Space Junk - MVA Public Forum on the Moon

This event is was produced and organised by The Office of Other Spaces, Satellite Applications Catapult UK, the Moon Village Association, and The Space Junk Podcast.

The Moon Village Association is a non-government-organisation creating a global community across government, industry & the public around going to the Moon. It encourages dialogue, initiatives & best practice of how we might go to the Moon, and how this might benefit Earth.

The event was grounded in the East Coast Australian city of Newcastle, on the lands of the Awabakal people. We thank Aunty Phyllis Darcy and her granddaughter for welcoming us to Country.

The idea that spawned this event was to consider: How do we give nature a legal/powerful voice in regard to the Moon as part of the decision making process? One idea is to make the Moon a stakeholder in the decision-making process by giving it legal personhood, like has been done for rivers and mountains on Earth.

Speakers were: Donna Lawler, Dr Michelle Maloney, Ceridwen Dovey, A/Prof Alice Gorman, Gabrielle Harris

This initiative was supported by Inspiring NSW as part of Australian National Science Week.

More information: https://www.mvapublicforum.com/

Office of Other Spaces: https://officeofotherspaces.com/

Satellite Applications Catapult: https://sa.catapult.org.uk/

Space Junk Podcast: https://thespacejunkpod.fireside.fm/

Moon Village Association: https://moonvillageassociation.org/

If you want to get further involved in the discussion, the ‘best practice’ principles by MVA are open for comment until September.

Speaker Bios

Donna Lawler is the Principal at Azumuth Advisory, Space Law Specialists. She is a legal advisor to Governments and businesses involved in space activities, with 20 years experience in the space industry, including six satellite build and launch programs for geostationary satellites. She’s also Deputy Chair of Performance Space, the crucible for risk taking artists.

Dr Michelle Maloney is Co-Founder and National Convenor of the Australian Earth Laws Alliance, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Law Futures Centre at Griffith University, and Director of the New Economy Network Australia and Future Dreaming Australia. She Advocates for systems change, in order to shift industrialised societies from a human-centred to an Earth centred governance system.

Ceridwen Dovey is a novelist and essayist for New Yorker.com, Wired, and the Smithsonian Magazine. She’s passionate about environmental justice in outer space, and has written about the pitfalls of a space resource race led by corporations, the mysteries of moon dust, and Australia’s responsibilities to the Moon. Her essays have been selected for the Best Australian Science Writing 2020 and 2019, and the Best American Science and Nature Writing 2018.

A/Prof Alice Gorman is an internationally recognised leader in the emerging field of space archaeology. She sits on the Advisory Council of the SIAA and is a mentor in the UN office of Outer Space Affairs Space4Women programme. She is also the author of the award-winning book ‘Dr Space Junk vs The Universe’.

Gabrielle Harris is the founder and managing director if Interchange, a culture change company working with Australia’s largest listed companies based in Australia, NZ, the UK, USA and other locations. Gabrielle brings a perspective on the every day business behaviours in stock exchange listed companies which drive market forces.

Annie Handmer, currently doing a Ph.D. on international cooperation in Space, shares her conversations with people working in niche areas of the Astro industry around the world. Sometimes topical, sometimes philosophical, and always fascinating, Space Junk Podcast is an eclectic collection of insights into the Space world that will leave you with a new perspective on the final frontier.

This podcast is syndicated with permissions.