The last time a human set foot on the Moon was 1972. The original “space race” was a technological race, but it was driven by a geopolitical and ideological race. Once the U.S. had planted a symbolic flag on the Moon’s surface, and declared itself the superior competitor of the Cold War, there was little impetus to keep spending money on human spaceflight. But recently, all eyes have returned to the Moon. In the last 10 years, a new race to the lunar surface has begun, and in the next three to five years, before this decade is out, we are going to see a whole spate of new activities on and around the lunar surface. Yet this time it’s not about footprints or flags. It’s about resources, long-term presence, and countries (and companies) securing the lead in a technological explosion - that may well mean securing a lead in power for the rest of the century.
The U.S. chose to name it’s 21st century lunar programme after Artemis, the goddess of the Moon. This post is about her. It is long-ish (heads up, it’s a few more minutes to read, which is also why I’ve recorded an audio version) and it’s also part of a miniseries of newsletters on “Artemis and the Moon” that I’ll be releasing weekly for the next month or so - because there’s a lot I want to discuss about the geopolitics of the race to the Moon, the implications of the recent NASA budget cuts, and contentions over whether resource extraction on the Moon is lawful in the first place. And the irony (or not) of having chosen the name Artemis.
But rather than starting with recent news on the Artemis programme, I’m starting with the mythology behind the Greek goddess Artemis - and working backwards from there. I’m going to go down what may seem like a rabbit hole of storytelling here, but come with me on this little side journey. It has lots of details I will return to in this miniseries, that are rich in metaphor and cautionary tales about humanity’s imminent return to the Moon.
Deities and rockets
The Apollo programme that landed men on the Moon was named after the Greek god of the sun. There was a bit of a trend towards choosing Greek deities as the namesakes of early NASA programmes - inspiring a sense of grandeur, un-earthlyness, something beyond mere mortal, immediate human concerns. But why the god of the sun was chosen for the first lunar expeditions isn’t really clear. To be sure, Apollo was the twin brother of Artemis, but he was born right after her - in fact, she assisted her mother with his birth within minutes of entering the world herself. It seems odd to have named the first human lunar mission after the second sibling, associated with the sun, rather than the first, associated with the Moon. But it does mean that there is a certain logic to Artemis becoming the namesake of the the 21st century return to the Moon.
Artemis was the Greek goddess of the hunt. She is also known as the goddess of the Wilderness, of the Moon, protectress of small animals and of children, and patroness of childbirth - recognising her instant role as midwife to her mother. She was one of the 12 Olympians, and was also the mother of all 50 of the original Amazons.
Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and the Titan Leto. When Artemis and Apollo were still children, their mother Leto was attacked by a dragon, and the twin siblings defended their mother and killed the dragon. Warrior kids, protectors, unafraid to face the unknown.
Artemis asked her father Zeus for a bow and arrow to hunt with, and for a dress shorter than women’s garments so that she could hunt, run, climb and fight. She also asked him to grant her eternal virginity, because she did not want to be subjected to the submissive position that a woman must take when she becomes someone’s wife. She wanted to remain independent and free. This is an incredibly important detail I will return to as I explore the contentions over whether “ownership” of resources extracted from the Moon is lawful or not in future newsletters in this miniseries.
Zeus was so impressed with his daughter that he gave her flaming arrows with her bow, crafted by the Cyclops.
In some stories, Orion was her best friend and hunting companion. In others, he was her lover and therefore the father of the Amazons. In others yet, he betrayed their friendship and raped her, or tried to rape a friend of hers, and she woefully hunted him down to prevent him doing the same to others. Another version has her accidentally kill Orion, after her jealous brother Apollo tricked her into thinking he was an animal. In her grief, she put his remains into the stars, in the Orion constellation. These uncomfortable stories are important. As we return to the Moon, hunting resources, will we do so respecting her, or will competition prevail, and we will just be taking from her?
Orion is the name of the uncrewed capsule that was sent around the Moon on the Artemis I mission in 2022. Pictured below, this is a robotic “selfie” taken of the capsule on it’s return trajectory, the Moon and Earth within view. NASA no doubt chose this name as a logical coupling for the Artemis maiden mission, but may not have been aware of the range of stories associated with its namesake.
Amazons warriors, defenders of truth and justice
Some of the real Amazons we know of in history were warriors, defenders and protectors of their nomadic family groups, both feared and admired for their unorthodox lives. They may have worshiped Artemis, as did many cultures in the Mediterranean.
Artemis’ Roman counter part is named Diana, which is the alter ego of Wonder Woman, the Amazon warrior princess. Anyone who knows me, knows of my long-standing love for (obsession with?) Wonder Woman. In 2017 I wrote a post on an international law blog about “Why Wonder Woman Matters”, about how her backstory was accurately depicted in the movie directed by Patty Jenkins, and about how the very creation of the character in 1945 (by a psychologist committed to increasing women’s participation in political life) reflected the importance of women’s participation in all ranks of international peace and security decision-making, which is in accordance with the UN “Women, Peace and Security” agenda.
In the original Wonder Woman stories, written by William Marston, Diana was formed from clay by her mother, Queen Hypolita of the Amazons, and Zeus granted her life. She was granted strength by Athena, goddess of war; beauty by Aphrodite, goddess of love; and wisdom by Apollo, god of truth and prophecy. She grew up to be the strongest of all Amazons and was chosen to be their champion, sent to the world of men which was in the throes of the Second World War, to teach the ways of peace and justice.
Wonder Woman spoke many languages (and could talk with animals as well), capable of understanding and empathising with a range of world views. She was an incredible warrior, but only used her power to defend, never to attack. She carried the lasso of truth, which forces those ensnared to tell the truth (Marston is also credited with having invented the lie detector).
My fascination with the character began when I was an international law student in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The American iconography aside, her backstory and the values she represented were the perfect metaphor for what I believed international law could achieve and why I wanted to study and practice it. The more I learned about the practice of international law, the more I understood there was some naivete to this view, but the more I felt I had to maintain some optimism and belief in these core values, otherwise there was no hope for humanity.
I moved into space law about five years before NASA announced the Artemis programme in 2019, and I found it to be very fitting that they had chosen to name their return to the Moon after the lunar deity. Perhaps they had taken some inspiration from the fact that China’s own lunar missions have been named for the Chinese lunar goddess Chang’e since 2007. It was certainly no coincidence that the Chinese animation film “Over the Moon” was released in 2020 - a really moving story for kids in and of itself, which is worth a watch. It becomes an even more interesting pop culture communication tool, though, if you understand its subtext about China going to the Moon.
Yet the Artemis announcement came off the back of what was at the time a controversial domestic law in the U.S. in 2015, stipulating that there would be legal protections for the property rights of any U.S. citizen (including commercial entities), and that they shall be entitled to “possess, own, transport, use, and sell (any) asteroid resource or space resource obtained in accordance with applicable law, including the international obligations of the United States.” This law laid out the U.S. interpretation of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty - which prohibits appropriation of space, the Moon and “celestial bodies”. It’s an interpretation that nonetheless allows extraction, possession, use and sale of space resources.
This interpretation kick started a whole set of questions which I will be exploring in this miniseries on Artemis and the Moon. Can she be owned? Can any part of her be owned? Wasn’t this precisely what the goddess made clear to her father Zeus that she would never subject herself to?
Don’t assume from all of this that I am inherently against using space resources. I’m not. But I do think we need to enter this new period of space activity with caution, and to heed the stories that Artemis has for us.
More next week…
Love this! Please consider keeping the voice-over as well.
Fantastic. Looking forward to the next episode. If possible, could you keep including the article voice-overs? They add a lot, especially hearing the author’s emphasis and cadence.