Agenda

Most future lunar-based facilities will require spacecrafts orbiting the moon to provide communications, navigation and monitoring. But unlike Earth, end-of-life options are limited as the moon has few viable graveyard orbits, oceans to land in or atmosphere to burn-up in. So, the most likely options are through hard impact onto the lunar surface. This type of post-mission disposal offers significant challenges to the future of astronomy and planetary science activities on the moon. Consequently, the unintended impact could be disastrous if not identified/mitigated effectively. This panel will address this impending challenge, and ask: ​

• How do we enhance and/or mitigate potential unintended consequences (regulatory, technical, ethical)? ​
• What could we learn from current research on disposal options for Earth’s orbits, if any?