USA startup company Moon Express said Wednesday it had received approval from the government to send an unmanned lander to the moon next year, in a first for private industry. They have gained the approval from our government for the 2017 planned robotic lunar landing.
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In December 2013 China landed a rover on the moon as part of its Chang’e-3 mission – the first “soft” landing on the Moon since 1976. Bob Richards, the CEO and co-founder of Moon-Express has stated that this is a threshold for commercial space industry. Bob Richards, dot com entrepreneur Naveen Jain and technology developer Dr. Barney Pell. Aside from hopefully establishing commercial space travel, the trio also wants to help solve the nation’s energy crisis with help from the moon. He stated that they will bring precious resources, metals and moon rocks back to earth.
The federal government will permit a USA startup to send a robotic spacecraft to the moon next year, paving the way for the company to be the first non-government organization to land on the moon.
The agency granted a “favorable payload determination” for Moon Express, a privately funded commercial space company based in Moffett Field, Calif., to launch its coffee-table-sized robotic MX-1E spacecraft.
Unfortunately, this is not a precedent-setting case.
Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native.
Moon Express submitted its request in April to the Federal Aviation Administration, which made a favorable determination on 20 July, according to an FAA fact sheet.
A lunar exploration company received government approval Wednesday to launch a commercial unmanned mission to the moon sometime next year.
These deadlines are crucial for Moon Express, hearing win the Google Lunar X Prize. Moon Express hopes to ultimately set up a mining operation on the lunar surface to harvest valuable natural resources that are in short supply on Earth.
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Regardless, the initial approval highlights the regulatory process that other companies will likely have to undergo, and is no doubt of interest to the likes of SpaceX, Boeing, Orbital ATK, and other private companies. The government is working on fixing that, but for now Moon Express managed to get around the problem by sharing more information about its goals and plans than the government asked for.
