Words of Reflection from Mehak Sarang
AUTHOR: MEHAK SARANG
As my time at Open Lunar changes to start graduate school, I’m reflecting on the lessons, community, and mission that shaped my time here. From advancing lunar transparency through the Lunar Ledger to building a global network of collaborators, I leave optimistic that cooperation—not competition—can define humanity’s future on the Moon.
Graduate school has always been on the horizon, but while working in the space industry, I felt the persistent pull of “one more”—whether it was a launch, mission, or milestone. As I approach my final days as a full-time employee at Open Lunar to begin a Master of Public Policy at the Yale Jackson School for Global Affairs, I am grateful to the team for teaching me the value of slowing down. In this phase of my career, as I return to being a student again, I’ve been reflecting on the words of our co-founder, Chelsea Robinson: that impact takes a decade.
And yet, the impact this team has had over the last few years is remarkable. Just in the last year, Open Lunar’s flagship Lunar Ledger project has become an industry standard for information sharing about lunar missions. Last month, we worked with industry partners to release the first comprehensive open-source commercial lunar mission dataset. This work builds on years of research from multiple cohorts of Open Lunar fellows. I found that working with our fellows over the last year was a particular highlight—our community is one of our greatest strengths, and I love encountering Open Lunarians in all corners of the world. I’m so grateful that this is a community that keeps giving, and that keeps pulling me back.
Above all, though, I've been blown away by the rigor and energy the Open Lunar team brings to the increasingly important mission of keeping the Moon peaceful and supporting sustainable exploration. Our team—small but mighty—is truly a Swiss Army Knife. I can’t wait to see how our work continues to expand, and the momentum continues.
I’ll end this farewell with gratitude. Thank you—to my Open Lunar teammates, our donors, our Board, our collaborators all around the world—for believing that a positive, shared future on the Moon is worth working for. Lunar exploration is still in its infancy, and the choices we make now will determine whether it is a collaborative or contested domain. My experience at Open Lunar has only strengthened my optimism for a cooperative future on the Moon. I truly believe that if we create systems that encourage transparency and shared knowledge, we can avoid the mistakes made in low-Earth orbit, where the proliferation of space debris and increased securitization limit access. I know Open Lunar will be at the center of that future, and I’m proud to be part of this community.
