The arts are sorely needed on Earth — not the moon
There has been a surge of news lately about the Lunar Codex, the brainchild of Canadian physicist and storyteller Samuel Peralta, which will put 147,000 works by 30,000 artists, poets, filmmakers, authors and musicians on the moon.
Detailed articles have appeared in The New York Times and
The Smithsonian Magazine, along with scores of other media outlets, including radio and television interviews.
As he writes on the Lunar Codex website, Peralta imagined going to the moon as a child and the Lunar Codex will fulfill his dream. It will spread hope, he claims, during a time of COVID19 pandemic, economic upheaval, war and the realization that climate change is upon us. He further writes that the moon will become a symbol of hope and the Lunar Codex will be a message in a bottle to travelers to the moon.
He proposes to do this by creating four time capsules that would carry digital memory cards inscribed onto nano-fiche.
While Peralta invested undisclosed amounts of his own money on creating the disks to carry the works of art to the moon, the bulk of funding comes through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Of NASA’s 202223 $32.4 billion allocation from the federal government, $17.3 billion is for NASA operations and $16.7 billion is awarded to aerospace contractors.
Astrobotic Technology of Pittsburgh and Intuitive Machines of Houston have both been granted awards to create the lunar modules and accompanying communication systems to land the Lunar Codex on the moon. One lift-off happened in 2022. One is scheduled for this month and two will take place in 2024.
I reached out twice to both Astrobotic Technology and Intuitive Machines to ask how much they were awarded by NASA, but neither responded.
Spending money for art on the moon? We will never inhabit the place, no matter how much daydreaming is done. Sending
art to the moon is a frivolous endeavor that is a waste of taxpayer money.
NASA has amazed people with photos of other planets and the galaxy. It has provided accurate weather forecasting and monitoring. It put a man on the moon to discover it is uninhabitable. It’s time to rein in NASA and accept the fact that our collective curiosity about the universe will never be satisfied. That art file on the moon will remain there untouched.
The Department of Education has a budget of $269.7 billion for 2023, some of which goes to the
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, which includes the Arts in Education National Program.
Arts in Education provides grants to nonprofits and community organizations for arts-based curriculum and programming in music, dance, theater, writing, media arts and visual arts for pre-K through grade 12. The grants are intended for children and youth in underserved areas, or students with disabilities.
Arts education is a way to improve both creative and critical thinking. Confidence and ability to communicate are developed
through arts education. The Arts in Education program might be responsible for inspiring and developing the next Shakespeare, Picasso, Rudolph Nureyev or Steven Spielberg. Artists along with scientists and entrepreneurs are role models for innovation in our society.
This year, grants go to a wide variety of programs across the United States. The Anaheim Union High School District in California received $2 million for theater and performing arts, including equipment, the Department of Parks and Recreation in Indianapolis received $1 million
for arts education in afterschool and summer programs, the Community Music Works of Rhode Island was granted $300,000 for music education.
These programs and many others will improve the lives of thousands of students across the country while the Lunar Codex will benefit no one. It’s a vanity project. It’s time for some growing up and realizing we live in a world of limits. It takes some maturity to realize we’re alone in the universe.