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.
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“The Moon Express 2017 mission approval is a landmark decision by the U.S. government and a pathfinder for private sector commercial missions beyond the Earth’s orbit”, said Moon Express co-founder & CEO, Bob Richards. Richards says they want to explore the moon because there’s trillions of dollars of resources that could benefit Earth.
That meant Moon Express had to promise to keep the government in the loop as the mission continued, to stay away from where the Apollo crew first walked on the moon 47 years ago and other previous landing sites, and that it would meet U.S. standards for planetary protection to avoid contaminating space with Earth germs.
If all goes according to plan, future Moon Express missions will help assess, extract and exploit lunar resources such as water ice, helping to launch a new era in space exploration, company representatives have said. MoonEx will launch their MX-1 lander atop a Rocket Lab Electron booster. The 47th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 moon landing was marked on July 20, 2016.
This marks the first time the federal state has granted approval for a private mission beyond Earth.
Moon Express had to wait for over a year to get approval for its 2017 moon landing.
“The FAA has determined that the launch of the payload does not jeopardize public health and safety, safety of property, USA national security or foreign policy interests, or global obligations of the United States”, the FAA said in a statement Wednesday.
As part of the agreement, NASA will advise, but not regulate, Moon Express activities on the lunar surface. The probe will be about the size of a suitcase, and will conduct its business on the lunar surface for two weeks. The Florida-based company was founded in 2010 to develop the moon’s resources.
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“It’s been a very steep mountain”, CEO and founder Bob Richards told Raw Story. Moon Express also makes plans for another mission in 2020 to bring home some lunar materials, The Guardian wrote.
