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Moon Express (MoonEx; vehicle model prefix: MX) is an American privately held company formed in 2010 by a group of Silicon Valley and space entrepreneurs. It had the goal of winning the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize, and of ultimately mining the Moon for natural resources of economic value.[1][2] The company was not able to make a launch attempt to reach the Moon by March 31, 2018, the deadline for the prize.
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Aerospace |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Headquarters | Cape Canaveral, FL 32920 |
Key people | Robert D. Richards, Naveen Jain, Barney Pell |
| Website | moonexpress |
Since late 2018, and as of February 2020[update], Moon Express focused on supporting NASA under its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contract.[3]
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In August 2010,[4] Robert D. Richards,[5] Naveen Jain,[6] and Barney Pell co-founded Moon Express, a Mountain View, California-based company that plans to offer commercial lunar robotic transportation and data services with a long-term goal of mining the Moon for resources,[7] including elements that are rare on Earth, including niobium, yttrium and dysprosium.[1][8]
Beginning in 2010, Moon Express based itself at the NASA Ames Research Center. Moon Express and NASA signed a contract in October 2010[9] for data purchase that could be worth up to US$10,000,000.[1][10]
On June 30, 2011, the company held its first successful test flight of a prototype lunar lander system called the Lander Test Vehicle (LTV) that was developed in partnership with NASA.[5] On September 11, 2011, Moon Express set up a robotics lab for a lunar probe named the "Moon Express Robotics Lab for INnovation" (MERLIN) and hired several engineering students who had successfully competed at the FIRST Robotics Competition.
In mid-2012, Moon Express started work with the International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) to put a shoebox-sized astronomical telescope called International Lunar Observatory on the Moon.[11]
By 2012, MoonEx had 20 employees, and in December 2012, MoonEx acquired one of the other Google Lunar X-Prize teams, Rocket City Space Pioneers, from Dynetics for an undisclosed sum. The agreement made Tim Pickens, the former lead of the RCSP team, the Chief Propulsion Engineer for MoonEx.[12] In September 2013, MoonEx added Paul Spudis as Chief Scientist and Jack Burns as Science Advisory Board Chair.[13]
In October and November 2013, Moon Express conducted several free flight tests of its flight software utilizing the NASA Mighty Eagle lander test vehicle, under a Reimbursable Space Act Agreement with the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.[14] One month later, in December 2013, MoonEx unveiled the MX-1 lunar lander, a toroidal robotic lander that uses high-test hydrogen peroxide as its rocket propellant to support vertical landing on the lunar surface.[15] On April 30, 2014 NASA announced that Moon Express was one of the three companies selected for the Lunar CATALYST initiative.[16]
By December 2014, Moon Express successfully conducted flight tests of its "MTV-1X" lander test vehicle at the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility, becoming the first private company (and GLXP team) to demonstrate a commercial lunar lander test.[17]
In 2015, the company announced that it would lease part of Florida's Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36 for 5 years, and relocate operations there.[18] In July 2016, Moon Express stated it would leave LC 36 and be taking over Cape Canaveral Launch Complexes 17 and 18.[19]
On July 20, 2016, the Federal Aviation Administration approved Moon Express plans for a mission to deliver commercial payloads to the Moon, making Moon Express the first private company to receive government approval for a commercial space mission beyond traditional Earth orbit under the requirements of the Outer Space Treaty.[20][21]
On October 31, 2017, NASA extended the no-funds Space Act Agreement with Moon Express, for the Lunar CATALYST initiative, for 2 more years.[22]
On July 12, 2018, both historic launch towers at Space Launch Complex 17 were demolished via controlled demolition to make way for Moon Express facilities to test its lunar lander.[23] That month, Moon Express was unable to make payroll and laid off nine employees; the employees did not receive back-pay until October 2018.[24]
In October 2018, the company signed several collaboration agreements with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and a number of Canadian aerospace companies.[25]
On November 29, 2018, Moon Express joined the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program of NASA, becoming eligible to bid on delivering science and technology payloads to the Moon for NASA.[26][27]
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The company was a competitor in the Google Lunar X Prize.[28] The prize was an award of $30 million to the first team to land a robotic spacecraft on the Moon and deliver data, images and video from the landing site and from 500 meters away from its landing site.[6]
Moon Express signed a contract with Rocket Lab on 30 September 2015 for three Electron launches of Moon Express robotic spacecraft in pursuit of the X Prize, starting in 2017.[29][30]
The first mission, called the Lunar Scout, was planned for 2017 (later delayed to July 2020) and would use the MX-1E lander.[31] This was a technology demonstration flight that included three payloads:[32]
- International Lunar Observatory (ILO-1) is a small optical telescope that will operate from the lunar south pole. The selected landing location is the 5 km (3.1 mi)-high Malapert mountain.[33]
- MoonLIGHT is a laser retroreflector experiment built by Italy's INFN and the University of Maryland to perform research on gravity and on general relativity.[34]
- Celestis memorial container with some human remains.
The second mission was the Lunar Outpost MX-3,[35] a robotic lander to the lunar south pole that would scout for water ice and other lunar resources.[32] The third mission, called Harvest Moon, would be a sample-return mission.[32]
By October 2015, there were 16 teams competing for the prize. On January 23, 2018, X Prize founder and chairman Peter Diamandis stated "After close consultation with our five finalist Google Lunar X Prize teams over the past several months, we have concluded that no team will make a launch attempt to reach the moon by the March 31, 2018, deadline."[36]
Following the end of the Google Lunar X Prize, Moon Express shelved the planned lunar lander missions and turned its efforts toward competing in the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program instead.[3]
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| Manufacturer | Moon Express |
|---|---|
| Designer | Moon Express |
| Country of origin | US |
| Operator | Moon Express |
| Applications | Commercial lunar transport |
| Specifications | |
| Spacecraft type | Robotic lunar lander |
| Bus | MCSB[37][38] |
| Launch mass | 250 kg (550 lb) [39] |
| Payload capacity | 30 kg (66 lb) [39] |
| Power | 200 W[39] |
| Capacity | |
| Payload to {{{to}}} | |
| Production | |
| Status | In development |
| Maiden launch | [to be determined] |
| Related spacecraft | |
| Derivatives | MX-2, MX-5, MX-9 |
| PECO[39] | |
| Powered by | 1 |
| Propellant | RP-1 / hydrogen peroxide |
The company's robotic spacecraft are based on NASA's Modular Common Spacecraft Bus (MCSB),[37][38] which are modular and scalable platforms that can be configured as landers or orbiters.[40]
All MoonEx robotic spacecraft use low-toxicity fuels, advanced carbon composites and silicates and a Moon Express PECO rocket engine.[41] The PECO main engine uses RP-1 as a fuel and hydrogen peroxide as an oxidiser. The landing thrusters use hydrogen peroxide as a monopropellant.[42] PECO stands for 'propulsion that is eco-friendly'.[43] The company has the "MX lander family":[35]
- MX-1 – a single-engine spacecraft with a mass of 250 kg (fuelled); 30 kg payload capacity.[39]
- MX-2 – a twin-engine spacecraft with a 30 kg payload capacity.
- MX-5 – a 5-engine platform configuration that can include MX-1 or MX-2 staged system. The MX-5 has a 150 kg payload capacity.
- MX-9 – a 9-engine platform configuration, designed for sample return. The MX-9 has a payload capacity of about 500 kg.[41]
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