Moon Express, the private company that wants to exploit the moon
In the United States, the government has given the green light to a private company, Moon Express, that wants to make money on the moon. That would be MX-1, a lander scheduled for launch in 2017.
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It was founded in August 2010 by Bob Richards, Naveen Jain and Barney Bell. Moon Express The company plans to launch the MX-1 small lander in 2017, the main purpose of which is to search for resources that can be used for commercial purposes. This project has just received official authorization from the government and the Federal Aviation Administration (Federal Aviation Administration).
The decision was made possible by space law. This law, passed in 2015, allows private investors (from the United States) to allocate resources extracted from the Moon or any other body in the solar system. Until now, commercial space companies were limited to operations in Earth orbit, and nations could only send missions to other planets.
The Google Lunar X Prize is in focus
Meanwhile, if Moon Express can launch a lander and land on the moon's surface, the private company will want to receive the $30 million (€27 million) contributed by the private company. Google Lunar X Award. As the X Prize Foundation explains on its website InternetInternetMany private companies from all over the world are participating in this competition, such as Team Italia and its Amalia project.
But it is more common on the moon, for those who have personal preferences, a robotic rover capable of performing more missions, noticeably affecting a park of 500 meters and transmitting videos, images and other donations. the earth. However, the Moon Express MX-1 is just a lander without wheels. Regardless, the private company plans to use its small capacity DefensesDefenses So he can cover these basic 500 meters very quickly.
Moon Express as a scout
There is no doubt that it will one day be necessary to exploit the Moon, given the resources it contains and the exhaustion of our own. Gerard O'Neill (physicalphysical (who developed the theory of space colonization) estimated that three million tons of material could be extracted, in addition to, in particular, one million tons of materialHeliumHelium-3 (The desired item, which is sometimes presented asenergyenergy future) and many other rare elements on Earth.
The idea of exploiting the Moon's resources is not new, and Moon Express is not the only company interested in it. Examples are Deep Space Industrie (Luxembourg) or American Planetary Resources. It's not stupid but it's very premature. The necessary technologies, although some exist, are not mature or cheap enough.