Lunar X Prize will award the space venture with $20 million if it successfully lands the spacecraft on the moon, makes it travel 500 meters across the surface and sends high-definition images back to Earth.
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The Moon Express probe mission to the Moon – called MX-1 – is being positioned to claim Google’s Lunar X-Prize.
The final approval for the mission came after consultation between several federal agencies – the FAA, White House, NASA and the State Department, Moon Express said.
The Florida-based company added that the approval begins “a new era of ongoing commercial lunar exploration and discovery, unlocking the vast potential of the moon’s valuable resources”. 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.
Moon Express has become the first private firm to win U.S. approval for an unmanned mission to the moon. With the green light, Moon Express will only have to ideal its spacecraft before launch; including addressing all challenges for its 2017 mission, The Verge reported.
While proposals to land on Mars must allay concerns about disturbing any possible life, the lifeless moon has nothing that Earth-borne microbes could hurt.
Moon Express joined the contest in 2012, and there are now 16 other companies in the race. In October 2015, Moon Express announced a launch contract with Rocket Lab USA for 3 launches to the Moon beginning in 2017. In 15 years, the moon will be an important part of Earth’s economy, and potentially our second home.
So far only government missions have flown spacecraft beyond the Earth’s orbit, with the Chinese completing the most recent visits to the moon. “There are a lot of things in the treaties we’re testing the limits of right now”, Henry Hertzfeld, a professor of space policy and worldwide affairs at George Washington University, told The New York Times’ Kenneth Chang.
“In the immediate future we envision bringing precious resources, metals and moon rocks back to Earth”, said Jain.
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“It’s certainly trailblazing”, said Bob Richards, Moon Express co-founder and CEO.
