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What in the World
Who owns the Moon?
What in the World
Feb 23, 2024

American company Intuitive Machines has successfully landed its Odysseus robot near the lunar south pole. The US space agency Nasa had purchased room on it for six scientific instruments. It’s also carrying a box containing 125 small stainless steel balls or mini moons by the American artist Jeff Koons to be left there. There’s now hundreds of tonnes of human objects on the Moon - from old space boots and moon buggies to family photos and a javelin. There are also bags of vomit, urine and poo. It’s becoming a lunar junkyard.

Professor Jill Stuart from the London School of Economics explains the laws governing the moon and BBC journalist Daniel Dadzie tells us what’s up there and what people might take in future.

Also, two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, what’s life like as a student there? We hear from Vitalii Pashchenko, 21, Arina Stolbtsova, 21 and Yehor Olshevskiy, 17.

Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: William Lee Adams Producers: Julia Ross-Roy and Elena Angelides Researcher: Maria Clara Montoya Editors: Verity Wilde and Simon Peeks

More Episodes
Feb 5, 2025
USAID: Can the world live without it?

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is under fire. It is the world’s biggest donor and spends billions of dollars a year, funding programmes around the world, like fighting malaria in Bangladesh, clearing unexploded landmines in Cambodia and Laos and providing medical supplies in Sudan.

But President Trump says it is run by “radical lunatics” and he and billionaire Elon Musk, who’s got the job of trying to slash American government spending, want to shut it down. They have paused almost all international spending for 90 days and issued “stop work” orders to their staff. BBC journalist Nathalia Jimenez tells us what USAID does - and why the Trump administration wants to close it.

A large proportion of USAID funding goes towards healthcare and HIV medication in sub-Saharan Africa. Makuochi Okafor, the BBC’s Africa Health correspondent tells us what impact closing USAID could have in this region.

Anselm Gibbs, a BBC reporter based in Trinidad and Tobago, tells us about programmes USAID funds in the Caribbean. And Hilde Deman from Search for Common Ground, an international NGO that uses USAID funding in countries affected by violent conflict, talks about the impact to their work in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: William Lee Adams Producers: Benita Barden and Julia Ross-Roy Editor: Rosanna La Falce


13min 08sec




Who owns the Moon?

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