Space & Astronomy

Private firm gets approval for moon mission

By T.K. Randall
August 8, 2016

Image: Full Moon
Credit: Gregory H. Revera / CC BY-SA 3.0 (adapted) The ambitious venture, which aims to land on the moon next year, has finally received formal approval from the US government following a lengthy negotiation period.

Moon Express is one several contenders vying to win Google's Lunar X Prize, an international competition designed to send the first privately funded spacecraft to the moon.So far only two of the sixteen teams taking part have been given permission to launch.

Moon Express is also hoping to take things further with plans to launch a series of follow-up missions including a possible sample return mission by 2020.

"Even though we are a proud contender, it's neither a cornerstone of creating the business nor do we need to win it," said the company's CEO Bob Richards. "But we want to win it."


Source: The Verge

Tags: Moon Express