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For the first time since the Apollo era, the United States is sending a crewed mission around the Moon. Launching as early as Wednesday evening, NASA’s Artemis II mission will take four astronauts on a 10-day journey that will start by testing out their spacecraft’s systems in Earth’s orbit and, if all goes well, taking a loop around the Moon.
The mission is part of NASA’s larger Artemis program, which has the goal of setting up a lunar base and a sustained human presence on the surface in the 2030s. The program has moved slowly forward, after both Artemis II and its predecessor, the uncrewed Artemis I mission, faced years of delays. NASA’s new administrator, Jared Isaacman, announced major changes to the program over the past month, including more launches and two lunar landings in 2028.
University of Mississippi space law expert Michelle Hanlon explains how these changes, and the Artemis II mission, reflect the growing strategic importance of space exploration from an economic, scientific and technological standpoint.
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Michelle L.D. Hanlon, University of Mississippi
It’s about more than just beating China. As a space lawyer puts it, a Moon base would come with strategic, economic and scientific advantages.
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Michael Semple, Queen's University Belfast
TTP militants in Pakistan have declared themselves part of the Talibans’s emirate in Afghanistan.
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Amr Saber Algarhi, Sheffield Hallam University; Adeola Y. Oyebowale, University of Doha for Science and Technology
European financial power has realigned at a cost to the City of London.
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Catherine Maia, Sciences Po
If Israel possesses a nuclear arsenal, while Iran is denied that possibility, what do the international norms on accepting, producing or acquiring nuclear weapons have to say about such double standards?
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Kyle B. Enfield, University of Virginia
The current COVID-19 vaccine does not match the strain that’s now becoming dominant in the US, which could lead to a rise in COVID-19 cases.
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Ed Hutchinson, University of Glasgow
A first human H9N2 bird flu case in Europe has been detected in Italy. A virologist explains why the current risk is low and what to watch next.
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Michelle Spear, University of Bristol
We think the human body is fully mapped. In reality, anatomy is still incomplete, and shaped by who was studied, and who wasn’t.
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Nick Dalton, Northumbria University, Newcastle
From Apple II to the iPhone, time and again this extraordinary company has anticipated the value of opening up computing to everyone.
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