We’re going back to the moon.
Spaceflight venture Moon Express just became the first private company to receive approval from the U.S. government to land on the moon in 2017.
The company plans to use its unmanned robotic spacecraft to discover new resources on the moon’s surface, and potentially find ways to use them on Earth. Moon Express also hopes to make advancements in science, technology, travel and the economy — and eventually help “make man a multi-world species.”
“This is not only a milestone, but really a threshold for the entire commercial space industry,” Bob Richards, CEO and co-founder, told Space.com.
The moon is known to be home to a vast supply of iron ore, water and helium-3, which is a gas that can be used in future fusion reactors to generate nuclear power without radioactive waste. The moon also has a lot of rare Earth minerals and metals. Some of these resources can be valued at trillions of dollars, according to experts.
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.
“Took some time, not because anybody was against or averse to this,” Richards said. “It’s just that we asked questions that had never been asked before, and that had to be addressed and worked out.”
In order to get to the moon, Moon Express will get help from Google’s Lunar X Prize and other organizations. 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.
Other agencies and organizations that will financially help Moon Express on its mission include the International Lunar Observatory, Celestis and the University of Maryland in partnership with the National Laboratories of Frascati, Italy. NASA could potentially join the list of payloads.
Aside from the images and video that the spacecraft will be sending back to Earth, Richards said he also plans to set up a “mooncam” online so that anyone can tune in to see what the moon’s surface looks like.
The mission is set to take place toward the second half of 2017 and will either launch from Moon Express’ Space Launch Complex 17 and 18 in Cape Canaveral or at Rocket Lab’s launch site in New Zealand.
