We are curre ntly in a time of unprecedented access to space, with mind-blowing satellit e constellations, a score of interplanetary probes and two continuously cre wed space stations. Yet in this flurry of activity there are intriguing ech oes of a long-gone era. Six decades ago, the Apollo project enthralled the world – today we are witnessing a new venture with ambitions that could har dly be more different from Apollo’s flags and footprints. Artemis aims to a chieve nothing less than a permanent human presence on the Moon. Join Fred Watson as he unpicks the past, present and future of lunar exploration in t his entertaining and copiously illustrated talk.
Fred Watson AM is an honorary professor of astronomy a dvocacy and engagement at Macquarie University. From 2018 to 2024, he was t he Australian Government’s first Astronomer-at-Large, having served for the previous 20 years as the Astronomer-in-Charge of the Australian Astronomic al Observatory and before that working at Britain’s two Royal Observatories . He led several projects in advanced astronomical instrumentation and spec troscopic surveys and today is involved in both the history and future of A ustralian astronomy. He is perhaps best known in Australia for his award-wi nning radio and TV broadcasts, books, music and dark-sky advocacy – and int ernationally for the Space Nuts podcast. Fred has an asteroid name d after him (5691 Fredwatson), but says that if it hits the Earth, it won't be his fault.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:We are curre ntly in a time of unprecedented access to space, with mind-blowing satellit e constellations, a score of interplanetary probes and two continuously cre wed space stations. Yet in this flurry of activity there are intriguing ech oes of a long-gone era. Six decades ago, the Apollo project enthralled the world – today we are witnessing a new venture with ambitions that could har dly be more different from Apollo’s flags and footprints. Artemis aims to a chieve nothing less than a permanent human presence on the Moon. Join Fred Watson as he unpicks the past, present and future of lunar exploration in t his entertaining and copiously illustrated talk.
Fred Watson AM is an honorary prof essor of astronomy advocacy and engagement at Macquarie University. From 20 18 to 2024, he was the Australian Government’s first Astronomer-at-Large, h aving served for the previous 20 years as the Astronomer-in-Charge of the A ustralian Astronomical Observatory and before that working at Britain’s two Royal Observatories. He led several projects in advanced astronomical inst rumentation and spectroscopic surveys and today is involved in both the his tory and future of Australian astronomy. He is perhaps best known in Austra lia for his award-winning radio and TV broadcasts, books, music and dark-sk y advocacy – and internationally for the Space Nuts podcast. Fred has an asteroid named after him (5691 Fredwatson), but says that if it hits the Earth, it won't be his fault.
DTSTAMP:20260923T211059 DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Sydney:20261001T193000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Sydney:20261001T213000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:OPAQUE END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR