US Space Force has new guidelines for working at and around the moon

• News & Highlights

The U.S. Space Force has a new primer for activities beyond Earth orbit amid increased NASA and international interest in moon exploration.

A report published last Wednesday (June 23) by the Air Force Research Laboratory suggests that military officials should prepare for "cislunar space," which is the zone roughly comprising the moon and the region around it. The Space Force, as the space service military branch of the United States, would presumably make up much of the report's target audience.

The moon is already a destination of note in the civilian sector. NASA, via its Artemis program, aims to put astronauts on the lunar surface just a few years from now, and nearly a dozen countries have joined the agency's broader moon exploration effort under the Artemis Accords.