Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
🌕 The Moon’s Future in Balance: What Indigenous Knowledge Can Teach Us About Tomorrow
Humanity is standing at a crossroads. As commercial pressures mount, from lunar mining to resource extraction to competing national interests, the future of the Moon feels more contested than ever. But what if the key to shaping a healthier, more ethical lunar future lies in knowledge systems, far older than space exploration itself?
In this thought-provoking episode of Chai on the Moon, astrophysicist and host Dr. Salman Hameed sits down with Professor Hilding Neilson, a Mi’kmaw astronomer whose work bridges astrophysics, Indigenous knowledge, and new models of kinship for our relationship with the cosmos.
Together, they explore how Indigenous worldviews may offer pathways for imagining a more responsible, relational future for humanity in outer space.
☕ Episode Overview
- Dr. Salman Hameed and Professor Hilding Neilson discuss:
- Why the Moon’s future is at a critical turning point
- How commercial, political, and scientific interests are reshaping lunar priorities
- What Indigenous methodologies offer that Western frameworks often miss
- Whether new models of kinship can reshape how humanity approaches space
- How this reimagining might guide the future of life beyond Earth
00:00 Introduction of "Chai on the Moon with Prof. Hilding Neilson
01:45 Indigenous Perspective on the Moon Exploration
06:30 What would be another way to protect our night skies?
09:25 Why space exploration should not be left to a few powerful nations?
11:02 How have indigenous people been neglected by the astronomy community?
14:50 Indigenous people have been compared to minority stakeholders by IAU, not as sovereign independent nations.
19:31 Moon as a National Park; what issue can arise from that?
24:25 What model can be used to govern the Moon?
30:50 How can we rethink and be anti-colonial about space?
34:20 How do we, so diverse people of the Earth to collectively think about the Moon?
40:31 How does exploration on the moon look like with an alternative view?
🎙 About Our Guest:
Dr. Neilson is an interdisciplinary astrophysicist and a member of the Mi’kmaq community. His research bridges stellar physics with Indigenous knowledge systems, bringing forward new ways of understanding stars, the Universe, and humanity’s place within it.
His scientific work focuses on stellar winds and the environments surrounding stars, while his broader scholarship examines how Indigenous methodologies can reshape astronomy, cosmology, and our future in space.
📄 Featured Work
Indigenous knowledges and kinship as a model for our future in outer space Hilding Neilson (2024), accepted for publication in "Astronomy and Satellite Constellations: Pathways Forward", proceedings of IAU Symposium 385
arxiv.org/abs/2412.06669
👨🚀 About the Host:
Dr. Salman Hameed holds a PhD in astronomy and serves as the Charles Taylor Chair and Professor of Integrated Science & Humanities at Hampshire College. He is also a faculty member of the Five College Astronomy Department (FCAD) in Massachusetts, USA. Beyond academia, he is the CEO of Kainaat Studios, a non-profit dedicated to science communication and outreach. 🌌✨
#moon #apollo11 #nasa #documentary #podcast #lunar #astronomynews #astronomyadventures #astronomy #pakistan #southasia #space #spaceexploration #spacerace #spacex #interview #nonprofit #spacelaw #humanfuture #isro #spaceethics
Subscribe to our NEW Kids English Channel here: youtube.com/@UCdIRtt8-Og1q99bkK5XBhoQ
Subscribe to our Kids Urdu Channel here: youtube.com/@UCDt7wgStPBzuxtcAf2qqnkg
Subscribe to our Urdu Channel here: youtube.com/@UClJlxaRQLPsx0gPIHgIZffw
For more information about Kainaat Studios:
kainaatstudios.com
Sign up to our mailing list to get unseen content and hear special announcements! kainaatstudios.com/newsletter
Follow us for more:
Facebook facebook.com/kainaatstudios
Twitter twitter.com/KainaatStudios
Instagram instagram.com/kainaatstudios
TikTok tiktok.com/@kainaatstudios
LinkedIn linkedin.com/company/kainaat
Credits:
Written & Hosted by: Salman Hameed
Edited by: Shehryar Shaikh
Music: “Kainaat” by Umer Piracha
Subtitles by: DigiCircle
Galactic Orbiters (Founding Supporters):
Sahr Foundation, Dr. Zafar Iqbal & Dr. Mehr Iqbal, Qazi Family Foundation and PixelEdge
Stellar Orbiters:
AIIR Foundation, Ashraf Qazi, Aimen Khan, Slavena Emilova Molle and Abid & Farah Donation Fund
Space Orbiters:
Dr. Abdul Nadir, Dr. Asad Ansari, Dr. Salman Mallick, Dr. Tariq Hameed, Asif Alam, Zubair Faiz, Dr. Kamran Manzoor, Dr. Arsalan Malik and Junaid Qurashi
Thank you to all our other monthly donors as well!
If you wish to donate, please visit: kainaatstudios.com/donate
🌕 The Moon’s Future in Balance: What Indigenous Knowledge Can Teach Us About Tomorrow
Humanity is standing at a crossroads. As commercial pressures mount, from lunar mining to resource extraction to competing national interests, the future of the Moon feels more contested than ever. But what if the key to shaping a healthier, more ethical lunar future lies in knowledge systems, far older than space exploration itself?
In this thought-provoking episode of Chai on the Moon, astrophysicist and host Dr. Salman Hameed sits down with Professor Hilding Neilson, a Mi’kmaw astronomer whose work bridges astrophysics, Indigenous knowledge, and new models of kinship for our relationship with the cosmos.
Together, they explore how Indigenous worldviews may offer pathways for imagining a more responsible, relational future for humanity in outer space.
☕ Episode Overview
- Dr. Salman Hameed and Professor Hilding Neilson discuss:
- Why the Moon’s future is at a critical turning point
- How commercial, political, and scientific interests are reshaping lunar priorities
- What Indigenous methodologies offer that Western frameworks often miss
- Whether new models of kinship can reshape how humanity approaches space
- How this reimagining might guide the future of life beyond Earth
00:00 Introduction of "Chai on the Moon with Prof. Hilding Neilson
01:45 Indigenous Perspective on the Moon Exploration
06:30 What would be another way to protect our night skies?
09:25 Why space exploration should not be left to a few powerful nations?
11:02 How have indigenous people been neglected by the astronomy community?
14:50 Indigenous people have been compared to minority stakeholders by IAU, not as sovereign independent nations.
19:31 Moon as a National Park; what issue can arise from that?
24:25 What model can be used to govern the Moon?
30:50 How can we rethink and be anti-colonial about space?
34:20 How do we, so diverse people of the Earth to collectively think about the Moon?
40:31 How does exploration on the moon look like with an alternative view?
🎙 About Our Guest:
Dr. Neilson is an interdisciplinary astrophysicist and a member of the Mi’kmaq community. His research bridges stellar physics with Indigenous knowledge systems, bringing forward new ways of understanding stars, the Universe, and humanity’s place within it.
His scientific work focuses on stellar winds and the environments surrounding stars, while his broader scholarship examines how Indigenous methodologies can reshape astronomy, cosmology, and our future in space.
📄 Featured Work
Indigenous knowledges and kinship as a model for our future in outer space Hilding Neilson (2024), accepted for publication in "Astronomy and Satellite Constellations: Pathways Forward", proceedings of IAU Symposium 385
arxiv.org/abs/2412.06669
👨🚀 About the Host:
Dr. Salman Hameed holds a PhD in astronomy and serves as the Charles Taylor Chair and Professor of Integrated Science & Humanities at Hampshire College. He is also a faculty member of the Five College Astronomy Department (FCAD) in Massachusetts, USA. Beyond academia, he is the CEO of Kainaat Studios, a non-profit dedicated to science communication and outreach. 🌌✨
#moon #apollo11 #nasa #documentary #podcast #lunar #astronomynews #astronomyadventures #astronomy #pakistan #southasia #space #spaceexploration #spacerace #spacex #interview #nonprofit #spacelaw #humanfuture #isro #spaceethics
Subscribe to our NEW Kids English Channel here: youtube.com/@UCdIRtt8-Og1q99bkK5XBhoQ
Subscribe to our Kids Urdu Channel here: youtube.com/@UCDt7wgStPBzuxtcAf2qqnkg
Subscribe to our Urdu Channel here: youtube.com/@UClJlxaRQLPsx0gPIHgIZffw
For more information about Kainaat Studios:
kainaatstudios.com
Sign up to our mailing list to get unseen content and hear special announcements! kainaatstudios.com/newsletter
Follow us for more:
Facebook facebook.com/kainaatstudios
Twitter twitter.com/KainaatStudios
Instagram instagram.com/kainaatstudios
TikTok tiktok.com/@kainaatstudios
LinkedIn linkedin.com/company/kainaat
Credits:
Written & Hosted by: Salman Hameed
Edited by: Shehryar Shaikh
Music: “Kainaat” by Umer Piracha
Subtitles by: DigiCircle
Galactic Orbiters (Founding Supporters):
Sahr Foundation, Dr. Zafar Iqbal & Dr. Mehr Iqbal, Qazi Family Foundation and PixelEdge
Stellar Orbiters:
AIIR Foundation, Ashraf Qazi, Aimen Khan, Slavena Emilova Molle and Abid & Farah Donation Fund
Space Orbiters:
Dr. Abdul Nadir, Dr. Asad Ansari, Dr. Salman Mallick, Dr. Tariq Hameed, Asif Alam, Zubair Faiz, Dr. Kamran Manzoor, Dr. Arsalan Malik and Junaid Qurashi
Thank you to all our other monthly donors as well!
If you wish to donate, please visit: kainaatstudios.com/donate
