Moon Mission

A Florida-based company is sending a robotic lander to the moon in 2017.

13:55 05 August 2016

Moon Express, a privately held Florida-based company, has won U.S. government permission to send a robotic lander to the moon next year for a two-week mission. This unprecedented move marks the first time that the country has cleared a private space mission to fly beyond Earth’s orbits.

 

Moon Express company founder and chief executive Bob Richards said that the mission’s plan include flying a suitcase-sized lander to the moon containing a number of science experiments and some commercial cargo and will beam back pictures and video to Earth.

 

The company, which is partnering with Nasa for this mission, plans to eventually provide commercial services to companies on Earth. Such move can pave the way for missions such as asteroid mining and space tourism.

 

Moon Express is among those competing for the Google Lunar X Prize, a $30 million prize aimed to “incentivise space entrepreneurs to create a new era of affordable access to the moon and beyond.”

 

In order to win, a private company must land safely on the surface of the moon, travel 500 metres on its surface and send two signals back to the Earth.

 

In its website, the company said: 'We believe it's critical for humanity to become a multi-world species and that our sister world, the moon, is an eighth continent holding vast resources than can help us enrich and secure our future,'

 

'The moon is unique in that its surface has remained relatively constant over billions of years.'