Artemis Two: Moon Water Fuels New Space Race

0:00It's April 5th. You're listening to Global News today, AI-powered coverage from around the world. I'm Cory with the story. NASA just kicked off Artemis II, the first crude moon mission since 1972, putting four astronauts in a ride around the lunar orbit. This ain't like the old Apollo days planting flags in the Cold War race. Now it's the US squaring up against China in space race 2.0, both gunning for bases at the moon South Pole. That South Pole's rugged with cliffs and boulders, tough for landings, but it's packed with potential water ice in those forever dark craters. Back in 2009, NASA crashed a rocket there and spotted signs of water molecules. They figure hundreds of billions of gallons could be locked up as ice, from ancient asteroids and Earth collisions. Folks are hyped because that water changes everything for astronauts. Split it and you get oxygen to breathe and hydrogen for rocket fuel. Calling one liter from Earth costs nearly $1 million in fuel alone, so local sources

1:00slash those bills and make long stays possible. Plans are rolling with US boots on the South Pole by 2028 and China by 2030. Companies are eyeing moon mining for helium 3, a clean fusion fuel, plus iron and aluminum for building habitats. Radiotelloscopes could go up too, free from Earth's noise to scan deep space. Moonwater ain't just sci-fi anymore. It's the key to turning the lunar surface into a launch pad for Mars and beyond, fueling humanity's next big leap, off planet.