The spacecraft has yet to be manufactured or tested, as well as the rocket itself has never been flown, but has clearance from the government to send the spacecraft.
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Moon Express joined the contest in 2012, and there are now 16 other companies in the race.
Moon Express, based in Cape Canaveral, Florida, was founded in 2010.
The unprecedented interagency approval process was necessary for the simple reason that no serious request like Moon Express’s had ever been made.
Moon Express was able to get permission to land by submitting an application to the Federal Aviation Administration, which was then reviewed by the State Department, the Department of Defense, the Federal Communications Commission, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The landmark decision by the United States government will send a private company to deep space for the very first time.
The MX-1E spacecraft is a lander capable of making a transfer from the Earth to the Moon, make a soft landing on the lunar surface and perform post-landing “hops” in order to relocate itself. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty assigns responsibility for the space activities of private entities to the respective governments of the countries where the companies are based.
If Moon Express would be successful in its mission, it could pave the way for other companies to start mining the moon for resources such as iron ore, water, rare earths and precious metals.
Naveen Jian, co-founder and Chairman of Moon Express, believes that the moon could become an important part of the Earth’s economy in just 15 years. The mission will last two weeks and will use a suitcase-sized lander provided by Rocket Lab, another private aerospace company its in contract, which has yet to launch a rocket into orbit.
Only three countries had soft-landed on the moon – the USA, the Soviet Union and China – since the 1960s.
“Our goal is to not only bring back the resources from the moon for the benefit of humanity on Earth, but also as a destination we could colonize, which becomes a stepping stone for us to colonize Mars”, he said.
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“Space travel is our only path forward to ensure our survival and create a limitless future for our children”, commented company co-founder Naveen Jain in a statement. “We have a moon shot; it’s a real moon shot”.
