China and India are racing to be the third nation to send a spacecraft to the moon.
This will be interesting.
Both China and India are planning unmanned lunar orbiters by next spring. Both nations say they’re interested in the potential of the moon’s helium-3 deposits to supply nuclear fusion reactors on Earth. They eventually want to land a craft on the moon to dig for various minerals.
Helium hype. Thanks to these programs, you can bet science classes will examine helium-3 for the next decade. You also can bet that neither China nor India will bring back more than a bucket of that stuff from the moon over the next 30 years.
The big question is, who will be the 13th person to walk on the moon? Neither China nor India is talking about landing a human, but the urge could become irresistible.