Citizens' Campus: A new race to the moon?!

After the end of the American Apollo flights to the moon in 1972, it became lonely on the moon. In the decades that followed, hardly any missions were launched to our neighbor in space. This was partly because the prestige duel between the USA and the Soviet Union had been decided and partly because the unmanned and manned flights had yielded a lot of material and a lot of information that people thought they now knew about the moon. In the last 10 years, however, missions to the moon have increased dramatically again! Why? What new results triggered this new "moon boom"? What are the goals of the new missions? Why are other nations and private companies joining this new race and who will win? These questions and many answers are the focus of the lecture.

Prof. Dr. Olaf Kretzer is head of the Suhl public and school observatory and has been a member of the board of the German Astronomical Society since 2022. With intensive research and preparatory work, he made it possible to create an overview map of astronomical facilities in Thuringia for the general public in 2023.

Admission: 5€