Presentation: As NASA prepares to return humans to the moon in the Artemis missions over the next five years, the Chinese are also aiming to put boots on the moon. The Indian space programme has also had several successful landings as well. So why is the moon important? There is water on the moon, we now know. And water is the oil of space. The lunar economy—for research, mining and launch facilities to other planets, is estimated to be worth at least $40 billion dollars by 2040. The new moon race is about profit and science as well as those intangibles which inspired the Apollo landings. And, of course, there are some fantastic images for a talk about the moon.

Presenter: Tira Shubart is a freelance journalist based in London who has worked worldwide. Her science journalism has taken her to the European Space Agency and NASA. She is currently working on the EU Space Agency Copernicus project. Tira is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and an Ambassador for the Science Museum in London. Tira’s mother, Marga Shubart, is a long-time and well-loved member of the OLL.