Space exploration fans, we’ve got some exciting news. A US company has just become the first private entity to be given permission to land on the Moon, something they hope to achieve next year.
The company is called Moon Express, and they’re planning to send a small unmanned lander called MX-1E to the Moon in late 2017. They already have a launch contract to do this with a company called Rocket Lab, but getting approval for the landing was a major hurdle.
Moon Express is attempting to land on the Moon as part of the Google Lunar XPRIZE, a race between 16 private companies to land an unmanned rover on the Moon and have it travel across the surface. Only one of the other teams, Israeli-based SpaceIL, also has a launch contract at the moment. The remaining 14 teams have until December 31 this year to come up with a launch contract to be eligible to take part. Moon Express hopes to do this by “hopping” across the surface, although further details are few and far between at the moment. This is the same method favored by SpaceIL, who are also hoping to launch next year, on a SpaceX rocket.
Credits:
http://www.iflscience.com/space/private-company-given-permission-land-on-moon-first-time/
Moon Express is attempting to land on the Moon as part of the Google Lunar XPRIZE, a race between 16 private companies to land an unmanned rover on the Moon and have it travel across the surface. Only one of the other teams, Israeli-based SpaceIL, also has a launch contract at the moment. The remaining 14 teams have until December 31 this year to come up with a launch contract to be eligible to take part. Moon Express hopes to do this by “hopping” across the surface, although further details are few and far between at the moment. This is the same method favored by SpaceIL, who are also hoping to launch next year, on a SpaceX rocket.
Credits:
http://www.iflscience.com/space/private-company-given-permission-land-on-moon-first-time/
No comments:
Post a Comment