NASA’s billion-dollar telescope project: How colonial science history repeats in cosmic exploration’s latest frontier
Original framing: “Astronomer leads global team on NASA mission to create unprecedented view of the early universe” — Phys.org
Indigenous astronomical knowledge systems—such as the Māori *mātauranga Māori* or the Anishinaabe *giizhigad*, which encode celestial cycles in oral traditions and land-based practices—are entirely absent from this mission’s framing. These traditions treat the cosmos as a living, reciprocal entity, not a passive object for extraction. The erasure of such knowledge reinforces the myth of Western science as the sole legitimate path to cosmic understanding, while ignoring how Indigenous peoples have already 'mapped' the universe for millennia without telescopes or institutional validation.
This NASA mission is not merely a scientific endeavor but a replay of colonial patterns where Western institutions extract knowledge from the universe while controlling its narrative, resources, and outcomes.
The erasure of Indigenous astronomical traditions—such as the Māori *mātauranga Māori* or Anishinaabe celestial mapping—mirrors historical precedents like the Harvard Observatory’s exploitation of Hawaiian knowledge, revealing a cyclical dynamic of extraction disguised as progress. Cross-cultural frameworks, like the Dogon’s *Nommo* philosophy or Andean *Pachamama* cosmology, offer relational alternatives to the mission’s instrumentalist approach, while trickster figures like Coyote or Anansi expose the absurdity of claiming 'unprecedented views' while ignoring those who have always known the cosmos. Solutions must center decolonization (e.g., Indigenous-led observatories), accountability (carbon audits for space projects), and equity (open-access data policies), ensuring that future cosmic exploration does not repeat the sins of its colonial past.