Hi Open Lunarians,

 

Happy solstice! We just passed through the longest day or the longest night, depending on where you are, marking the midpoint of the year.

 

To help us push through the second half of the year, we're excited to have welcomed two new people to the team to drive forward fundraising, partnerships, and the Lunar Ledger project portfolio. We'll be introducing both of them over the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more!

 

This past month, our team was busy at work. We were on the ground at COPUOS in Vienna, meeting with delegations, strategizing with Lunar Ledger advisors, and connecting with several of our partners. We've also been running our Summer Event Series, highlighting research and releasing data with our industry and scientific partners.

 

Every year around July, our fellowship work starts becoming visible. Our 2026 fellows have been working on Designated Lunar Areas since January, and they're now sharing their solutions publicly through webinars and written reports. If you've missed any of them, the recordings and reports are always available on our website.

 

Please enjoy another action-packed update from the Open Lunar team below.

 

 

As lunar activity accelerates, coordination—not competition—will shape the future of the Moon. In this post, Open Lunar Fellow Aaron Mackey explores how Designated Lunar Areas (DLAs) could provide a practical framework for sharing information, coordinating operations, and preventing conflicts before they arise. Using a three-zone model and real-world mission scenarios, he illustrates how transparency and collaboration can support safe, peaceful, and sustainable lunar exploration as more missions head to the Moon.

 

 

Every proposed framework for governing the Moon borrows from Earth—but are those models fit for purpose? For the Open Lunar blog, Fellow Vic Paulson examines what terrestrial agreements such as UNCLOS, the Antarctic Treaty, UNFSA and ITU spectrum management can teach us about governing the lunar south pole. She explores where these frameworks succeed, where they fall short, and why new approaches will be needed to manage finite lunar resources fairly, sustainably and peacefully.

 

 

In his research fellowship showcase, Aaron Mackey presented his work on Designated Lunar Areas (DLAs) and the Ground Rules Toolkit, a proposed framework for coordinating lunar surface operations before conflicts arise.

 

As activity on the Moon accelerates, one question remains unresolved: how large should an operator's area of operations be, and what makes that claim legitimate? Without a shared methodology, operators have an incentive to overclaim, while regulators and international bodies lack a technical basis for evaluating those claims. Aaron's work offers a way to reason through that problem, giving the community a common starting point for deciding what a reasonable claim looks like and why.

 

If you missed the session, you can watch the recording here

Rachel Williams and Samuel Jardine attended the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS), 69th Session, representing Open Lunar, a permanent observer of the Committee. While there, they engaged with member states and other stakeholders on Open Lunar’s projects, contributing to the Committee's work, particularly by presenting the Lunar Ledger Project’s findings on the opportunities and challenges for lunar information sharing so far to the Five Treaties Working Group’s Article XI consultations on information sharing.

On the 13th June, on the sidelines of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, 69th Session, Open Lunar partnered with the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) to run a Lunar Scenario Simulation exercise simulating the activities and actors leading humanity's return to the Moon for member state delegates. More than 20 delegates took part, each playing a role across 4 teams representing both state and non-state actors,  in a near-future lunar scenario and working to coordinate around areas of operation, overlapping activities, operational zones, and mission notification. The exercise highlighted the challenges and opportunities around lunar coordination and interference. Member states noted that they valued the opportunity to participate and play through the negotiations and issues that will occur with Open Lunar, receiving five follow-up requests to put on the Lunar Scenario Simulation for stakeholders. 

 

Our thanks to every delegate who brought these scenarios to life, and to our partners at ESPI for hosting and co-designing this exercise with us, in the shared interest of a more coordinated and peaceful future on the Moon.

Open Lunar is pleased to announce that, on the back of the Lunar Scenario Simulation, Open Lunar has signed an MoU with ESPI to partner and collaborate on Lunar governance, policy, and security, as well as events and future Lunar Scenario Simulations. 

 

On September 8th and 9th, Senior Policy Lead Samuel Jardine will be attending UNIDIR’s Outer Space Security Conference in Geneva to engage in lunar governance and security developments. Let us know if you’ll be there, Sam would love to catch up!

 

Open Lunar is designing and facilitating a Lunar Scenario Simulation on the sidelines of the Outer Space Security Conference in partnership with the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). The Simulation, focused on lunar security and governance challenges, will take place at GCSP on 7th September with participants from Geneva’s space security delegations, industry, and related experts. If you are at the Outer Space Security Conference and would be interested in participating, please reach out to Sam Jardine. Space is limited.

 

Open Lunar, in partnership with GCSP and GUAOSLPE, are hosting a GCSP Geneva Security Debate bringing together leading international experts to examine the emerging security dimensions of lunar activity, governance challenges, and how existing legal frameworks, including the Outer Space Treaty, apply to an era of increasing strategic competition and activity on the Moon. The panel will feature (provisionally) Samuel Jardine (Open Lunar), Therese Jones (ESPI), Guoyu Wang (Beijing Institute of Technology), and Namrata Goswami (Johns Hopkins University), moderated by Simon Cleobury (GCSP).

 

The event will be held in a hybrid format with in-person participation and a live stream and will include an audience Q&A. It will take place on the 7th September in Geneva at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.

 

Humanity is returning to the Moon—how we go matters. Explore our new merchandise collection, which features t-shirts, mugs, and tote bags inspired by the new era of lunar exploration—see examples below. Each purchase supports Open Lunar's work to ensure humanity's return to the Moon is cooperative and sustainable.

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