THE COMPANY THAT GET PERMISSION FOR MINING IN THE MOON

Moon Express — the California-based company with hopes of mining the Moon someday — has received full funding for its first trip to the lunar surface, slated for later this year. The company just raised $20 million in its most recent round of financing, and has raised over $45 million in total so far. That money will go toward launching Moon Express’s MX-1E lander, which will explore and take pictures of the Moon’s surface after launching on an experimental Electron rocket.

The company’s funding sources come from venture capital firms Founders Fund and Collaborative Fund, the software company Autodesk, and other private investors, according to Moon Express. “We now have all the resources in place to shoot for the Moon,” Moon Express CEO Bob Richards said in a statement. “Our goal is to expand Earth’s social and economic sphere to the Moon, our largely unexplored eighth continent, and enable a new era of low cost lunar exploration and development for students, scientists, space agencies and commercial interests.”

“OUR GOAL IS TO EXPAND EARTH’S SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SPHERE TO THE MOON, OUR LARGELY UNEXPLORED EIGHTH CONTINENT.”

Moon Express is one of the main contenders in the Google Lunar X Prize, an international competition to send the first private spacecraft to the Moon. One of the primary restrictions of the competition is that 90 percent of funding for each lunar mission has to come from private sources, and so far Moon Express seems to have met that requirement. Meanwhile, other key events have been falling into place for Moon Express. Last year, the company announced that it received approval for its mission from the Federal Aviation Administration, the first time a private company had ever received regulatory approval from the US government to go to the Moon.

Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket, which will carry the MX-1E lander.

The biggest piece of the puzzle that’s still missing is the rocket, however. The Electron that will launch the MX-1E lander is a brand-new vehicle manufactured by Rocket Lab, a US-based aerospace startup that plans to launch from New Zealand. The Electron is a rocket aimed at mostly launching small satellites, but it’s never been launched. Rocket Lab announced late last year that the Electron was ready for flight testing, but a date for the inaugural flight has yet to be announced.

THE DEADLINE TO GET TO THE MOON IS DECEMBER 31ST, 2017

The Google Lunar X Prize deadline to get to the Moon is December 31st, 2017, and the first team to land and explore the lunar surface will receive $20 million. Moon Express’ MX-1E lander is designed to launch into Earth orbit on the Electron and then fire its own engines, making a four-day trip to the Moon. Once it lands, it will explore by hopping across the surface, as well as take pictures and videos to send back to Earth. The lander will also carry scientific instruments, including payloads from NASA, the International Lunar Observatory, and the University of Maryland.

Meanwhile, Moon Express has many other ambitions beyond the MX-1E mission. Ultimately, the company wants to mine the Moon for resources, such as water that can be then repurposed for rocket fuel. Moon Express recently moved into Space Launch Complexes 17 and 18 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, where it will test out its MX-1E lander and future lunar spacecraft.