Wendy Zukerman

So it's looking like the so-called lunar gold rush is more like a lunar gold bust.

So what's the point of going to the moon?

Well, some people say that we've got to go back to the moon so that we can get to Mars.

And to find out if that's true, we called up Nicole Zellner.

She's a professor of physics at Albion College in Michigan.

And Nicole is very excited about getting us to the red planet.

Well, humans have explored for all of humanity.

And Mars is intriguing as just the next step in human exploration.

Now, technically speaking, you don't have to go to the moon to go to Mars.

We can fly direct.

In fact, that's what Elon Musk is planning to do with SpaceX.

But Nicole says that doesn't mean the moon is useless here.

NASA released this big report about their plans for the moon, and it actually does have to do with Mars, but not to use it as a launch pad.

Their idea is to use it as a training ground for Mars.

which Nicole says makes a lot of sense.

You're not going to climb Mount Everest on a whim, right?

You're going to climb somewhere in the Catskills first, and then you're going to work your way up into higher and higher elevations.

You're going to train for that Mount Everest trip.

And you can think about Mars being the Mount Everest for now.

This is because Mars is so much further away than the moon.