Moon Express (MoonEx), is an American privately held early stage company formed by a group of Silicon Valley and space entrepreneurs, with the goal of ultimately mining the Moon for natural resources of economic value.
Video Moon Express
History
In August 2010, Robert D. Richards, Naveen Jain, and Barney Pell co-founded Moon Express, a Mountain View, California-based company that plans to offer commercial lunar robotic transportation and data services with a long-term goal of mining the Moon for resources, including elements that are rare on Earth, including niobium, yttrium and dysprosium. Moon Express based itself at the NASA Ames Research Center from 2010 to 2015, and the company announced its relocation to Florida's Cape Canaveral in 2015.
On June 30, 2011, the company held its first successful test flight of a prototype lunar lander system called the Lander Test Vehicle (LTV) that was developed in partnership with NASA.
On September 11, 2011, Moon Express announced that it had set up a robotics lab for a lunar probe named the "Moon Express Robotics Lab for INnovation" (MERLIN) and hired several engineering students who had successfully competed at the FIRST Robotics Competition.
In mid-2012, Moon Express announced that it will work with International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) to put a shoebox-sized astronomical telescope on the Moon. Additional details were released in July 2013, including that there would be two telescopes: a 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) radio telescope as well as an optical telescope. The preferred location is 5 kilometers (3.1 mi)-high Malapert crater, with plans to land the mission no earlier than 2018.
By 2012, MoonEx had 20 employees. In December 2012, MoonEx acquired one of the other Google Lunar X-Prize teams, Rocket City Space Pioneers, from Dynetics for an undisclosed sum. The new agreement makes Tim Pickens, the former lead of the RCSP team, the Chief Propulsion Engineer for MoonEx.
In September 2013, MoonEx added Paul Spudis as Chief Scientist and Jack Burns as Science Advisory Board Chair.
In October and November, 2013, Moon Express successfully conducted several free flight tests of its flight software utilizing the NASA Mighty Eagle lander test vehicle, under a Reimbursable Space Act Agreement with the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.
In December 2013, MoonEx unveiled the MX-1 lunar lander, a toroidal robotic lander that uses high-test hydrogen peroxide as its rocket propellant to support vertical landing on the lunar surface.
On April 30, 2014 NASA announced that Moon Express Inc. was one of the three companies selected for the Lunar CATALYST initiative.
The Moon Express "MX-1" spacecraft is designed to be launched as a secondary payload and to fly to the Moon from GEO.
In December 2014, Moon Express successfully conducted flight tests of its "MTV-1X" lander test vehicle at the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility, becoming the first private company (and GLXP team) to demonstrate a commercial lunar lander.
In October 2015, Moon Express announced a launch contract with Rocket Lab to launch three Moon Express robotic spacecraft to land on the Moon, with two launches manifested in 2017, utilizing an Electron launch vehicle.
In July 2016, Moon Express announced it would be taking over Cape Canaveral Launch Complexes 17 and 18 as its new permanent home.
On July 20, 2016, the Federal Aviation Administration approved Moon Express plans for a mission to deliver commercial payloads to the Moon in late 2017, making Moon Express the first private company to receive government approval for a commercial space mission beyond traditional Earth orbit under the requirements of the Outer Space Treaty.
On July 12, 2017, Moon Express unveiled the robotic rocket architecture and plans for regular deliveries to the Moon and back.
On October 31, 2017 NASA announced that the Lunar CATALYST agreement had been extended for 2 years.
Maps Moon Express
Legal regime for lunar resource extraction
Although the requisite legal regime to enable mining of lunar resources is not fully in place, major world space agencies, including NASA, have put in place a coordination framework for encouraging the type of commercial activity proposed by Moon Express.
"Entrepreneurs are thinking about further commercial expansion into space. As space exploration extends to the Moon and Mars, there will be potential opportunities for companies to provide ... space-based resource extraction and processing capabilities. For example, Moon rocks are rich in oxygen that might be exploited to provide life support systems for lunar operations. Liquid oxygen can also be used as a rocket propellant - and it might be more economical to manufacture it in space than to lift it off the Earth. Mining the Moon might also yield titanium - a strong but light metal favoured for high-end aerospace applications. Finally, the Moon's known abundance of Helium-3 could prove valuable if fusion reactors ever become feasible in the future.
"For business to be confident about investing, it needs the certainty of a long-term commitment to space exploration, the opportunity to introduce its ideas into government thinking, and the rule of law. This means common understanding on such difficult issues as property rights and technology transfer. The Coordination Mechanism foreseen as part of the Global Exploration Strategy will provide a forum to discuss these important issues."
The views of Moon Express on the legal and political realities of lunar resource utilization were articulated in an April 2011 Los Angeles Times article where Naveen Jain was interviewed:
The idea of exploiting the Moon's resources for private gain is not likely to be a concern, Jain said. The United States, he said, 'has already brought back Moon rocks to our country without any other country fighting war over it.' 'I also think that the Moon will be treated no differently than the international water in our oceans,' he added. 'In this case, no one really owns the water but any company or country can mine the resources ... from the international water as long as they follow certain safety/moral guidelines.' Jain also noted that 'there is strong legal precedent and consensus of 'finders keepers' for resources that are liberated through private investment, and the same will be true on the Moon. You don't have to own land to have ownership of resources you unlock from it. Moon Express will use existing precedents of peaceful presence and exploration set by the U.S. government 40 years ago.'
The Outer Space Treaty of 1967, ratified by 100 nations, including the United States, forbids countries from claiming sovereignty over any part of the Moon, but does not prevent private companies from building or staking claims on the Moon. Mining could fall under similar legal parameters as fishing in international waters.
On May 23, 2017, the Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness held a hearing titled, "Reopening the American Frontier: Exploring How the Outer Space Treaty Will Impact American Commerce and Settlement in Space." This hearing examined U.S. government obligations under the Outer Space Treaty on its 50th anniversary, specifically compliance with Article VI of the Treaty that requires governments to authorize and continually supervise the activities of non-government entities. This hearing also explored the Treaty's potential impacts on expansion of the nation's commerce and settlement in space. Bob Richards testified in this hearing with other commercial space proponents.
Mission plans
Initial contract
Moon Express has signed a NASA contract for data purchase that could be worth up to US$10,000,000. Moon Express is also partnered with NASA through a Reimbursable Space Act Agreement that allowed Moon Express to invest over $500K into the commercialization of technology developed by NASA.
Robotic spacecraft
All Moon Express robotic spacecraft are environmentally green, use eco-friendly fuels, advanced carbon composites and silicates and a Moon Express PECO rocket engine. The PECO main engine uses (unknown) as a fuel and hydrogen peroxide as an oxidiser. The reusable landing thrusters use hydrogen peroxide as a monopropellant.
MX-1 - A single engine robotic spacecraft. The MX-1 has a 30 kg payload capacity.
MX-2 - A two-stage robotic spacecraft with a 30 kg payload capacity.
MX-5 - A 5-engine, platform configuration that can include MX-1 or MX-2 staged system. The MX-5 has a 150 kg payload capacity.
MX-9 - A 9-engine platform configuration, designed for sample return. The MX-9 has over a 500 kg payload capacity.
Rocket
On 30 September 2015, Moon Express signed a rocket launch contract with Rocket Lab, a New Zealand startup company. Under the launch services contract, Rocket Lab will use its Electron rocket system to launch three missions. Two launches are for 2018, with the third to be scheduled at a later date.
Google Lunar XPRIZE
The company is also a competitor in the Google Lunar X Prize. As of October 2015, there are 16 teams competing for the Google Lunar XPRIZE, two of which have launch contracts for 2017 (now 2018) (SpaceIL and Moon Express). This prize will award $20 million to the first team to put a robotic spacecraft on the Moon and deliver data, images and video from the landing site and 500 meters away. As of February 2017, five teams are still in the competition. As of August 2017, they were fully funded for their Moonshot.
On January 23, 2018, X Prize founder and chairman Peter Diamandis stated "After close consultation with our five finalist Google Lunar X Prize teams over the past several months, we have concluded that no team will make a launch attempt to reach the moon by the March 31, 2018, deadline.".
Other mission plans
In addition to participation in the Google Lunar XPRIZE, with a planned "maiden technology demonstrator flight" in 2015, MoonEx is planning to place the International Lunar Observatory (ILO) on the Moon as early as 2018. The plan calls for placement of both a 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) radio telescope as well as an optical telescope at the South Pole of the Moon. The preferred location, as of July 2013 is 5 kilometers (3.1 mi)-high Malapert crater.
First mission planned is the Lunar Scout expedition. This is a technology demonstration flight that will include payloads including the International Lunar Observatory, "MoonLight" by the INFN National Laboratories of Frascati and the University of Maryland, a Celestis memorial flight and the attempt to win the $20M Google Lunar XPRIZE.
Second mission is the Lunar Outpost expedition. This mission will include developing a permanent lunar outpost on the Moon.
Third mission, Harvest Moon, will be a sample return mission.
See also
- Exogeology
- Geology of the Moon
- Lunar water
- NewSpace
References
- Brown, Eryn (December 9, 2011). "Shooting for the Moon -- to mine it". L.A. Times. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
- Chow, Denise (November 14, 2011). "A 'Mine in the Sky': Moon Express Co-Founder's Lunar Ambitions". Space.com. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
Further reading
- Calandrelli E, Escher A (16 December 2016). "The top 15 events that happened in space in 2016". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
External links
- Moon Express official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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