The Need for Cislunar Governance: Environmental Security and Sustainability Challenges

Abstract The cislunar space, i.e., that region beyond geostationary orbit and the Moon, is rapidly shifting from a scientific, space exploration outpost to an arena of competing geopolitical interests, commercial expansion, and resource exploitation. As countries and private companies alike plans missions to the Moon, the sustainability problems plaguing near-Earth space threaten to follow them along, raising critical questions of environmental security in a domain where physical conditions are different, legal frameworks inexistent, and governance structures still to be developed. Through a gap analysis methodology that identifies key environmental challenges, this study argues that an effective cislunar governance is a precondition for addressing them and offers some recommendations to address the most urgent ones on our way to the Moon.