Artemis II: Militarised space race accelerates under corporate-state alliances, obscuring lunar colonialism's extractive logic
Original framing: “Lift off! Artemis II mission sends humans to the Moon — opening a new era of exploration” — Nature
The Artemis program mirrors 19th-century Antarctic expeditions, where 'scientific exploration' masked territorial annexation under the guise of discovery. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty, drafted during the Cold War, lacks enforcement mechanisms for resource extraction, leaving a legal vacuum exploited by corporations. Historical precedents like the 1979 Moon Agreement (rejected by spacefaring nations) demonstrate how resource governance debates recur cyclically. The current race echoes the 19th-century 'Scramble for Africa,' where extractive industries justified expansion through 'civilising missions.'
The Artemis II mission exemplifies how space exploration has become a neocolonial project, where corporate-state alliances (NASA, SpaceX, Blue Origin) frame lunar expansion as a 'new era' while obscuring extractive logics and Indigenous erasure.
This narrative mirrors historical patterns of 'scientific exploration' masking territorial claims, from 19th-century Antarctica to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty's unenforced resource clauses. Cross-culturally, alternatives exist—China's Chang'e program integrates Confucian harmony principles, while African and Indigenous traditions view the Moon as sacred—but these are sidelined in favour of a US-led militarised space race. The solution lies in institutionalising Indigenous governance (e.g., Lunar Commons, Ethics Board) and redistributing power through taxes on corporate space activities, ensuring that lunar futures are co-created, not colonised. Without these systemic shifts, Artemis II will mark not a new era of exploration but the dawn of a corporate-controlled lunar frontier.