestic guidance on preserving lunar heritage sites, now required in NASA "contracts, grants, agreements, or other arrangements"
LEAG 2016 Lunar Exploration Roadmap Preservation priorities for future lunar science

(The ADD notes "there is no overarching U.S. guidance on ensuring the preservation of exploration sites", p. 97.)

  • NASA's own work. "NASA is working to identify gaps in best practices for safe, peaceful, and responsible space operations for Moon to Mars exploration and intends to work with Artemis Accords signatories and international technical and standards bodies" (p. 97).
  • Data from CLPS. "Ongoing operations, including Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) missions to the Moon, are collecting technical data to enable future responsible behavior. For example, the Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS) studies the effects of the lander's plume on the lunar surface during landings. The ability to predict landing effects is essential to responsible use in the future" (p. 97).
  • Other venues: the International Space Exploration Coordination Group, the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee, the Interagency Operations Advisory Group, the International Astronomical Union, the International Committee on GNSS and the International Telecommunications Union (p. 97).
  • Ethics. The 2023 planetary science decadal survey and the National Science and Technology Council's cislunar strategy "highlight the need to include broader discussion and consideration of ethical and societal questions"; NASA's 2023 Artemis and Ethics Workshop "began a dialog" (p. 98).

Future considerations

  • "While NASA and its partners have committed to pursuing peaceful exploration and responsible use of space, significant policy questions and framework gaps regarding the protection of future scientific and exploration needs remain. While treaties, law, policy, and guidelines have defined responsible use, implementation is still in development" (p. 98).
  • "NASA must avoid making premature judgements about behaviors or outcomes and instead enable discussions about costs and benefits, with a goal of maximizing benefits to society while minimizing potential harms. The architecture and systems engineering process can incorporate these discussions" (p. 98).
  • "NASA has a mandate to explore and a set of objectives to meet. Decisions about how those objectives are accomplished must also consider their meaning and impact" (p. 98).

Responsible Exploration (ACR24 white paper, 2024)

The 2024 white paper "Responsible Exploration", subtitled "Ethical, Legal, and Societal Implications of the Artemis campaign and NASA's Moon to Mars Architecture", is about this tenet. It cites ADD Revision A and predates Rev C. Page numbers in this section are the paper's.

ELSI, and where it stood in 2024. The paper calls the subject "ethical, legal, and societal implications (ELSI)", drawn as three icons labeled "Ethical", "Legal" and "Societal" (Figure 1, p. 1). The ADD "establishes the specific systems engineering approach that NASA uses to achieve its Moon to Mars Objectives, but inclusion of ethical, legal, and societal implications (ELSI) into the agency's Moon to Mars Architecture remains an open area of analysis." "Fully infusing ELSI into the Moon to Mars Architecture will require new systems engineering frameworks and enhanced collaboration with industry, academia, and the international community" (p. 1). "Ethical, legal, and societal factors are present within each of these reasons to explore — and at their intersections", meaning the three pillars (p. 1; Why Moon to Mars).

Demand from the community (p. 1):

  • NASA's 2022 Moon to Mars workshop in London "considered a range of ELSI topics, including public communications, responsible use, and disposal of waste".
  • The 2022 Lunar Surface Science Workshop on inclusive lunar exploration "discussed challenges related to diversity and inclusion in the lunar community".
  • The 2023–2032 planetary science decadal "recommended that NASA solicit expert views about the ethics of planetary in-situ resource utilization".

What NASA had done by 2024 (pp. 2–3):

Activity What the paper reports
Artemis, Ethics, and Society Workshop (2023) "two-and-a-half-day workshop", "55 participants", among them "historians, philosophers, sociologists, lawyers, and engineers". Five themes: "Sharing the benefits of space exploration"; "Reflecting on core values for exploration"; "Defining sustainability for lunar exploration"; "Balancing shared access to the lunar surface"; "Addressing cultural sensitivities around lunar activities". Participants warned of "workforce culture challenges, resource limitations, political pressures, and other practical obstacles". "NASA is still formulating approaches it can implement to address ELSI."
Policy studies A 2022 NASA paper on "landing and operating on the lunar surface", covering "protection of humanity's lunar exploration heritage and non-interference across lunar activities"; a report identifying "12 policy questions", one of them on "how NASA should ensure its activities are consistent with values of the global community", noting that "ELSI policy questions often emerge early in mission and program lifecycles"; a 2023 paper on how "to responsibly mine off-world", drawing on terrestrial mining "for lessons learned on minimizing environmental impacts of lunar in-situ resource utilization".
Space sustainability strategy Volume one (2024) "focuses on Earth orbit": orbital debris, space situational awareness, space traffic coordination. NASA "appointed a lead for space sustainability". "A future volume … will address similar considerations for cislunar space", and its goals "will inform the evolution of NASA's Moon to Mars Architecture".
Research call (2024) A ROSES call, "Economic, Social, and Policy Analyses of Lunar Surface Sustainability", for frameworks "for evaluating sustainability that can be factored into mission planning, policy, and strategy". "NASA made two awards in July 2024, with plans to recieve briefings on research results in 2025" (as printed).
Artemis Accords (2020) Established by the United States "and seven other initial signatory nations". Principles: "peaceful exploration, transparency, interoperability, emergency assistance, registration of space objects, release of scientific data, preserving heritage, space resources [utilization], deconfliction of activities, and orbital debris [mitigation]".

NASA "also welcomes feedback on how to best approach ELSI considerations as part of Architecture Concept Review workshops and associated stakeholder meetings" (p. 2). A note adds that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Science Foundation and the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (a June 2024 conference on sustainable lunar activities) are working on ELSI too (p. 1).

Forward work (p. 3). "Seeking feedback from diverse stakeholder communities — including international space agencies, academia, non-profits, and especially under-represented communities — is core to ELSI." "Continuing to leverage expertise in disciplines not traditionally associated with spaceflight (e.g., ethics or humanities) will better position the agency." And: "NASA must champion responsible exploration when developing a Moon and Mars exploration ecosystem. This requires the agency to move beyond considering what we could do and ask what we should do."

What changed by Rev C (the wiki's comparison; details on the source page):

  • Rev C keeps the four perspectives the paper attributes to the ADD: "legal, policy, ethical, and societal" (ADD p. 95, above).
  • Rev C doesn't use "ELSI" (search of its text). Its 2023 workshop is the "Artemis and Ethics Workshop", which "began a dialog" (ADD p. 98); the paper's is the "Artemis, Ethics, and Society Workshop". Same year, different names.
  • Where the paper calls ELSI "an open area of analysis", Rev C says "The architecture and systems engineering process can incorporate these discussions" (ADD p. 98).
  • Both quote the same space sustainability definition, word for word. Rev C, a year later, still calls the cislunar volume "forthcoming" (ADD p. 97).
  • Rev C doesn't mention the five workshop themes, the ROSES call or the June 2024 UN conference (search of its text).

In-situ resources. The paper raises the ethics of ISRU twice: the decadal's recommendation and the 2023 mining paper. The architecture's ISRU work is on ISRU Systems; the link is the wiki's.

Data and technology gaps on the same subjects. The ADD doesn't link them; the pairing is the wiki's:

Planetary protection (the ACR25 white paper's account of the Outer Space Treaty obligation, COSPAR's role and NASA's policy documents) · Recurring tenets · RT-1 International Collaboration · RT-7 Interoperability · CLPS · ISRU Systems · Responsible Exploration source page

Sources

ADD Rev C, pp. 83, 95–98 · Responsible Exploration (ACR24), pp. 1–4