2026 will go down in history as the year of the return to Moon.
Academic Professor Emeritus of the National University of Athens Stamatis Krimizis is the scientist of Physics and Astronomy who has been associated with the most important achievements of NASA and his continuous involvement and experience offer valuable information and predictions for space exploration and extraterrestrial life, especially after the successful completion of the mission Artemis II in space.
In an interview with "Vima", to journalist Diana Kartsagouli, about NASA's Artemis II mission, the pioneering researcher expressed his assessments, predictions, and reservations about man's historic journey into space. I will selectively refer to certain points of the extremely interesting interview, which are enlightening and answer reasonable questions from non-experts.
As the director emeritus of space programs at Johns Hopkins University, Stamatis Krimizis has designed experiments for all 9 planets in our solar system, from the legendary Voyager to New Horizons. Specifically, he noted that Voyager has never survived for such a long time. It is a true “Space Odyssey,” an exploration of interplanetary space and now of the Milky Way itself.
After about half a century, in our day, Victor Giannikopoulos appears, just 15 years old, collaborating with NASA to implement an idea, a mission that, as he explains, is essentially a continuation of the Voyager missions of 1977. This succession of scientists involved in space exploration is truly impressive and moving, and it makes us proud of our country.
We all wonder what important, in terms of resources for humanity, astronauts expect to find on the Moon. Distinguished scientist Stamatis Krimizis pointed out that missions have confirmed the existence of water on the Moon. There is ice, which is located just below the surface, mainly at the South Pole, in craters that never see sunlight. Access to these deposits is of crucial importance. Astronauts will not only use the water for their own needs, but they will be able to split it into hydrogen and oxygen, producing valuable fuel for rockets, completely changing the data of the space economy. What is also interesting in the lunar soil – but for the future – is the existence of helium.
It is a fact that exploration of the Moon has been halted for over 50 years. The Academician attributes this to the high cost, which exceeds 100 billion dollars, and adds that even today, people in America do not prioritize returning to the Moon.
Today, the restart of exploration has political dimensions, observes the internationally recognized scientist, as China, which is investing colossal funds in space, has set a goal of 2032 to send astronauts to the Moon.
Thus, politicians, and especially Trump, who is vain, consider the "glory" of space exploration to be very important. The President even gave clear instructions to expedite the return to the Moon, to coincide with his own term.
Therefore, it is not scientific knowledge that is the driving force, but political aspirations. Regarding a test mission to Mars, the Academician believes that it will not offer anything practical, because no gold, uranium or any other material that would be worth transporting back to Earth will be found there, this mission requires a thousand-day journey and the possibility of it being carried out in the next 20 years is very small. Moreover, 95% of the scientific community is not in favor of exploration of the Moon and Mars, because it is a political initiative of prestige, which does not answer critical scientific questions.
Scientifically, it is not worth the risk and cost – Stamatis Krimizis points out at the end – because thanks to robotic spacecraft, Mars has been mapped better than the Earth itself.
In response to the common question of whether extraterrestrial life exists, he believes that there is biological activity in space, simply because of the size, as it is estimated that there are about 40 billion planets similar to Earth in our own Milky Way alone. The chances, therefore, that our Earth is unique within this unimaginable size are, in his opinion, zero.
I will close my report on this excellent update by the Academic Emeritus Professor by highlighting his special appreciation for the female gender. He disagrees with the term "manned" mission, because, as he explained, these are missions of people and not men. He even added that the Artemis II mission included the excellent Christina Koch, who was in his laboratory at Johns Hopkins from 2007 to 2009, and stood out for her dedication.
We thank the distinguished Academic Emeritus Professor Stamatis Krimizis for his valuable contribution to science, and the worthy representation of our country in this field, but also for his appreciation of women!
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