On a sunny day in 2023, aerospace engineers arrived at NASA headquarters in Washington for a mandatory “space ethics” workshop. According to NASA policy, the most important thing for these engineers to learn was decolonial activism and DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, And Accessibility) in space. That workshop is cited in NASA’s Mars policies to this day.

Artemis Ethics Workshop agenda for April 13–14, 2023, with selected presentation topics highlighted.

The workshop emphasized decolonialism, a political ideology centered around the belief that Western 'colonial' countries are inherently evil, with particular antagonism towards Israel. One speaker claimed Indigenous Tribes were “offended” by a 1998 mission sending human remains to the moon. NASA promised to consult indigenous leaders about future missions.1

NASA workshop report excerpt describing Hawk’s remarks on Lunar Prospector, indigenous lunar naming conventions, and Tribal Nations’ approaches to future exploration, with selected passages highlighted in yellow.

Next, a “disability and space” expert, Sheri Wells-Jensen, “challenged the audience to consider that including disabled populations in space exploration is not a purely medical issue but also an engineering, policy, budgetary and moral issue,” according to NASA’s report. It adds: “She argued that not embracing disabled astronauts in humanity’s long-term future on the Moon and Mars would be a moral failing.”

That same day, the founder of JustSpace Alliance questioned whether the US should have a leadership role in space. “Why is American leadership a benefit for all humanity?”

NASA workshop report excerpt quoting Erika Nesvold: “Why is American leadership a benefit for all humanity?”, highlighted in yellow.

In their October 2024 newsletter, JustSpace Alliance promoted their affiliated organization, the Palestine Space Institute. It encouraged boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS), and urged people in space-related fields to challenge ties to companies associated with Israel.2

The Palestine Space Institute’s “Space for Palestine” section, describing equitable access to space technologies and advocacy for social justice and the Palestinian cause.

NASA’s decolonial activism pipeline has been active since 2020. NASA’s speakers and invited guests included Parvathy Prem, Natalie Treviño and Frank Tavares. Their 2020 proposal “Ethical Exploration and the Role of Planetary Protection in Disrupting Colonial Practices” urged NASA to make anti-colonial practices central to their work. Prem and Trevino led workshops in the 2023 training. NASA’s report says Treviño described the Artemis Accords as promoting “colonialist values under a peaceful narrative.”

Original 2020 paper excerpt: “It is critical that ethics and anticolonial practices are a central consideration of planetary protection. We must actively work to prevent capitalist extraction on other worlds, respect and preserve their environmental systems, and acknowledge the sovereignty and interconnectivity of all life.” The second sentence is highlighted in yellow.

The trio have a long history of collaboration.3 In April 2024, Tavares, Prem and eight coauthors called for Indigenous partnership in the return to the Moon. Their letter requesting NASA consult Indigenous communities in exploration planning made its way into a Office of Tribal Relations proposal.4

  1. Tavares · Prem · Treviño
    Coauthors of the anti-colonial planetary-protection proposal. Source
  2. Tavares · Prem · Treviño
    Tavares helps organize MIT’s “Indigenous & Anticolonial Views of Human Activity in Space” workshop; Prem and Treviño co-lead separate sessions. Source
  3. Tavares · Prem
    Coauthors of the Indigenous-partnership call directed at NASA. Source
  4. Tavares · Treviño
    Coauthors of an accepted conference contribution on anti-imperial approaches to space. Source
  5. Prem · Siddiqi
    Co-investigator and principal investigator on NASA-funded lunar-sustainability research. Source

After retiring the shuttle fleet in 2011, the agency relied on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to fly its astronauts to the space station until SpaceX’s first crewed launch in 2020.5 NASA's Space Launch System rocket, scheduled to make its first flight in 2017, did not launch until November 2022.6

US Government Falls Behind on Lunar Missions

USAChinaJapanIndia
Successful government-led lunar missions by ten-year period, 1986–2025Lines show successful government-led mission counts for 1986–1995, 1996–2005, 2006–2015, and 2016–2025. Mission records and exclusions are in footnote 7.02461986–19951996–20052006–20152016–2025
Government Lunar Missions7

In October 2023, SpaceX told the Senate that getting Starship’s first launch license had taken nearly three years, calling the delays “untenable.” SpaceX was running into regulatory hurdles. In September 2024, the FAA proposed $633,009 in penalties for alleged license violations. The FAA held up SpaceX's next launch due to an expanded environmental review, but ultimately cleared the mission.8

Former NASA administrator Bill Nelson expanded the scope of DEI initiatives in 2023. “To be successful in our missions, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility must continue to be at the forefront.”9

Summary of NASA’s DEIA policy statement, calling for DEIA throughout its missions and workforce, signed by Bill Nelson on March 1, 2023.

In January 2025, NASA ordered contractors and grantees to stop DEIA activities.10 At least one of the activist scientists remains in NASA’s orbit in 2026. In a March 2026 presentation, Prem cited Apollo-era exhaust measurements to call for broader monitoring of human impacts on the Moon.11

  1. Anti-colonial planetary protection
    Tavares, Prem, Treviño and coauthors propose anti-colonial practices. Source
  2. NASA holds the ethics workshop
    Participants discuss the ethical and societal implications of Moon-to-Mars exploration. Source
  3. A Tribal Relations office is proposed
    NASA’s advisory committee hears the working group’s recommendation. Source
  4. The workshop remains cited
    NASA’s Moon-to-Mars architecture retains the workshop reference. Source
  5. Prem calls for lunar monitoring
    Her National Academies presentation cites Apollo-era exhaust measurements. Source

Footnotes

  1. NASA, workshop report, 2023, pp. 5, 34. Lunar Prospector mission history: launched in 1998; impacted the Moon in 1999.

  2. JustSpace Alliance, October newsletter, October 22, 2024, “Take Action.” AJ Link’s biography identifies him as a JustSpace board member and Palestine Space Institute cofounder.

  3. MIT, Indigenous & Anticolonial Views of Human Activity in Space, December 3, 2021, organizers and session facilitators; Tavares et al., Indigenous partnership letter, April 11, 2024.

  4. Working-group proposal, recommendation 5; NASA, Planetary Science Advisory Committee minutes, July 2024, pp. 13, 32.

  5. NASA Inspector General, crew-transport audit, November 14, 2019, p. 1; NASA, SpaceX crewed launch, May 30, 2020.

  6. NASA, SLS schedule, August 1, 2013; Artemis I timeline, November 16, 2022 launch.

  7. Government Lunar Missions: the number of successful, state-led missions launched in each of four ten-year periods: 1986–1995, 1996–2005, 2006–2015, and 2016–2025. Only successful, state-led missions count. Europe (ESA) and South Korea, with one qualifying mission each (SMART-1 and Danuri), are excluded from the graph and listed in the table. Privately operated missions, including those launched by SpaceX, are excluded even when NASA funded them. SpaceX provided launch services; the mission operators are listed in the table. Government-led missions launched on commercial rockets remain eligible. Each primary mission launch counts once per country and rocket flight; companion spacecraft count together. Orbiters, flybys, landers, sample-return missions, and lunar relay/orbit demonstrations qualify. Years indicate launch, rather than arrival. Chandrayaan-2 counts for its successful orbiter; its lander failed. SLIM counts for its successful soft landing despite limited solar power. DRO-A/B counts after recovery into its intended orbit. NASA mission catalog; Chandrayaan-2 outcome; DRO-A/B outcome; Intuitive Machines mission and SpaceX launch roles.

    Mission CSV · Data and methodology

    YearCountryMission / operatorGraph inclusion
    1990JapanHiten
    ISAS    		Counted
    1994United StatesClementine
    U.S. Department of Defense / NASA    		Counted
    1998United StatesLunar Prospector
    NASA    		Counted
    2003Europe (ESA)SMART-1
    ESA    		Excluded: one-mission program
    2007JapanKaguya (SELENE)
    JAXA    		Counted
    2007ChinaChang’e 1
    CNSA    		Counted
    2008IndiaChandrayaan-1
    ISRO    		Counted
    2009United StatesLRO / LCROSS
    NASA    		Counted
    2010ChinaChang’e 2
    CNSA    		Counted
    2011United StatesGRAIL
    NASA    		Counted
    2013United StatesLADEE
    NASA    		Counted
    2013ChinaChang’e 3 / Yutu
    CNSA    		Counted
    2014ChinaChang’e 5-T1
    CNSA    		Counted
    2018ChinaQueqiao
    CNSA    		Counted
    2018ChinaChang’e 4 / Yutu 2
    CNSA    		Counted
    2019IsraelBeresheet
    SpaceIL / Israel Aerospace Industries
    Failed lunar landing.    		Excluded: privately operated
    2019IndiaChandrayaan-2
    ISRO
    Orbiter succeeded; lander failed.    		Counted
    2020ChinaChang’e 5
    CNSA    		Counted
    2022United StatesCAPSTONE
    Advanced Space, for NASA    		Excluded: privately operated
    2022South KoreaDanuri
    KARI    		Excluded: one-mission program
    2022United StatesArtemis I
    NASA    		Counted
    2022JapanHAKUTO-R Mission 1
    ispace
    Failed lunar landing.    		Excluded: privately operated
    2023IndiaChandrayaan-3
    ISRO    		Counted
    2023RussiaLuna 25
    Roscosmos
    Failed lunar landing mission.    		Excluded: unsuccessful
    2023JapanSLIM
    JAXA
    Soft-landed with limited solar power.    		Counted
    2024United StatesPeregrine Mission 1
    Astrobotic, NASA CLPS
    Failed to reach the Moon.    		Excluded: privately operated
    2024United StatesIM-1 / Odysseus
    Intuitive Machines, NASA CLPS
    Soft-landed and returned science data despite tipping over.    		Excluded: privately operated
    2024ChinaDRO-A / DRO-B
    Chinese Academy of Sciences
    Recovered into the intended lunar distant retrograde orbit after an initial launch anomaly.    		Counted
    2024ChinaQueqiao-2 / Tiandu
    CNSA    		Counted
    2024ChinaChang’e 6
    CNSA    		Counted
    2025United StatesBlue Ghost Mission 1
    Firefly Aerospace, NASA CLPS    		Excluded: privately operated
    2025JapanRESILIENCE / HAKUTO-R Mission 2
    ispace
    Failed lunar landing; mission ended after contact was lost.    		Excluded: privately operated
    2025United StatesIM-2 / Athena
    Intuitive Machines, NASA CLPS
    Landed on its side; primary surface operations failed. Returned limited data before its early end.    		Excluded: privately operated

  8. William Gerstenmaier, Senate testimony, October 18, 2023, pp. 5–6. FAA, proposed SpaceX penalties, September 17, 2024. FAA, September 12, 2024 statement; written answers to Congress, pp. 55–56, confirming October 12 authorization.

  9. NASA, Nelson statement, March 27, 2023, announcing NASA’s first diversity ambassador; DEIA policy statement, signed March 1, 2023, p. 4.

  10. NASA, DEIA memorandum, January 23, 2025, p. 1. Applies to DEIA activities required by NASA contracts and grants.

  11. Prem, Understanding the Impact of Exploration on the Lunar Volatile System, March 25, 2026, slides 2–6 (exhaust and monitoring), 8 (NASA support); meeting agenda, p. 2.

Download the article source ledger, policy matrix and personnel records.

Moon image: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University.