Many contestants in latest 'space race' to the moon

China, Japan, India, Europe, the US, and Russia are poised to probe Earth's satellite – some with the expectation of extracting lunar resources for national gain.

Any Space exploration into our solar system is IMO ultra cool. Mining on the moon makes perfect since to me if you can do it cheap enough. No environmental issues, unless you blow it up.

Others suggest that with the advent of the X Prize's $30 million purse for the first team to land a working rover on the moon, space races in the geopolitical sense will become increasingly obsolete or irrelevant as private industries find ways to make use of the moon's resources or service future lunar outposts.

Many contestants in latest 'space race' to the moon

Many of these programs are just talk with no budgets, Yet.

If we go there to mine, or for permanent bases for launching other missions into our solar system, to me is very exciting. First the Moon then to Mars, Then to Eropa!..woot woot