European companies want to take spacecraft to the Moon in 2018

Private company PTScientists built two probes and plans to launch into the Moon on Elon Musk's SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket next year.

In the race to become the first private unit to land on the Moon, Europe's PTScientists created a landing module and two exploration vehicles, scheduled to be launched on the missile SpaceX Falcon 9 of billionaire Elon. Musk in 2018, according to the Telegraph.

The ground is programmed to land in the Taurus-Littrow valley. The probe will search for the vehicle of the Apollo 17 mission, left by the astronaut Gene Cernan, the last man on the moon in 1971. They want to check its current status.

PTScientist's moon exploration vehicle model.(Photo: Audi).

PTScientists announced a partnership with Vodafone Group to provide a connection between the probe and the Earth in this mission.

"This is the first decisive step for the sustainable discovery of the Solar System. In order for humanity to leave the Earth cradle, we need to develop alien infrastructure for us. With this mission, we will set up and test the first components of the Moon's dedicated communications network, "said Robert Boehme, managing director of PTScientists.

PTScientists developed the automatic landing vehicle (ALINA) and two exploration vehicles for 10 years. Solar-powered exploration vehicle developed by Audi, capable of moving on the Moon at 3.6km / hour. Each car is equipped with two stereoscopic cameras that can take 3D images, and a third camera with video recording and panoramic shooting functions.

ALINA also brings scientific experiments from US, Canadian and Swedish researchers.

"We will collect a lot of scientific data on the Moon. The high-speed connection information allows the cars to contact ALINA to send valuable data about the Earth , " said Karsten Becker, the truck driver. probe statement.

PTScientists faced fierce competition from four other companies to win Google's Lunar XPrize award . This is a $ 30 million prize competition for the first private group to have a probe to land on the Moon, then send videos and photos to Earth.