American private company takes spacecraft to the Moon

According to Fox News, the private space company Moon Express will launch the small spacecraft MX-1 onto the lunar surface in 2015. The ship is not large enough to carry people, but soil samples can be collected. Stone to bring back to Earth.

Picture 1 of American private company takes spacecraft to the Moon
Illustration of the MX-1 spaceship - (Photo: Space.com)

Moon Express said Moon land contains a lot of precious metals like titanium and platinum. Therefore, the company plans to exploit resources on the Moon. It is expected that the MX-1 will fly to the Moon in 2015 and return to Earth with rock samples by 2020.

Most likely the MX-1 landed in the southern hemisphere of the Moon, near where the Surveyor 7 landed in 1968.

Moon Express is a company founded by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and former American astronauts. The company is also hosting the Google Lunar X Prize with Google and a number of other companies to encourage private firms to bring self-propelled spacecraft to the Moon.

In addition to Moon Express, a number of other private companies have also expressed their ambition to exploit resources on the Moon. Among them is Astrobotic Technology.