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’

Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) VP Arnulf Kjeldsen tells 
Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology studying 1,731g of regolith returned by Chang’e-5 for 3He, an isotope possessing 1 neutron / 2 protons used in medical diagnostics and cryogenics, and considered a fusion material candidate since 1986 by nuclear scientist Gerald Kulcinski, working in collaboration with Moonworker
The first mission to explore surface of the lunar far side, already traversing ~840m, soon reaching 3rd full year since landing 3 Jan 2019, has sighted a novel structure on 36th lunar day and is now in transit to it, ~80m distant from present location NW of Chang’e-4 lander, as
Fundamental and Applied Lunar Surface Research in Physical Sciences is focus of LSSW 10, with plenary talks including Artemis update from (L-R) Julie Robinson, NASA HEOMD Chief Scientist; A.V. Zakharov, Astronomer with Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences to present on Luna-25 instrument PmL, planned to conduct Lunar Near-Surface Dusty Plasma Investigations; S. Bandyopadhyay to expound on NIAC-awarded farside Lunar Crater Radio Telescope (LCRT) concept, C.J. Collins invited to speak on Instrumenting the Moon as a Spherical Gravitational Wave Detector
Sustainable Moon settlement study centered around in-situ food production, also conducting research on long duration physiological and psychological human effects, to be launched by JAXA in partnership with Space Foodsphere, a Tokyo-based study group with wide industry membership including Euglena Co. (algae-based biofuels), NTT Data (information technology) and Ajinomoto Co. (food science); Facilities within Japan may begin construction March 2022, with Antarctic locations to follow and vision of transferring technology to terraformation of exoplanets circa 2100
18.6-year lunar nodal cycle caused by Moon’s 5.145° inclination from solar ecliptic may magnify coastal flooding, with peaks of high tide activity centering around mid-2030s amid 3.6 mm / yr 