NEWS BRIEF In a space first, the US government gave approval Wednesday for a private company to fly beyond Earth’s orbit and land on the moon in 2017.
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The six-year-old company, founded by entrepreneurs Bob Richards, Naveen Jain and Barney Pell and based in Cape Canaveral, said that it is the first private company to receive approval to exit Earth’s orbit.
If everything goes according to plan, in 2017 a rocket that cost Moon Express “under $5 million” will launch its small lander, which Jain says is about four to five feet in diameter.
According to the company, future Moon Express missions will help in assessing, extracting and exploiting resources on the moon, such as water ice, and help launch a new era in space exploration. Moon Express’ planned moon voyage will be a first in space history, as no private space company had ever attempted to leave Earth’s orbit.
It has been several decades since NASA has last landed on the moon, citing a lack of resources and a dearth of information yet to learn about the earth’s satellite.
The vision of Moon Express is to start commercial lunar exploration. Moon Express now has a big leg up on competitors, since they actually have permission to venture out past Earth’s orbit, but with the government taking that step, others will surely follow-we’ll just have to see who actually pulls it off. If successful, Moon Express will be the fourth entity to land on the moon (the first three were the United States, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and China).
They still need to build and test its spacecraft which needs to be able to perform specific tasks to win the $30 million Google Lunar X-Prize competition.
This image provided by Moon Express on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2015 shows an illustration of the company’s landing vehicle on the surface of Earth’s moon.
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The approval, granted by the Federal Aviation Administration, has set a precedent for private companies who want to make their own expeditions to the moon, asteroids, and even to Mars. Moon Express was forced to get a regulatory “patch” and allow the government to directly oversee the flight.
