020: Sublime Hubris and Existential Dread in the Return to the Moon

Only Radha could find the glorious spectacle of space flight ‘meh.’ Luckily for Tobias, I write these blurbs. Artemis II went round the moon and back and only one year off plan. Is this the kick-off for a new space race?

If it is, it’s a very different flavour than the last one. Gone are the cultural politics preceding the ‘end of history.’ This race is all about who gets to set the terms of the coming cislunar economy that the world’s largest economies are setting their clocks to. 

Links:

• Great Britain households to be urged to use more power this summer as renewables soar, The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/14/uk-households-power-renewables-soar
• France investigates suspected tampering with weather sensors after Polymarket bets, CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/23/europe/france-weather-sensor-polymarket-bet-intl-latam
• Waymo Has a Bike Lane Problem. Futurism: https://futurism.com/future-society/waymo-bike-lanes-traffic
• Maui County passes historic law to phase out thousands of vacation rentals, Hawai’i Public Radio: https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/local-news/2025-12-16/maui-county-passes-historic-law-to-phase-out-thousands-of-vacation-rentals
• Artemis II mission was a triumph. Now comes the hard part, BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj0v119zp19o