MOSCOW, Aug 11 (Reuters) – Russia launched its first moon-landing spacecraft in 47 years on Friday amid a race by major powers including the United States, China and India to discover more about the elements held on the earth’s only natural satellite.
Russia said that it would launch further lunar missions and then explore the possibility of a joint Russian-China crewed mission and even a lunar base. NASA has spoken about a “lunar gold rush” and explored the potential of moon mining.
Why are major powers so interested in what is up there?
THE MOON
The moon, which is 384,400 km (238,855 miles) from our planet, moderates the earth’s wobble on its axis which ensures a more stable climate. It also causes tides in the world’s oceans.
Current thinking is that it was formed when a massive thing collided with earth about 4.5 billion years ago. The debris from the collision came together to form the moon.
For the rest of this article: https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/moon-mining-why-major-powers-are-eyeing-lunar-gold-rush-2023-08-11/