1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,560 Speaker 1: Eleven ish this morning, our time eleven twenty five. I 2 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:04,400 Speaker 1: think officially at the moment, nessa's back to the Moon 3 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:06,840 Speaker 1: with a Artemis ten day project, five decades in the making, 4 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:10,840 Speaker 1: of course. Niku Marasudan is a professor of astrophysics at 5 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:12,960 Speaker 1: Cambridge University and as well us morning. 6 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 2: Hi, Good morning Mike. 7 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: As far as this is concerned, of all the things 8 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:18,920 Speaker 1: we do these days in space, where does Artemis sit 9 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:19,320 Speaker 1: for you? 10 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:23,600 Speaker 2: Well, this is a this is a big, big advancement. 11 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 2: We are going back to the Moon and it's great 12 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:29,639 Speaker 2: news in our aspirations for space exploration, at least in 13 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:30,360 Speaker 2: the Sour System. 14 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:33,280 Speaker 1: The fact we're not on the surface is a problem, 15 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 1: an issue or a worry for you or not? 16 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 2: No, I mean this is in preparation for therefore a 17 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,279 Speaker 2: landing that will happen in a few years. 18 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: What are we looking to learn out of this? 19 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:50,240 Speaker 2: So, this particular system is a preparatory mission to establish 20 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 2: a lot of you know, procedural aspects. This is a 21 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 2: rehearsal for future missions. So this would be testing of 22 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 2: navigation control systems, life support systems and things like that. 23 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 1: Why have we waited so long if this is so important? 24 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:08,880 Speaker 2: Well, it has to do with whatever. After the space 25 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,880 Speaker 2: race of the late sixties and seventies, governments had other 26 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:16,840 Speaker 2: priorities for what we could do with the technological capability 27 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:19,360 Speaker 2: that came out of that race, and a lot of 28 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 2: those had to do with operations in the low Earth orbit, 29 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 2: satellites around the Earth, remote sensing here on Earth, and 30 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 2: also robotic developments have happened in the meanwhile, So going 31 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 2: to Moon had not been the topmost priority considering all 32 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:38,160 Speaker 2: the other things that were that governments around the world 33 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 2: were doing. So this took a back seat for a 34 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 2: long time, and now we're coming back to it. 35 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:47,520 Speaker 1: Should it be easier in twenty twenty six than it 36 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 1: was all those years ago? 37 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 2: In principle, yes, it should be easier given a lot 38 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 2: of technological advancements that we have made in the intervening years. 39 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 1: And what if we let's just human goes successfully that 40 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 1: we then go back to the Moon. Is that then 41 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:06,360 Speaker 1: a precursor to what we can do on other planets 42 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:06,640 Speaker 1: or not? 43 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:11,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, So the idea here is that our going to 44 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:15,119 Speaker 2: the Moon is the is an intermediate step in our 45 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 2: eventual goal of going to Mars as as a civilization, 46 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:23,080 Speaker 2: as a society. That is, that is an aspiration to 47 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 2: one day for humans to go to Mars, and in 48 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:30,640 Speaker 2: order to prepare for that, Moon is much closer. Moon 49 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:35,120 Speaker 2: is only I mean only, I say it with a 50 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:39,160 Speaker 2: certain seriousness. That moon is about a three day journey 51 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:42,799 Speaker 2: from Earth. So it's a lot easier to test all 52 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:47,359 Speaker 2: the technologies and everything that we want to be prepared 53 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 2: for when we eventually go to Mars. 54 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: Do you think we'll go to Mars in your lifetime? 55 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:58,080 Speaker 2: I maintain a careful optimism that we will. We should 56 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:01,440 Speaker 2: be able to over the next or two But there 57 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:04,400 Speaker 2: are other things that we learned from going to More 58 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:06,679 Speaker 2: not just in preparation for March. There is also a 59 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 2: lot of potential for scientific discovery on the Moon itself, all. 60 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 1: Right, Nico Gowell Nicou Matasuda, who is professor of bestrophysics 61 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: at Cambridge University, is it just me? It strikes I'm 62 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: not that interested. I mean, I love a rocket more 63 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:20,520 Speaker 1: than anybody else. But the space industry has moved on. 64 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 1: It's about payloads and delivering stuff around the world and 65 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: all that sort of stuff. It's more a commercial operation 66 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,239 Speaker 1: these days, and to do less than what we did 67 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 1: fifty years ago today strikes me as sort of a loss. 68 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 1: We did something more fifty years ago, and fifty years 69 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: on we're still not doing what we did then, and 70 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 1: yet we're trying to get excited about it, which strikes 71 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: me as a bit strange or is that just me? 72 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to 73 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:49,360 Speaker 1: news talks. It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow 74 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio.