Nature Editors Urge Funding of USA-Led Artemis Program to Lead Worldwide Lunar Effort
US$93B expected cost of Artemis program through 2025 planned human landing is justified both by scientific goals (investigation of water ice & Earth-Moon system formation) and to be ‘a ray of light in dark times’ for humanity; Nature also reports NASA has ‘knowledge, stability and standing’ to manage 19-nation Artemis coalition, and will be issuing RFP for Artemis-3 geoscience soon; 2022 missions / payloads from Russia, Japan, South Korea, India, UAE possible; Open University planetary scientist Mahesh Anand tells Nature ‘This is just the beginning’