If you’ve been wondering when the first private companies will start launching missions to the moon, it looks like the answer for one company is committing to sending not one, but at least 3 missions up in 2017. Moon Express, a company based in California, has signed a multi-launch deal with Rocket Lab, whose rockets will blast the Moon Express MX-1 Lunar Lander into space.
An amazing article on Space.com gets into all of the details of the deal:
California-based company Moon Express, which aims to fly commercial missions to the moon and help unlock its resources, has signed a five-launch deal with Rocket Lab, with the first two robotic liftoffs scheduled to take place in 2017.
These uncrewed launches — three of which are firmly on the books, with the other two optional at the moment — will blast Moon Express’ MX-1 lander into space aboard Rocket Lab’s 52.5-foot-tall (16 meters) Electron rocket. The goal is to test out the MX-1 and its systems, making sure the spacecraft can land softly on the moon, move about the lunar surface, grab samples and return them to Earth.
“The holy grail of our company is to provide, to prove, a full-services capability — not just landing, but coming back from the moon,” said Moon Express co-founder and CEO Bob Richards, who announced the new launch deal today (Oct. 1) at the Space Technology & Investment Summit in San Francisco.
The contract puts Moon Express in position to possibly win the Google Lunar X Prize, a $30 million competition to land a privately funded robotic spacecraft on the moon by the end of 2017. The first team to do this — and have the craft move 1,640 feet (500 m) and beam high-definition video and images back to Earth as well — will win the $20 million grand prize. (The second team to accomplish these goals gets $5 million; another $5 million is available for meeting certain other milestones.)
Three of the launches are “on the books,” and the two additional launches will be held in reserve in case they are needed. For more details, check out this great and informative article on the Space.com website.
Source: Space.com – “Private Moon Landing Set for 2017“
Featured Image Credit: Moon Express