Speaker 1: Ready, and this is the Daily This is the Daily OS.
Speaker 2: This is the Daly OS.
Speaker 3: Oh, now it makes sense.
Speaker 2: Good morning, and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Thursday,
Speaker 2: the twenty fifth of September. I'm Emma Gillespie, I'm Billy
Speaker 2: fit Simons. In just a few months time, four NASA
Speaker 2: astronauts will embark on the first crude lunar mission since
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 4: Together, have a front row seat to history. We're returning
Speaker 4: to the Moon after over fifty years.
Speaker 2: Artemis two is scheduled to take off in February next
Speaker 2: year for a ten day trip around the Moon, a
Speaker 2: head of a crude mission to the lunar surface in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty seven. It comes amid what's been dubbed the
Speaker 2: Second Space Race, as the US and China push to
Speaker 2: get back to.
Speaker 1: The Moon first.
Speaker 2: Today we will explain everything you need to know about
Speaker 2: the Artemis mission, why also wants to go to the Moon,
Speaker 2: and why it's taken them so long to get back there.
Speaker 3: But before we get into today's deep dive, here is
Speaker 3: a quick message from our sponsor.
Speaker 4: Billy.
Speaker 1: If it's Ion's welcome back to the pod.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. I thought everyone forgot about me.
Speaker 3: It has been more than a month since I've been
Speaker 3: on the point.
Speaker 2: We could not forget about you. It's so exciting to
Speaker 2: have you back.
Speaker 3: Oh, I've missed you. I've missed recording into a purple
Speaker 3: ball every day.
Speaker 1: That is nice of you to say, Billy, I know
Speaker 1: it missed you, of course, and our listeners of course.
Speaker 1: Of course. I know you've had a big trip. You're
Speaker 1: back from that.
Speaker 3: I've pretty much gone all around the world. But you
Speaker 3: know where I didn't go Space. I missed the moon,
Speaker 3: did not quite get there. So I'm very excited to
Speaker 3: hear about it today.
Speaker 2: He's stolen my joke because I steering up to say, oh,
Speaker 2: I'm so sorry, Billy. I know you just got back
Speaker 2: from a big trip, but don't worry, because today I'm
Speaker 2: going to take you to the moon.
Speaker 3: Oh well, let's just return like I didn't ruin. That
Speaker 3: is a great joke. It's very unpredictable. No one else
Speaker 3: could have thought about it.
Speaker 1: Great mine thinking alike. That's why we needed you back.
Speaker 3: Couldn't be back, so Emma. Today we are talking about
Speaker 3: a pretty major announcement this week, which is that NASA
Speaker 3: is going back to the Moon. I always find this
Speaker 3: quite surprising that despite the big race to the Moon
Speaker 3: nearly sixty or seventy years ago, now yep, we actually
Speaker 3: haven't really been back since. So this is a pretty
Speaker 3: big announcement.
Speaker 2: Right exactly, And all things going smoothly. Astronauts are set
Speaker 2: to land on the Moon by mid twenty twenty seven,
Speaker 2: so in less than two years time. But before that happens,
Speaker 2: we've got a mission called Artemis two that's going to
Speaker 2: lift off in February next year.
Speaker 1: And still's a ten day test flight.
Speaker 4: We will be launching four crew and them, along with
Speaker 4: our ground teams, we are going to be working together
Speaker 4: to execute this mission. This is a stepped approach, and
Speaker 4: all that we learned from Artemis two we will build
Speaker 4: upon there to prepare us for our first crew landing
Speaker 4: on the surface of the Moon for Artemis three.
Speaker 2: That was Lakeisha Hawkins speaking at a NASA press conference
Speaker 2: this week.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: She is the acting Deputy Associate Administrator for NASA's Exploration
Speaker 2: Systems Development Mission Directorate.
Speaker 1: Try saying that ten times, and what you.
Speaker 2: Would have heard there is that next year's mission is
Speaker 2: a step towards putting actual astronauts back on the Moon.
Speaker 3: Okay, So we have Artemis two, which is sending a
Speaker 3: crew of astronauts on a mission around the Moon. That
Speaker 3: is in feb next year, and then Artemis three will
Speaker 3: be a mission on the Moon and that is in
Speaker 3: mid twenty twenty seven, so in two years time. Yeah,
Speaker 3: when was the last time a crew went to the Moon?
Speaker 3: I know I said before, it was like sixty seventy
Speaker 3: years ago, yes.
Speaker 2: So nearly. It was a little bit more recently than that.
Speaker 2: It was nineteen seventy two. The last time humans traveled
Speaker 2: to the Moon. That was the Apollo seventeen mission, over
Speaker 2: fifty years ago now, and that was the final mission
Speaker 2: of NASA's Apollo program. So that was the program that
Speaker 2: took Neil Armstrong. I was going to say, so basic terms,
Speaker 2: are we talking about Neil Armstrong? Yes, we are talking
Speaker 2: about Neil Armstrong, But Apollo seventeen wasn't Neil Armstrong. So
Speaker 2: even though we got to the Moon all those years ago,
Speaker 2: there has not been people on the Moon since the seventies,
Speaker 2: but there have been still space exploration missions and shuttles,
Speaker 2: and the only things that have been on the Moon,
Speaker 2: I suppose, are rovers. So even though Artemis TI, which
Speaker 2: is the one coming up in February, isn't going to
Speaker 2: involve astronauts stepping onto the lunar surface. It will carry
Speaker 2: astronauts farther from Earth and closer to the Moon than
Speaker 2: any human has been in over half a century.
Speaker 3: Wow, why has it taken so long to get back there?
Speaker 2: That's a really good question and it has a complicated answer.
Speaker 2: So the official word from NASA is this is about
Speaker 2: scientific discovery, economic benefits, inspiration for a new generation of explorers,
Speaker 2: while quote maintaining American leadership in exploration. But the main
Speaker 2: reasons why it's taken so long really come down to
Speaker 2: politics and priorities. Space exploration is expensive, It is incredibly expensive,
Speaker 2: so there needs to be not only a willingness from
Speaker 2: the decision makers in government of the day, but also
Speaker 2: a purpose behind making those big investments, a reason to
Speaker 2: spend all that money. The Moon landing back in nineteen
Speaker 2: sixty nine, Neil Armstrong buzz Aldron shout out that was
Speaker 2: a Cold War era achievement. So America at that time
Speaker 2: was in this race with the Soviet Union for space superiority.
Speaker 2: America won that race in nineteen sixty nine with the
Speaker 2: Apollo program, and that program was ended in the seventies
Speaker 2: under US President Richard Nixon. Since then, NASA's priorities have
Speaker 2: really changed depending on who was in the White House.
Speaker 2: So it's been more than fifty years since the Apollo mission.
Speaker 2: We have this generational gap in experience, which presents its
Speaker 2: own challenges. But the Trump administration has the appetite to
Speaker 2: put the Moon back on the agenda, and we saw
Speaker 2: that both in President Trump's first term and now again
Speaker 2: for this second term in office.
Speaker 3: Okay, and so we now have the Artemis program under
Speaker 3: the Trump administration. Can you break down what that actually involves.
Speaker 2: Yes, So this is a Moon exploration program led by NASA,
Speaker 2: which stands for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Speaker 1: It's the United States Space Agency.
Speaker 3: That's definitely going to come up in a good weekend
Speaker 3: quiz one time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exact nowly going to remember it, watch this space.
Speaker 2: So Artemis was formally established in twenty seventeen. It's intended
Speaker 2: to re establish a human presence on the Moon for
Speaker 2: the first time since the Apollo seventeen mission, with this
Speaker 2: stated long term goal to establish a permanent base on
Speaker 2: the Moon and facilitate human missions to Mars. There are
Speaker 2: several missions planned under the pro so Artemis two builds
Speaker 2: on Artemis one, that was an uncrude mission in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two, and NASA said this second mission is about
Speaker 2: demonstrating a broad range of capabilities needed four deep space missions,
Speaker 2: and that will involve four astronauts venturing around the Moon
Speaker 2: over ten days, three astronauts from NASA, a Canadian Space
Speaker 2: Agency astronaut, and in that group is one woman astronaut.
Speaker 3: And so that's Artemis two, the one that's just going
Speaker 3: I shouldn't say, just the one that is going around
Speaker 3: the moon. Tell us about Artemis three, which is where
Speaker 3: they plan to actually go on to the Moon again.
Speaker 2: Yes, Artemis three is expected to launch in mid twenty
Speaker 2: twenty seven. That was the update from NASA this week.
Speaker 2: It's a little bit sooner than we were expecting, but
Speaker 2: this would be the first time humans have landed on
Speaker 2: the Moon since the seventies, and it would be the
Speaker 2: big one.
Speaker 1: So Artemis two next year will be major.
Speaker 2: It's the closest we will have gotten to the Moon
Speaker 2: in f something years. But that Artemis II mission is
Speaker 2: when NASA will kind of execute the stages of its
Speaker 2: plan to return to the Moon more frequently. It's looking
Speaker 2: at yearly landings on the Moon with a goal to
Speaker 2: establish a permanent presence there.
Speaker 3: Okay, so we mentioned before that for about fifty or
Speaker 3: so years, missions to the Moon have basically stopped, and
Speaker 3: reasons for that are political and also they're expensive. But
Speaker 3: now they are starting up again, And you said part
Speaker 3: of the reason for that is the Trump administration. Why
Speaker 3: exactly is the Trump administration interested in going back to
Speaker 3: the Moon.
Speaker 2: It has a lot to do with this idea of
Speaker 2: the second space race. So if Apollo was NASA's attempt
Speaker 2: to win the space race against Russia, Artemis is its
Speaker 2: battle against China. So in July twenty twenty three, China's
Speaker 2: space agency publicly announced a plan to land two astronauts
Speaker 2: on the Moon by twenty thirty. Russia and China then
Speaker 2: announced together that they're going to build a moon base together,
Speaker 2: so this would be Russian Chinese infrastructure to get those
Speaker 2: astronauts there, and it also formally invited more countries and
Speaker 2: international organizations to join their International Research Station project as
Speaker 2: this alternative to NASA's Artemis program. What's really interesting is
Speaker 2: that China has already achieved some significant firsts in its race.
Speaker 2: In June, a Chinese lunar land has successfully collected rocks
Speaker 2: and soil from the far side of the Moon. That's
Speaker 2: something that no other country had done, and it returned
Speaker 2: them back to the Earth for study. So there is
Speaker 2: kind of a broader geopolitical force really driving Artemis.
Speaker 3: So China is aiming for twenty thirty Artemis, the US
Speaker 3: is aiming for twenty twenty seven. How realistic are these timelines?
Speaker 3: Are we actually looking at a close race here? Could
Speaker 3: China actually get there first?
Speaker 1: Well?
Speaker 2: This is an another interesting point to the whole story
Speaker 2: because NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that this mid twenty
Speaker 2: twenty seven goal is well ahead of the Chinese government's
Speaker 2: announced intention, but experts aren't actually so sure that NASA
Speaker 2: will be able to do it. To quote former NASA
Speaker 2: administrator Jim Bridenstein, who told a Senate hearing this quote,
Speaker 2: unless something changes, it's highly unlikely the US will beat
Speaker 2: China's projected timeline. He cited concerns about the development of
Speaker 2: SpaceX's starship, which will serve as the lunar lander, the
Speaker 2: need for multiple refueling missions, and the general kind of
Speaker 2: pressure on the scale of this project versus the cost,
Speaker 2: the technology, the research, and all of the hours involved
Speaker 2: in making it happen and making it happen safely.
Speaker 1: NASA experts did acknowledge.
Speaker 2: This need to kind of balance ambition and safety at
Speaker 2: this week's Artemis press conference.
Speaker 1: Here's a little bit of what was said. This administration.
Speaker 4: Has us to acknowledge that we are indeed in a well,
Speaker 4: you know what people have commonly called a second space race.
Speaker 4: There is a desire for us to return to the
Speaker 4: surface of the Moon and to be the first to
Speaker 4: return to the surface of the Moon. With that being said,
Speaker 4: NASA's objective, though, is to do so safely.
Speaker 3: And what's the strategic importance for the US or China
Speaker 3: in getting to the moon first?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 3: Why does it matter?
Speaker 2: So this surprised me because I didn't really get it either,
Speaker 2: apart from it being a bit of a technological capability
Speaker 2: demonstration and a bit of pride from each superpower on
Speaker 2: wanting to flex that tech.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like, is it just bragging rights that we're fighting
Speaker 3: for here?
Speaker 2: Well, there are deeper political consequences to consider, and they
Speaker 2: actually have to do with the territory of the Moon,
Speaker 2: the physical land on the Moon itself exactly. It sounds
Speaker 2: a bit like Avatar, don't you reckon? Alan Cutler, who
Speaker 2: is the president and CEO of the Coalition for Deep
Speaker 2: Space Explorations, said, quote, the country that lands on the
Speaker 2: Moon first will shape the rules of engagement in space
Speaker 2: for decades to come. Cutler and other US officials are
Speaker 2: basically concerned that if China gets there first, that there
Speaker 2: could be competition over resources in space. That includes valuable
Speaker 2: water ice that's thought to be locked up in craters
Speaker 2: at the lunar South Pole, so Billy. The thinking is
Speaker 2: that water on the Moon could be used to make
Speaker 2: rocket fuel, to propel missions deeper into space, or to
Speaker 2: sustain colonies of humans living on the Moon. And basically
Speaker 2: China and the US want to be the ones to
Speaker 2: get their hands on that water.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 3: And so what I guess you're kind of hinting at
Speaker 3: or explicitly saying, is that this is all building towards
Speaker 3: missions to Mars.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a pretty far out concept, but it's closer
Speaker 2: than we think. The Artemis program has this stated long
Speaker 2: term goal to establish a permanent base on the Moon
Speaker 2: to facilitate missions to Mars. So we want to get
Speaker 2: to the Moon not only to have access to that
Speaker 2: water ice, but also as a kind of base for
Speaker 2: missions to Mars, because from Earth to Mars, the refueling,
Speaker 2: the specs around that at the moment are physically impossible.
Speaker 2: The idea, though, is that the Moon becomes this kind
Speaker 2: of testing ground, this stepping stone for the much more
Speaker 2: challenging journey to Mars.
Speaker 1: And on that.
Speaker 2: Base, hopefully, you know, NASA experts will learn how to
Speaker 2: develop the technologies needed to get to Mars, how to
Speaker 2: live and work in deep space environments, testing life support systems,
Speaker 2: can they grow vegetables and food on the Mars surface,
Speaker 2: all of that kind of stuff. But I do think
Speaker 2: it's important to note that while this sounds exciting, both
Speaker 2: the Chinese and American programs have faced delays. I would
Speaker 2: take their timelines with a grain of salt. Space programs
Speaker 2: are in credibly complex, and Artemis still has some significant
Speaker 2: technical hurdles to overcome. So who knows who will win
Speaker 2: the second space race. Will it be the US, will
Speaker 2: it be China. Whatever happens, it feels like we're certainly
Speaker 2: entering a new era of space exploration.
Speaker 3: Do you know how close we are to getting to Mars.
Speaker 2: I'd say we are about several thousand light years.
Speaker 3: Oh, I was expecting more like human years. But light years,
Speaker 3: I mean, I can never get my head around those.
Speaker 2: But yeah, basically, we don't know how close we are
Speaker 2: to Mars until we have.
Speaker 3: A presence on the moon. Exactly, got it. But do
Speaker 3: you think it will be in our lifetime? I think
Speaker 3: I think it will be in our lifetime. That will
Speaker 3: be exciting.
Speaker 2: I don't know if it will be in our lifetime
Speaker 2: while we still have our.
Speaker 1: Natural hair color. Okay, however, I'll take that.
Speaker 2: Although I'm not an astrophysicist, I'm not a rocket scientist,
Speaker 2: so don't quote me on.
Speaker 3: I will be you to everyone I know. I'll be
Speaker 3: like Emma says, we're going to Mars in our lifetime, the.
Speaker 2: Girl with the Bachelor of media says, we're going to Mars.
Speaker 3: Emma, thank you for that breakdown. A bachelor in media
Speaker 3: is all I need for you to be an expert
Speaker 3: in space. Apparently, I'll take it.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Billy, and thank you to the real experts.
Speaker 3: And that is all we have time for today's deep dive.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for listening to this episode. We'll
Speaker 3: be back in your ears this afternoon with the headlines,
Speaker 3: but until then, have a great day and thanks for
Speaker 3: having me back.
Speaker 4: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Speaker 4: Bungelung Caalcuttin woman from Gadigol Country. The Daily oz acknowledges
Speaker 4: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Speaker 4: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres
Speaker 4: Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the
Speaker 4: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.