The linked article talks about the Curiosity rover on Mars, and analysis it is doing there. Some of it now autonomously, due to a software update.
And this got me thinking... when we go back to the Moon, when we go to Mars, are the tracks left by our vehicles, people, and landed/crashed probes protected heritage sites?
Landmarks worth protecting?
Why or why not?
The relics at the landing site will be there forever, with the caveat that there is weather on Mars. There are global sand storms for example. Most likely the tracks have a visible life of centuries, the equipment will be visible for millennia. The stuff on the moon, however, baring meteor and asteroid impacts, will be there on the scale of tens of millions of years as there is no weather to disturb the sites. EDIT! I knew there was an epic image to share! https://thespacereporter.com/2016/04/opportunity-photographs-mars-dust-devil/
Curiosity's (as well as every other Mars probe's) tracks are subject to erosion by weather so probably not. Everything on the moon? I swear I've seen legislation that already protects them. Found it https://www.space.com/13346-nasa-guidelines-protect-apollo-moon-landing-sites.html
It's just a document, suggesting a path forward, but does not have buy-in from anyone, and the existing space treaties we have establish everything off-world as "community property". I ask because the Chinese are pretty close to putting a man on the Moon. I expect the next people on the Moon, despite their nationality, will at least make an attempt to visit one or more of the sites where people have already been, for many reasons: to validate their achievement, to debunk the Moon landing doubters, and just because HOLY SHIT I AM ON THE MOON AND THIS IS MY BOOT IN BUZZ ALDRIN'S FOOTPRINT!!!! Further, on Mars, I fully expect some scientists are going to be tasked with doing autopsies on failed missions. Photographing impact craters and debris fields. Visiting hardware that crapped out for an unknown reason (Spirit?), etc. Just approaching these sites will alter their forensic and historical value. Footprints around the grass at Stonehenge are gone the next day. Footprints on the Moon and Mars are there for the lifetime of whole civilizations...
This is one of those situations where anything beyond the existing documentation gets silly. I reckon an "international space monuments treaty" will happen about six months after some frat rat out from New Tycho tries to shove Alan Shepard's golf ball up his ass. Which I think is a long goddamn way off. "Holy shit this is my boot in Buzz Aldrin's footprint" automatically makes your accomplishment subservient to Buzz Aldrin's. Set that aside for a minute though because precision landing in anything short of a Space Shuttle is still a pipe dream. And the moon is larger than the British Empire ever was. There's a lot of it. And it takes an office building full of high explosives to get there. A Saturn V could get about 50,000 lb to TLI; a Long March 5 can get about 18,000. That's a one-way, which is really bad for international prestige. I think we're a long way from this being an issue, and by the time we get there, the historical significance of moon tracks will be obvious and the historical significance of mars tracks will be moot.It's just a document, suggesting a path forward, but does not have buy-in from anyone, and the existing space treaties we have establish everything off-world as "community property".
Right? What about re-using hardware like the Lunar Rover? Do the Chinese get to drive the Lunar Rover around? It would make good sense for them to attempt to get it operational and use it, rather than bringing one with them, right? What about the Spirit rover on Mars? Why did it stop? What about the Mars Explorer? Or the Mars Climate Observer? Why did they crash? Is there anything recoverable? Should those sites be protected historical sites, or...? It's an interesting set of questions to noodle. Of course, even the Moon is a BIG place. And we probably don't want to go back to where we have already been. It may be that there are better places for humans to land/visit in the future, and no Mark Watney is ever going to travel far enough to visit the crash site of a craft, or the debris left over from past robotic visitors. But... what if the lunar lander is parked on top of a rich source of (insert mineral name here)?