Despite the National Aeronautics and Space Administration no longer doing any space stuff, they sure got territorial when private companies started making strides for space travel. The inevitable exploration of the moon’s surface is a hot topic among the private space travel initiatives, and NASA is calling “dibs” on certain areas of the moon.
NASA is suggesting some guidelines be put into place to protect these areas: “NASA recognizes that many spacefaring nations and commercial entities are on the verge of landing spacecraft on the moon.”
Russia has already made it known that they plan on building a permanent base on the surface and are exploring just how to do that. NASA just wants to protect the areas they consider to be historical landmarks.
You can read the PDF outlining these guidelines. It doesn’t seem like they are making any demands that are not logical or respectful. They are not trying to limit what other private entities are hoping to accomplish, but simply establishing etiquette for the places they already have visited.
Imagine one day, on the Moon Mall in Moon City, there could be a fenced off area with a US flag and landing module right outside the food court! Wouldn’t that shut up all the “Lunar Landing Hoax” conspiracy theorists!