A company based in Florida, called Moon Express, obtained a permit from the US government to send a robotic probe to land on the moon next year. This is the first time in history that the country authorizes a private space mission beyond Earth orbit.
Currently, only the governments of the US, China and the former Soviet Union have sent equipment to the moon.
in a press release, the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA, for its acronym in English) announced that authorized the July 20 (day of the 47th anniversary of the first moon landing) Moon Express signature launch in future robotic probe capable of landing and move across the lunar surface. The approval granted it the agency after consultation with the White House, the State Department and NASA.
“The FAA has determined that the release of the probe does not endanger public health, safety persons and property, national or foreign policy or international obligations interests, “the agency said.
for Moon Express this is a small step on the way to the moon, but a big legal step for a sector begins to walk and may, in the not too distant future, allow mining of earth satellite for the generation of rocket fuel, clean or water.
“we are free to take off as scouts to Now ‘eighth continent’ of the Earth, the Moon, the search for new knowledge and resources to expand the economic sphere for the benefit of all humanity, “said Bob Richards, president of Moon Express, founded in 2010 and headquartered in Cape Canaveral in Florida.
the probe will take several scientific experiments and some commercial cargo on their trip to the lunar surface, including cremated human remains. It will also send back pictures and video to Earth, the company said.
International Treaty
The authorization of the FAA is the first serious application for private sphere of the outer space Treaty, an agreement nearly half a century that determines its international character, without demarcated sovereignty, space.
the treaty says that “the activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision of the states of this treaty “.
in 1967, when the Soviets and Americans pushed this agreement in a struggle for space hegemony, no possibility of private companies in space, something that Washington is promoting subsidies and deregulation envisaged.
the administrative achievement of Moon Express you about the possibility proclaimed winner by the end of 2017, the challenge launched Google in 2007, the Lunar X Prize, which seeks ideas capable of landing on the moon, sending images and moving on the surface over 500 meters.
the winning team of the 16 remaining in the competition, it will take 20 million dollars for the project that Moon Express hopes to carry out within a year, although it has not completed the probe or the rocket that must be put into orbit.
Inspiring the impossible
Naveen Jain, president of Moon Express, paraphrased late President John F. Kennedy to ensure that they have chosen to go to the moon “not because it easy, but because it is good business “.
he explained in an interview with the news channel US, CNBC in a decade hope to start sending manned missions to the natural satellite, something that was done last over 40 years
ago. “I hope to land on the Moon inspire entrepreneurs around the world to rush to attempt the impossible, to cure cancer (…) you see that an immigrant can come to this country and get something totally crazy, “said Jain, of Indian origin and who made his fortune in the dot-com bubble.
Moon Express believes that once dominated the movement to the Moon company you can launch missions inexpensive to extract platinum or helium-3, a rare isotope in the satellite on paper may be the energy source of clean fusion, but whose viability remains the stuff of science fiction.
the removal of barriers to travel to Earth satellite by private initiative is another project of the US administration to encourage space activities.
After several years of experimentation, subsidies and deregulation, two private companies , SpaceX and Orbital ATK, have managed to successfully perform missions supplies to the International Space Station.
in addition, in November, President Barack Obama signed the so-called Law of Commercial Space Launch, with which it is allowed US citizens to claim ownership of asteroids if they are able to exploit them.
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