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00:00The Moon is Earth's closest celestial body.
00:03It has orbited our planet for roughly four and a half billion years.
00:07It's the largest visible object in the night sky.
00:10But despite its relative proximity, it's still incredibly underexplored.
00:14Half a century has now passed since the last of the Apollo missions landed on the lunar
00:18surface.
00:19We've had more than 50 years where no one has been back.
00:23So what happened?
00:24We seemingly have the most advanced technology ever.
00:28There's a long list of other ambitious space travel endeavors that we're gradually working
00:32through, but the Moon remains a mystery.
00:35This is Unveiled, and today we're taking a closer look at why the Moon is still unexplored
00:40by humans.
00:42Do you need the big questions answered?
00:44Are you constantly curious?
00:46Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one?
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00:53Humans have been fascinated by the Moon for thousands of years.
00:56Early astronomers like Galileo used pioneering telescopes to study its surface, revealing
01:01the craters that cover it.
01:03But never has the Moon been more front and center than it was during the famous Space
01:07Race of the 1960s.
01:10And of course, that race culminated in an iconic moment in modern history.
01:14NASA's Apollo program marked a monumental leap in our understanding of the Moon, when
01:19on July 20th, 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on
01:26it.
01:27Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans on the lunar surface, cementing their place
01:31in history forevermore.
01:33At that time, there were no immediate signs that, even with the race won, our links to
01:38the Moon would peter out.
01:40More lunar missions followed, Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17, further expanding our knowledge
01:47of lunar geology.
01:49A wealth of samples were brought home by the astronauts conducting these missions, and
01:53a variety of experiments were conducted on the surface.
01:56But in 1972, the final Apollo mission was completed, and afterward, the interest and
02:02funding for lunar exploration plummeted.
02:05High costs and shifting priorities led NASA and other space agencies to focus on other
02:10goals, such as Mars exploration and space station development.
02:14In the decades following, the Moon has been sidelined.
02:18The legacy of the Apollo missions laid the groundwork for future space exploration in
02:22general, and it continues to inspire new generations to look towards the stars.
02:27But the Moon itself just doesn't hold sway like it once did.
02:31Again, given the close proximity to Earth, you might expect it to be a hotspot for space
02:35research, but no.
02:37Ultimately, one of the main reasons as to why attention has shifted away from the Moon
02:41is because getting there was just so supremely difficult, and the technical hurdles are just
02:46as formidable now as they were then.
02:49In fact, in many cases, the list of problems has actually grown thanks to what was learned
02:54through Apollo.
02:55For example, all 12 astronauts who did walk on the Moon are recorded as having experienced
03:00lunar hay fever.
03:01It's a reaction to the harsh lunar dust that covers the Moon's surface, and for some, it
03:06took days to recover from.
03:08On Earth, the presence of wind and water gradually smooths most of the dust and powders that
03:13are found here, but that doesn't happen on the Moon.
03:17And as a result, lunar dust particles, the regolith, are dangerously sharp and variously
03:22toxic.
03:23We didn't know that in the Apollo era, we do know it now, and there are countless similar
03:28kinds of new obstacles to contend with, too.
03:31On the other hand, there's a long list of long-known issues as well, such as the intense
03:36temperature swings that occur on the Moon.
03:38At night, temperatures can drop to a phenomenally low level, less than minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit
03:44at the poles.
03:45During the daytime, however, the opposite is true, with temperatures peaking at around
03:49250 degrees Fahrenheit at the equator.
03:52Suffice to say, visiting astronauts and hypothetical first settlers would have an incredibly tough
03:57time coping with these conditions, which mostly come from the lack of a substantial atmosphere
04:02on the Moon.
04:03The surface is bathed in cosmic radiation, with almost no barrier between it and the
04:08rest of space.
04:09What's really unfortunate, though, is that the Moon is generally too small to support
04:14an atmosphere.
04:15Even if one were to be artificially created, it wouldn't hold, and would instead just
04:19gradually and eternally leak out into space.
04:22So, solving the temperature problem is certainly no easy fix.
04:26And all this against the backdrop of there being no breathable oxygen, food, or water.
04:32The Moon just does not provide the essentials that humans need.
04:35And so, it's an immeasurably complex logistical nightmare to support human life out there
04:40beyond more than just a few hours in spacesuits.
04:43Technically, there is oxygen in the soil… but how to extract it?
04:47In this one case, we can see that again there's no quick solution.
04:52Advanced machinery would need to be ferried to the Moon, set up on the Moon, and probably
04:56at least partly controlled by human hand.
04:58And then, even if oxygen were to be taken from the ground, how to distribute it?
05:03And how to do all of that while, again, there's no food or water to speak of?
05:08One thing has been increasingly clear in the years and decades since the Apollo program.
05:13Even if human presence on the Moon were practically possible, making it work would be a huge financial
05:18burden.
05:19The escalating cost and dwindling budget is another leading reason as to why we've left
05:24the Moon alone.
05:25The Apollo program, from 1960 until 1973, cost more than $250 billion in today's money
05:33adjusted for inflation.
05:35At the same time, the geopolitical climate, and especially tensions between America and
05:40the Soviet Union, were a big reason why the US government could justify spending so much.
05:46There was a race that they needed to win, and for far more than only scientific progress.
05:51Today, there's no such pressure, and so the eye-watering costs of space travel are,
05:56well, eye-watering rather than inspiring.
06:00NASA itself has changed as a result.
06:02Over the years, there have been various initiatives that have taken top billing rather than the
06:06Moon, including the Space Shuttle program, Mars exploration, and developing the International
06:12Space Station.
06:13All of these ventures, although seemingly made with efficiency in mind, demanded their
06:18own huge chunk of funding.
06:20The Moon fell further and further down the pecking order, and what's more, NASA today
06:24is much farther spread, linking up with private companies and contractors all over the world.
06:30The agency doesn't have the same, relatively simple setup that it did in the 60s and 70s.
06:35Pooling all its resources for another moonshot just isn't really feasible.
06:40The subject of Mars is, though, perhaps the most significant of all.
06:45Despite it being much further away from us, and no matter that it is still mostly inhospitable
06:49to us, Mars is the new poster child for modern solar system travel.
06:54It's the next frontier, while the Moon is old hat.
06:57And while it's inhospitable now, there's growing consensus that it might offer better opportunities
07:03for long-term human settlements in the future.
07:06The interest around Mars is so much more enticing to investors and the general public that ultimately,
07:12the Moon may only ever function as a stopping point to relaunch astronauts on their way
07:16to the Red Planet.
07:18Of course, all of this said, we haven't completely given up on lunar exploration.
07:23NASA's ongoing Artemis program is at the forefront of what still could be a renaissance
07:28for Moon missions.
07:29A key goal of Artemis is to once again send humans to the Moon, for the first time since
07:34Apollo 17 in 1972.
07:38And in fact, one of its long-term targets is to build a lunar base that will function
07:43as a launchpad for other missions to Mars and beyond.
07:46The more cynical onlookers remain unconvinced that Artemis will deliver all that it promises,
07:52but many are optimistic, with some even arguing that we could be in the midst of a new space
07:57race, primarily run between America and China, and primarily driven by the private space
08:02travel sector.
08:03How do you see the future unfolding?
08:06What do you think is the main reason why we haven't returned to the Moon yet?
08:10Are we now on the brink of another scientific revolution, or will we still be waiting to
08:15reignite the lunar spark in another 50 years from now?
08:19What do you think?
08:20Is there anything we missed?
08:21Let us know in the comments, check out these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you
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