The United States government has granted a Mountain View, California-based company permission to launch a mission to the moon, the first time the government has allowed a company to conduct a commercial space mission beyond Earth’s orbit.
“We choose to go to the moon not because it’s easy, but because it’s a good business,” the founder and chairman of Moon Express, Naveen Jain, said on the company’s Facebook page.
Moon Express’ The MX-1 is about the size of a coffee table. It will be launched sometime in 2017 on an Electron rocket, a rocket currently being built by startup Rocket Lab.
The MX-1 will carry a scientific and commercial payload that includes cremated human remains. It will also transmit pictures and videos of the moon back to Earth.
The spacecraft is solar-powered and uses hydrogen peroxide as rocket fuel.
Its missions include mining for resources such as water and Helium-3. It can also serve as a refueling station for other satellites.
At the moment, commercial satellites have only gone as far as the geosynchronous orbit, about 22,000 miles above Earth.
Only three nation states -- the United States, the former Soviet Union and China -- have landed on the moon.
However, the permission granted to Moon Express does not guarantee access for other private companies to the moon. The company said its permission was a onetime deal and that all future requests will be reviewed case by case until new laws are passed.
