On April 1, we will experience a historic moment that will not be related to wars: the launch of NASA\u2019s Artemis II mission to the Moon.<\/p>\n
This will be the first manned mission to the Moon since 1972. The Orion spacecraft will carry four astronauts to a distance of 384,400 kilometers from Earth, will enter orbit around the Moon, and the four-member crew will monitor its invisible side (approximately 7,400 kilometers above its surface), testing Orion\u2019s systems for maintenance and crew safety, thus preparing the ground for the Artemis IV mission, which is expected to land on the Moon by 2030.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the Artemis III mission will repeat another orbit around the Earth\u2019s satellite. This mission was preceded by the unmanned Artemis I in 2022, which also entered orbit around the Moon.<\/p>\n
Artemis II will carry humans to the Moon for the first time in 54 years. The crew will include American Christina Koch, the first woman who will walk on the Moon; Victor Glover, who will become the first Black American to leave Earth\u2019s orbit and travel to the Moon; Canadian Jeremy Hansen, who will become the first non-American to do so; and Reed Wiseman, who will be the commander.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Moon adventure in the 1960s was a game of prestige between the United States and the Soviet Union,\u201d explains Ioannis Daglis, professor of Space Physics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, director of the Observatory of the University of Athens and, from January 2020 to March 2025, the first president of the Hellenic Space Center \u2013 the national Greek space agency.<\/p>\n \u201cBut at that time the moon was considered to be a place completely useless for humanity. Now the picture we have is completely different.\u201d In 1969, man \u201ctook a look\u201d at the Moon, Daglis says. In 2026, he is planning to stay. This is happening for two main reasons. \u201cOne is the rich and valuable raw materials. The isotope Helium-3 is very important for future energy production through fusion. There is also water, mainly in the form of ice at the poles. The existence of water was confirmed by the Indian mission Chandrayaan-1,\u201d he tells Kathimerini.<\/p>\n \u201cLarge quantities of surface ice have been identified mainly at the South Pole of the Moon, but it is estimated that there are also large quantities of underground ice at the North Pole. There will be no need to transport water (at great cost) from Earth. In fact, they estimate that it will be 90% cheaper to produce drinking water on site. And of course they can also produce oxygen from water. That is why there is increased interest from China. The Chinese were the first to land a small unmanned spacecraft on the far side of the Moon [Chang\u2019e 4 mission, on January 3, 2019].\u201d<\/p>\n The second reason for permanent settlement is that \u201claunching from the Moon to go anywhere else (like Mars) will be much easier and much cheaper than from Earth,\u201d the space physics professor explains. \u201cOf course, it will take a long time for all of this to happen, sometime in the next decade at the earliest.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr Anezina Solomonidou, planetary scientist at the Hellenic Space Center, and Greek representative in the field of Human and Robotic Exploration at the European Space Agency (ESA), has closely followed the Artemis program and represents Greece in the lunar and Mars exploration committees at ESA.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is the impression that the Moon was abandoned after the 1970s. In reality, however, we invested in robotic missions, we sent spacecraft to the edges of the solar system. Above all, we learned from the International Space Station how humans can live outside the Earth. Now the Moon is operating as a test to understand whether we can build infrastructure beyond the protected environment of the Earth. We are mainly interested in what we call in situ resource utilization,\u201d Solomonidou tells Kathimerini.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the extraction of, for example, ice, we can produce drinking water, oxygen and hydrogen. The so-called \u2018dark side,\u2019 which is actually the unseen side, offers unique conditions for scientific research, as it is protected from radio interference from the Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n The diplomatic complexities of the case are interesting. \u201cIn the context of the intense international mobilization for settlement on the Moon, two competing consortia have been created,\u201d explains Daglis. \u201cThe Artemis Accords, with the US as leader-coordinator, and the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), with China as coordinator.\u201d In October 2020, the US and seven other states \u2013 Australia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Japan, Italy, Canada and Luxembourg \u2013 signed the Artemis Accords, called the \u201cPrinciples for Cooperation in the Civil Exploration and Use of the Moon, Mars, Comets and Asteroids for Peaceful Purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n Soon after, in March 2021, China and Russia signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the construction of the ILRS. To date, 61 states have joined the Artemis Accords and 13 countries have joined the ILRS. In 2024, Turkey applied to join the ILRS, and is also an expected partner of the Artemis Accords. However, it has not yet signed. Greece signed the Artemis Accords in February 2024 in Washington, becoming the 35th country to do so.<\/p>\n As already mentioned, the two \u201cthorns\u201d of the agreements are the exploitation of lunar resources and the creation of security perimeters. What could the latter mean in practice? \u201cIt is likely that all interested parties will want to establish lunar bases as close as possible to the \u2018reservoirs\u2019 of water,\u201d Daglis says. \u201cHow will the \u2018first\u2019 country deal with the \u2018second\u2019? Will it invoke security reasons and ask that others not land in the area? And how large will this security perimeter be? Is there a visible risk of a collision?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t claim an area on the Moon, but you can say that you are conducting research in which no third party can intervene,\u201d James Carpenter, lead for Moon and Mars science and Moon utilization manager, at the ESA. \u201cIf two countries conduct research in close proximity to each other, it is very likely that problems will arise due to the dust and debris that will accumulate, as well as due to contamination that may be caused and affect the research.\u201d<\/p>\n Are we now talking about colonies on the Moon? Dr Solomonidou disagrees. \u201cWe need to make it clear that we are not talking about \u2018colonies\u2019 as we imagine them or as we have seen them in most sci-fi movies. We are talking about small, controlled bases with closed life support systems, energy production, and the exploitation of local resources. Not cities on the Moon. It is a testing ground to assess whether we can safely exist beyond Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n Could it be that the important topic is Mars rather than the Moon? \u201cMars is scientifically an extremely attractive target,\u201d Dr Solomonidou says, \u201cbut it is also a very hostile environment. It has a thin atmosphere, intense radiation, low temperatures and enormous distances from Earth. So, yes, it is a realistic goal in the long term. But not immediately, and certainly not in terms of settlement in the foreseeable future. The Moon acts as a testing ground.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIndeed, astronauts will be exposed to zero gravity and cosmic radiation, which is not experienced to the same extent in low Earth orbit,\u201d Carpenter says about Mars. \u201cAnother very important thing is the psychological factor: Those who go to Mars will not actually return to Earth. It requires enormous psychological preparation for this.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"artemis-brings-humans-back-to-the-moon0\"](\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/NASA-astronauts-artemis.jpg?1774893605938\")
Cold War \u2018prestige\u2019<\/h3>\n
The \u2018far side\u2019 is ideal<\/h3>\n
The \u2018attractive\u2019 Mars<\/h3>\n