On 8 January 2024, NASA launched Peregrine Mission One, which carried capsules to the moon containing human remains and DNA samples. The goal was to deposit human remains on the lunar surface, and to release the content of the capsules in space.

Some of the only firm opposition to the mission came from the Native American Navajo Nation. According to their culture, such activity is a desecration of the moon. NASA's response was telling: they were unable to check the payloads' contents, as they belonged to a private company.

Private companies depositing human remains in space is not a new idea: in 1999, an orbiter was deliberately crashed near the lunar south pole, scattering the ashes of the astronomer Eugene Shoemaker. Though it was a NASA craft, the capsule carrying Shoemaker's ashes had been arranged by a private company.

As more and more private actors venture into space, new issues are emerging. International law needs to promptly and carefully regulate all space activity in order to safeguard the future of space exploration.

Anthropogenic contamination: the human footprint in space

The 24th sample taken by the six-wheeled scientist offers new clues about Jezero Crater and the lake it may have once held.

Analysis by instruments aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover indicate that the latest rock core taken by the rover was awash in water for an extended period of time in the distant past, perhaps as part of an ancient Martian beach. Collected on March 11, the sample is the rover's 24th—a tally that includes 21 sample tubes filled with rock cores, two filled with regolith (broken rock and dust), and one with Martian atmosphere.