Africa’s first Moon mission is South African-led, and local expertise slashed the cost

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For more than 13 years, Dr Carla Mitchell has chased a dream she once believed belonged to Americans and NASA. Now she is leading Africa’s first space exploration mission to the moon in 2029. Africa2Moon will ride on China’s Chang’e 8 lander and deploy three 30 centimetre antennas, fondly known as BALLS, to pick up low frequency radio waves that our atmosphere blocks from Earth. A mission that should have cost more than $100 million is now expected to cost less than half a million dollars,…