Grade Level: SrH-Adult
Producer: BBC
Closed Captioned: No |
Running Time: 50 mins
Country of Origin: Great Britain
Study Guide: No |
Copyright Date: 2007
Available in French: No
|
As the world's space powers gear up for what's been dubbed the 'second moon race', there's another, parallel, race to cash in on its resources and potential. This programme takes a look at Russian, Chinese and American plans to return to the moon by 2020 and the colourful band of entrepreneurs and opportunists hoping to catch a ride on their coat tails. From the 'lunar embassy' in Gardnerville, Nevada, realtor Dennis Hope claims to own the moon and has sold four million plots of lunar real estate to prove it. In California, hotel billionaire Robert Bigelow is using his money and expertise to develop and build cheap, prefabricated, lunar 'habitations'. Texan man David Criswell wants to erect solar collectors near the lunar south pole, the so-called 'peak of eternal light' where the sun never sets, and beam solar energy back to earth using high powered microwaves. And in Wisconsin former astronaut and Republican senator Jack Schmitt - the last man to walk on the moon - is locked in a race with Russian oligarch Nikolay Sevastyanov - boss of Russia's largest space contractor - to strip-mine thousands of miles of the moon for a mineral that, it's claimed, could completely replace fossil fuels on earth. But will they ever get there or will they burn up in the harsh realities of lunar exploration? And if they do get there, what will the other space powers make of this lunar land grab? Russia, China and Europe have all said the moon should be developed -at least in large part - for the benefit of mankind. So what will happen when the realtor from Nevada meets the astronaut from Beijing? |
