Moon Village Association publishes the Moon Village Principles

Vienna, Austria – (December 20, 2018)

During the 2nd International Moon Village Workshop and Symposium organized by the Moon Village Association (MVA) held on November 4-5, 2018 in Los Angeles, California, MVA presented for the first time the Moon Village Principles and opened them for consultation to its members and public at large.

Today, Moon Village Association publishes the Moon Village Principles Following this 2nd International Moon Village Workshop and Symposium, a dedicated webpage for the Consultation Survey and Review of the Moon Principles was featured on the MVA Website and sent to all members to express their opinions until December, 16. After careful review of the different inputs submitted through the survey online but also from the feedback discussed by the participants of the 2018 International Moon Village Workshop and Symposium in Los Angeles, the MVA has released these Principles.

As of January 2019, Moon Village Association will assess missions and activities of various organizations concerning the “Moon Village Principles” and state in a highly public way whether or not those missions and activities are (or are not) in line with these Principles.

Giuseppe Reibaldi, President of the Moon Village Association, stated: “The Principles are the first concrete step in the implementation of the Moon Village concept and this is why they are important. The public will be able to relate the concept of the Moon Village with specific activities carried out in 2019, not in a distant future. The Association will produce in the course of 2019 other specific contributions to foster global cooperation for the Moon Village”.

Moon Village Principles
December 20, 2018 | 1st issue¹

Background

The Moon Village is a global community aiming to explore, use and develop the resources of the Moon in a sustainable, open and peaceful manner, for the benefit of all humanity and with the opportunities for all people to contribute to its success. Successfully implementing the Moon Village vision will increase the economic sphere of Earth and enable humanity to go beyond the Moon, benefiting the global quality of life for all.

The Moon Village Association (MVA) fosters the implementation of the Moon Village vision by providing a platform for collaborative global discussions and bringing together efforts from the private sector, governments, academia, and others. This vision includes space-faring and non-space-faring nations as well as the public and offers an opportunity for all countries and organizations to play a role in this endeavor. The implementation of the Moon Village will be a major step forward for humanity – including the enhancement of knowledge, progress and world peace.

Purpose

The purpose of the Principles of the MVA is to make a significant contribution to Moon Village “Coordination and Cooperation”, without necessarily requiring the existence of formal international framework agreements or regulatory instruments. The Moon Village Principles represent a general consensus point-of-view of the Moon Village Association but are strictly non-binding.

The MVA will assess annually the missions and activities of various organizations with respect to the “Moon Village Principles” and state in a highly public way whether or not those missions and activities are (or are not) in line with the Principles².

The Principles³
As an initial step toward its implementation, the following are the Principles of the MVA for missions and activities that embody the concept of the Moon Village and which could be of value in the future:

Principle 1: Adhere to applicable International Rules and Agreements dealing with human activities in space, such as the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and others⁴, and conduct peaceful activities with thoughtful consideration and respect for the cultural heritage of humanity on the Moon.

Principle 2: Improve Knowledge of the lunar environment and its use for scientific research.

Principle 3: Reduce the Cost and Risk of transport to and from Earth and the Moon, and within cis-Lunar space.

Principle 4: Support the Economic Development of the lunar community.

Principle 5: Employ or establish and document open-source engineering Standards of broad applicability and/or usefulness.

Principle 6: Develop and build elements / systems that provide Critical Services for lunar missions and activities, such as navigation, communications, power, and resources.

Principle 7: Develop and demonstrate Technology enabling cost-effective, reliable and safe robotic and human operations on the Moon’s surface and surroundings.

Principle 8: Make available sufficient information to allow global cooperation and engagement involving the general public in the expansion of human activities to, and eventual settlement of the Moon.

Principle 9: Contribute ethically to human society in terms of Culture, the Arts, Education or other fundamentals.

Notes:

1. The Principles are a legally non-binding tool; they are intended to encourage cooperation and clarify goals and expectations among stakeholders taking part in the Moon Village. These Principles will be adjusted and updated from time to time.
2. “Missions” refers to space related projects; “Activities” do not involve necessarily hardware (i.e., research projects). Clearly, not every mission or activity needs to address every “Principle” in order to make a significant contribution toward realizing the Moon Village vision.
3. These Principles were discussed and endorsed by the participants of the 2018 International Moon Village Workshop & Symposium, held on November 4-5, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. This version incorporates comments provided from this event. The MVA will invite interested parties around the globe to share this document’s spirit.
4. For purposes of the Principles, “applicable international rules and agreements” include only those with which a particular country, program, individual or organization have agreed to comply.

About 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 is the assembling of all efforts from private, governments and others aimed to explore and use the Moon in a sustainable manner. Therefore, it is not a literal village on the Moon, it is not an ‘International Space Station on the Moon’, and it is not a single science facility. The MVA fosters cooperation for existing or planned moon exploration programs, be they public or private initiatives. It comprises approximately 200 individual and 20 institutional members from more than 32 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.