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.
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.
