Dr Shane Bergin

So the Moon has resources on it that you could use to fuel a rocket or even build a rocket.

And if you can do that, you're able to launch material from its lower gravitational pull.

So most of the energy required to launch a rocket to Mars here from Earth

would be to get it out of the Earth's orbit in a huge gravitational pull.

The moon is much smaller, so therefore you weigh less on the moon, so it's easier to jump up and down or launch a rocket.

So you could use it as a staging post to go to Mars.

Yeah, absolutely.

We're not unique in having a moon.

Mars, that I mentioned, has two.

Jupiter and Saturn famously have tens of them.

Pluto, even little Pluto has a tiny moon.

But what's special about our moon is it's a whopper, right, relative to the size of the Earth.

It's also in a special place.

It's 400 times closer to the Earth than the sun, but it's also 400 times smaller in the sky than the sun.

So that means when one passes in front of the other, you have the perfect conditions for an eclipse.

And that's just completely random.

So we don't think eclipses happen on any other planets.

So it's just really special.

So the eclipse that people might be going chasing in Spain and other parts of Europe later this summer is a complete astronomical freak.

And thank goodness, because you're able to do great science and it looks really cool.