Slideshow: NASA says “Hands off our stuff on the moon!”

NASA has published, "NASA’s Recommendations to Space-Faring Entities: How to Protect and Preserve the Historic and Scientific Value of U.S. Government Lunar Artifacts" or as I like to call it, “Don’t touch our things!” (The government always puts fancy titles on simple things!)

Is NASA expecting company on the Moon? You bet! China, Russia and private industry, maybe even India.

There is a “Rover/Hopper/Exclusion Zones “ section or “Lunar driving rules” with off-limits boundaries around the Descent Modules and Lunar Rovers left by the Apollo crews.

Then there is the “Descent and Landing” section that gives guidelines to any landing vehicle approach path to existing Apollo sites with “Touchdown targeting” so as not to have descent rocket plumes and blowing dust towards the Apollo sites that may damage the vehicles.

Illustration of plume droplet cone

How about foreign materials we left on the moon? That’s in this document too!

A list of materials left on Lunar surface—Litterbug!

Different artifacts we left there---We parked some Lunar Rovers there---and they haven’t towed it yet?

A rover double-parked on the moon for over 40 years