The Crater Good

Big Picture Science

It was “one giant leap for mankind,” but the next step forward may require going back. Yes, back to the moon. Only this time the hardware may come from China. Or perhaps Europe. In fact, it seems that the only developed nation not going lunar is the U.S.

Find out why our pockmarked satellite is such hot real estate, and whether it has the raw materials we’d need to colonize it. A new theory of how the moon formed may tell us what’s below its dusty surface.

But – before packing your bags – you’ll want to skim Article IX of the U.N. treaty on planetary protection. We can’t go contaminating any old planetary body, can we?

Guests:

• James Oberg - Former Space Shuttle Mission Control engineer and space policy expert
• Clive Neal - Geologist, University of Notre Dame
• Edward Young - Cosmochemist, geochemist, UCLA
• Margaret Race - Biologist and research scientist at the SETI Institute

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