Lunar Security and Strategic Competition: a Geneva Security Debate
AUTHOR: SAMUEL JARDINE
On 7 September 2026, the Open Lunar Foundation partnered with the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) and the Global University Alliance for Outer Space Policy and Law Education (GUAOSPLE) to hold a Geneva Security Debate on lunar security and strategic competition, an emerging issue with increasing military interest globally in the Moon’s future and rhetoric on lunar strategic competition rising.
Interest in the Moon is accelerating, and lunar activity increasingly involves questions of geopolitics, security and international governance. Government space agencies and commercial actors are planning hundreds of missions over the coming decade. Much of that attention is on strategically valuable locations near the lunar south pole. States are also advancing differing visions for how the Moon should be explored and governed at a time when multilateralism is under significant strain, and rhetoric around lunar strategic competition is rising. From this, questions are beginning to emerge, in the context of increasing military interest in the Moon’s future, about how cooperation, competition and security will shape humanity’s return to the Moon.
To start this conversation publicly, on 7 September 2026, the Open Lunar Foundation partnered with the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) and the Global University Alliance for Outer Space Policy and Law Education (GUAOSPLE) to hold a Geneva Security Debate on lunar security and strategic competition. GCSP hosted the debate in Geneva on the sidelines of UNIDIR’s Outer Space Security Conference, and expert panellists were drawn from the United States, Europe and China to provide a range of perspectives.
The debate looked at the emerging security dimensions of lunar activity and the governance challenges that come with sustained operations on the Moon. The panel discussed how existing international legal frameworks, including the Outer Space Treaty (OST), apply as strategic competition grows in cislunar space, though interpretations of the OST are currently not agreed by all states. It also covered peaceful use, resource utilisation, safety zones, activity coordination, dual-use, transparency and the risk of operational friction around key lunar locations.
The panel brought together:
Samuel Jardine, Senior Policy Lead, Open Lunar Foundation
Professor Namrata Goswami, Professor of Space Security, Johns Hopkins University
Dr Therese Jones, Research Manager, European Space Policy Institute
Professor Guoyu Wang, Dean, Academy of Air, Space Policy and Law, Beijing Institute of Technology; Deputy Director, Space Law Center, CNSA; Secretary General, GUAOSPLE
Simon Cleobury, Head of Arms Control and Disarmament at GCSP, moderated the discussion.
The debate aimed to build constructive dialogue between space policy communities that rarely share a platform, at an important moment for lunar governance and international cooperation in space. It was held in a hybrid format, with in-person participation, a live stream and audience Q&A.
The full debate is available to watch here: Lunar Security and Strategic Competition, a Geneva Security Debate or on YouTube.
