First MVA Press Release distributed during the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space at the United Nations

The Moon Village is the ensemble of all efforts from private, governmental and general public, aiming to explore and use the moon in a sustainable manner.

It is not a literal village on the moon, it is not an “ISS on the moon” and it is not a single science facility.

The Moon Village Association (MVA) and the International Space University (ISU) co-hosted a successful first Moon Village Workshop in Strasbourg, France during 19-21 November 2017. The Workshop was attended by more than 150 experts, engineers, educators and students from around the world.

Main findings:

• There is a wide variety of private sector activities along with numerous government and science-driven missions planning regarding the Moon, however:
  • Presently there is no multi-stakeholder forum to promote coordination and
    cooperation related to the Moon exploration and utilization.
  • Business planning depends upon validating key data regarding the Moon either by acquiring data already available in the scientific community or by searching for them.
• The Moon Village Association can play a useful role by providing an informal forum for: government, commercial, academic and general public. This will act as a permanent platform to facilitate the development of the Moon Village by fostering cooperation in several fields.

The MVA has created the following Working Groups to establish permanent platforms fostering cooperation between the stakeholders:

1. Moon Village Architectural Concepts & Issues
   Identification of architectural concepts and identification of key environmental issues (e.g., dust mitigation);
2. Moon Village Standards
   Definition at a high-level, of relevant standards and potential interface for various moon missions and markets;
3. Human Factors
   Definition at a high-level, of human factors considerations of the Moon Village, and
   paths to address these;
4. Moon Markets & Missions – Forecasts and Financials
   Identification & development of an integrated summary of actual and/or planned Lunar, Missions & Markets; identification of actual and potential funding sources of current and planned missions and; identification and facilitation of potential “match-making” between sources and developers;
5. Lunar Data Harmonization
   Coordination among the business-driven data requirements of private sector stakeholder and the lunar mission plans of science, government stakeholder;
6. Moon Village Critical Services
   Characterization of selected high-priority services that are needed (e.g. navigation);
7. Coordination & Cooperation
   Identify, assess and provide inputs to international activities related to Moon Village cooperation & coordination;
8. Moon Village & Exploration Analogues
   Identifying and coordinating activities related to terrestrial analogues for the Moon
   Village, and the associated topic of the use of the Moon as and analogue and testbed for future exploration of Mars and other destinations;
9. Cultural Considerations
   Raising and promoting consideration of cultural factors concerning the Moon Village concept;
10. Outreach
    Focusing on outreach to the aerospace and non-aerospace communities vis-à-vis the Moon Village and its benefit for humanity;

The Moon Village Association

The Moon Village Association (MVA) was created in 2017 as non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Vienna. Its goal is the creation of a permanent global informal forum for stakeholders like governments, industry, academia and the general public interested in the development of the Moon Village.

The MVA fosters cooperation for existing or planned moon exploration programs, be they public or private initiatives. It comprises approximately 150 members from more than 34 countries, representing a diverse array of technical, scientific, cultural and interdisciplinary fields.

MVA partners with non-space organizations to promote international discussions and formulation of plans to foster the development of the Moon Village and is creating international, national and regional networks to engage civil society around the world.

Click here to download the press release.