Artemis II: Militarised space race accelerates under corporate-state alliances, obscuring lunar colonialism's extractive logic

Indigenous lunar cosmologies universally treat the Moon as a sacred, living entity, not an inert resource. NASA's Artemis Accords violate the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by failing to obtain Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) for lunar activities. The Navajo Nation's 2022 protest against NASA's naming of the Artemis I mission (using 'Artemis,' a Greek goddess appropriated from Indigenous traditions) exemplifies this erasure. Indigenous knowledge systems offer ethical frameworks for space governance, such as the Andean 'Pachamama' principle of reciprocity with celestial bodies.

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.'

Non-Western space programs like China's Chang'e missions incorporate Confucian principles of harmony with celestial bodies, contrasting with US corporate militarisation. The African Union's 2021 African Space Policy explicitly rejects unilateral resource claims, advocating for shared lunar governance. Japan's JAXA integrates Shinto animist traditions, viewing space as a sacred domain. These approaches highlight how 'space exploration' is not a neutral scientific endeavour but a cultural and political construct.

NASA's claims about lunar resource viability rely on contested data from the 2009 LCROSS mission, which detected water ice but not its extractability or ecological impact. The Artemis Accords' focus on helium-3 mining ignores the lack of peer-reviewed studies on its economic feasibility for fusion energy. Orbital debris from Artemis II's SLS rocket will contribute to the 100,000+ pieces of space junk already tracked, exacerbating the Kessler Syndrome risk. Scientific consensus on lunar sustainability remains absent due to proprietary corporate data.

Artistic responses to Artemis II, such as Indigenous futurist poetry by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, frame the Moon as a site of resistance against colonial extraction. Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama's 'Infinity Mirrored Room' installations evoke the cosmic void, critiquing the emptiness of corporate space dreams. African spiritual traditions like Ifá cosmology view lunar eclipses as divine warnings against hubris, a perspective absent in NASA's press releases. These artistic critiques expose the spiritual poverty of technocratic space expansion.

Scenario modelling by the Secure World Foundation predicts a 300% increase in lunar resource conflicts by 2040 if Artemis Accords remain unregulated. The proliferation of private lunar landers (e.g., Astrobotic, ispace) risks creating a 'Wild West' of space governance, with no legal recourse for disputes. Future lunar bases could become corporate-controlled 'space colonies,' replicating terrestrial inequality. Alternative models, like the proposed 'Lunar Commons,' envision shared governance but lack political traction.

Global South nations and Indigenous communities are excluded from Artemis Accords negotiations, despite bearing the brunt of space debris fallout. Women and people of colour remain underrepresented in NASA's Artemis teams, with only 12% of Artemis II crew being non-white. African and Latin American scientists face visa restrictions to attend NASA conferences, limiting their input. The lack of multilingual outreach (e.g., Swahili, Quechua) further silences non-English-speaking perspectives on lunar governance.