Moon Express Approved For Private Lunar Landing In 2017, A Space First

hoichi

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http://www.space.com/33632-moon-express-private-lunar-landing-approval.html

For the first time ever, a private company has permission to land on the moon.
The U.S. government has officially approved the planned 2017 robotic lunar landing of Florida-based Moon Express, which aims to fly commercial missions to Earth's nearest neighbor and help exploit its resources, company representatives announced today (Aug. 3).


"This is not only a milestone, but really a threshold for the entire commercial space industry," Moon Express co-founder and CEO Bob Richards told Space.com. [Images: Moon Express' Private Lunar Lander]


Previously, companies had been able to operate only on or around Earth. The new approval, while exclusive to Moon Express, could therefore serve as an important regulatory guide for deep-space commercial activity in general, Richards said.
moon-express-lunar-lander-moon-journey.jpg
moon-express-lunar-lander-moon-journey.jpg



Artist's concept of Moon Express' MX-1 lunar lander on its way to the moon.
Credit: Moon Express
"Nobody's had a deep-sea voyage yet. We're still charting those waters," he said. "Somebody had to be first."
Moon Express submitted an application to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on April 8. The document then made its way through the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Federal Communications Commission, Richards said.


The interagency approval process "took some time, not because anybody was against or averse to this," he said. "It's just that we asked questions that had never been asked before, and that had to be addressed and worked out."
Moon Express can now focus exclusively on the financial and technical challenges of the 2017 moon mission, which will begin with the launch of the company's MX-1 lander atop a Rocket Lab Electron booster. (Moon Express signed a multilaunch deal with Rocket Lab last year.)





The main goal of the maiden launch is to test out the MX-1's performance and capability on the lunar surface. Moon Express representatives also hope to win the Google Lunar X-Prize, a $30 million competition to land a privately funded robotic vehicle on the moon by the end of 2017.
The first team to pull off this landing — and get the vehicle to move at least 1,640 feet (500 meters) on the lunar surface, and beam high-definition video and photos back to Earth — will win the $20 million grand prize. (The second team to achieve all of this gets $5 million, and another $5 million is available for meeting other milestones. At the moment, 16 teams remain in the running.)
"We're still shooting for the end of 2017," Richards said of the maiden MX-1 moon mission. "A lot has to go right, but at least we have a shot at our moon shot, given this regulatory approval."


If all goes according to plan, future Moon Express missions will help assess, extract and exploit lunar resources such as water ice, helping to launch a new era in space exploration, company representatives have said.
"Space travel is our only path forward to ensure our survival and create a limitless future for our children," Moon Express co-founder and Chairman Naveen Jain said in a statement today. "In the immediate future, we envision bringing precious resources, metals and moon rocks back to Earth. In 15 years, the moon will be an important part of Earth’s economy, and potentially our second home."
 
Curious... while registration for vehicles to travel are required and air space is controled... would governments be able to halt exploration of other plants by private companies...
No nation or person can own parts of other plants so... the moon is not owned nor can it be... but governments could keep them from flying to them... hmm
 
Curious... while registration for vehicles to travel are required and air space is controlled... would governments be able to halt exploration of other plants by private companies...
No nation or person can own parts of other plants so... the moon is not owned nor can it be... but governments could keep them from flying to them... hmm

the nations could control if you're allowed to come back into their air space..or not,
or once you break the law what ever it is, then wait for you to come back and off to the joint you go..


as for the moon of course very soon everyone who can will be up there doing the same they do down here...
who gets the most weapons and people to the moon first will be the ones who stake claim
like it goes down here..

with moon they have no natives to kill so will go much much easier, in that respect
 
the nations could control if you're allowed to come back into their air space..or not,
or once you break the law what ever it is, then wait for you to come back and off to the joint you go..


as for the moon of course very soon everyone who can will be up there doing the same they do down here...
who gets the most weapons and people to the moon first will be the ones who stake claim
like it goes down here..

with moon they have no natives to kill so will go much much easier, in that respect
No but there is an international tready that was written in the...60s (? Years ago forget the actual time it was written is was around the time that space travel was fully realized) and this is covered... while it may not mean a hill of beans for treaties are infringed often... no nation or private persons can own a part of another planet.... however asteroids and other bodies that would be more profitable are free game... I do not think those were covered...
 
international treaty where writing for all kinds of places that got conquered regardless.
dont expect any treaty to hold any one back form using the moon for their advantage

why not?

why cant anyone or nation own a piece of another planet?
we own pieces of other lands

until green men show up to fight us for it


its ours
 
sure but thats not what my statement is about

you can find a number of treaties that were written up for what became canada too

this didn't do nothing in regards to preventing the conquest so i doubt some paper at nasa will stop putin number 5..doing what he wants up there...if they have the guns and will to do it

like the law of nature down here.
stop me if you can
 
Truth and this is actually through the UN but I do understand what you are saying and even mentioned that treaties are infringed all the time... look at the natives... how well did treaties work for them... scotland? ... yeah ... they do not work... but it does permit the option of war which is sadly way too profitable for some...
 
yep
only a matter of time before we are fighting up there.
as we do down here..

as we will where ever we as a species go
 
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