The new space race – podcast
The science writer Philip Ball has always been fascinated by space. He looks at the latest missions to the moon and beyond. And: Carole Cadwalladr on why she used her TED talk to tell tech billionaires they had broken democracy
Philip Ball was six years old when, in 1969, he watched Apollo 11 land the first two people on the moon. He has retained his fascination for space ever since and has been closely following the recent advancements in space exploration. At the start of this year, China became the first country to successfully land a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the moon, while in April, the first privately funded mission to the moon, the Israeli spacecraft Beresheet, crashed after the apparent failure of its main engine.
Ball joins India Rakusen to discuss why so many countries are again embarking on missions to the moon and debates the value of private industry investing in space exploration. If humankind is unable to survive on Earth, which already has everything we need, what hope do we have of surviving on Mars?