First commercial mission to moon approved for Florida company

[SansVarnic]

First commercial mission to moon approved for Florida company

By: USA TODAY NETWORKJames Dean, Florida Today

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/08/03/first-commercial-mission-moon-approved-florida-company/87998390/

2nd Source: http://www.moonexpress.com/

 

 

Awesome, and may I say ... It is about stinking time!

[this is obviously tech related - of sorts, Mods if you disagree ...]

 

A fair warning to all those that think the Moon landing is a spoof. It did happen.

 

Quote

The U.S. government has given a Cape Canaveral company the go-ahead to fly the first commercial mission to the moon.

The first-of-its-kind approval announced Wednesday morning clears the way for Moon Express to fly a robotic lander about the size of the “Star Wars” drone R2-D2 to the lunar surface as soon as next year.

Quote

A startup with Silicon Valley roots and investors, Moon Express becomes the first from a growing group of entrepreneurial space firms authorized to fly a mission beyond near-Earth orbit, and to attempt a moon landing that only a few national space agencies have achieved to date.

This is exciting to me. I am hoping to see the new tech they are going to be rolling out because of this. With all the civilian companies now taking over what NASA was suppose to be doing these last 50 years is a good sign of sorts. At least we will be able to possible fast forward [play catch up] the space program and actually start exploring our solar system properly now.  Well its a start any how.

We are so far behind in this venture. A new space race is started of sorts.

 

Thoughts?

 

*edit

The company doing this is called Moon Express. Their plan is to put a robot on the moon first. Then to start the process of putting a colony on the moon.

This is a business move being done by a business not the US Government. The only reason the US Gov is involved is because of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.

Quote

Moon Express needed to show that its mission would comply with the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, including commitments not to contaminate another planetary body, to be subject to government oversight and to not interfere with other missions. The latter provision included promising not to mess with NASA's historic Apollo landing sites, for example.

 

Edited August 7, 2016 by SansVarnic

[Master Disaster]

What's the mission objectives? I think it's time we move beyond sending robots to poke around planet surfaces and go there with the intention of building a permanent base. 

 

Also we certainly do not need another space race, acting alone no nation is rich enough to fund a real space exploration frontier, instead we all have to pool resources together and try to conquer space as a united front, it's the only way we will ever succeed. 

[SansVarnic]

6 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

What's the mission objectives? I think it's time we move beyond sending robots to poke around planet surfaces and go there with the intention of building a permanent base. 

 

Also we certainly do not need another space race, acting alone no nation is rich enough to fund a real space exploration frontier, instead we all have to pool resources together and try to conquer space as a united front, it's the only way we will ever succeed. 

It not about putting a robot on the moon. That is the first stage.

The mission is to put a colony on the Moon. Its a business deal not a US government thing.

I suggest reading the article, its all outlined there. 

[Citadelen]

4 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

-snip-

The ESA and the Russian Space Agency are planning a base on the moon by 2020 I believe.

[techswede]

This better be the start of a moon colony (And hopefully a fully operational ship yard) 

[SansVarnic]

7 minutes ago, techswede said:

This better be the start of a moon colony (And hopefully a fully operational ship yard) 

That is the hope expressed in the article.

 

[Master Disaster]

19 minutes ago, Citadelen said:

The ESA and the Russian Space Agency are planning a base on the moon by 2020 I believe.

4 years time? Yeah, no, that's never going to happen. It will take at least a decade of R&D to even get a feasible mission planned, they need a decent craft to get them there are back, oxygen supplies, water supplies, a workable method of growing food in a way that's sustainable, workable structures that are light enough to transport but still strong enough to support us and before we even leave earth they'll need to send multiple rockets out carrying all that stuff ready for them to collect on route because there's no chance they can carry everything with them. 

 

Perhaps even another station between the earth and moon to act as a storage platform. 

[techswede]

22 minutes ago, SansVarnic said:

That is the hope expressed in the article.

 

I just hope they actually get it done. 

What i would like to see in my lifetime 

Space elevator

Moon base

Mars colony

The Borg 

[rattacko123]

44 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

It will take at least a decade of R&D to even get a feasible mission planned

Maybe they've already been doing R&D, so I suppose it would be feasable, but to transport the materials and build it, it would take more than 4 years to make it fully functional

44 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

workable structures that are light enough to transport but still strong enough to support us

Moon has significantly less gravity than earth, so this is less of an issue.

 

 

[SansVarnic]

48 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

4 years time? Yeah, no, that's never going to happen. It will take at least a decade of R&D to even get a feasible mission planned, they need a decent craft to get them there are back, oxygen supplies, water supplies, a workable method of growing food in a way that's sustainable, workable structures that are light enough to transport but still strong enough to support us and before we even leave earth they'll need to send multiple rockets out carrying all that stuff ready for them to collect on route because there's no chance they can carry everything with them. 

 

Perhaps even another station between the earth and moon to act as a storage platform. 

Check out their site. They have been in R&D for a few years now, at least on record.

[Master Disaster]

1 hour ago, rattacko123 said:

Maybe they've already been doing R&D, so I suppose it would be feasable, but to transport the materials and build it, it would take more than 4 years to make it fully functional

Moon has significantly less gravity than earth, so this is less of an issue.

Yeah, but it also has significantly less atmosphere meaning radiation shielding is gonna be a huge factor. 

 

1 hour ago, SansVarnic said:

Check out their site. They have been in R&D for a few years now, at least on record.

I've had a good read, it seems pretty interesting. I'm sure they'll get there eventually but saying we'll have a permanent base of the moon in 4 years time is frankly absurd. Right now they don't even have a craft capable of achieving the mission, the Soyuz rocket would be fine for a quick trip but to go with the intention of building a permanent base we need something much more capable. 

[Citadelen]

2 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

-snip-

It may have been 2022, but still, I can't see why it's in the realm of fantasy. They've probably been planning it for years. This also isn't a single space agency, this is two working together.

[Tieox]

So long as at least one sodding robot going to the moon attempts to somehow have a BBQ going there, I am sold.

 

 

[Master Disaster]

Just now, Citadelen said:

It may have been 2022, but still, I can't see why it's in the realm of fantasy. They've probably been planning it for years. This also isn't a single space agency, this is two working together.

4 years is in the realms of fantasy, it's just not enough time. I'm sure it'll happen eventually, just not in 4 years. 

[Tieox]

1 minute ago, Master Disaster said:

4 years is in the realms of fantasy, it's just not enough time. I'm sure it'll happen eventually, just not in 4 years. 

Perhaps Niantic needs to put a super rare legendary Pokemon on the Moon.  We will be sorted in a fortnight. 

[Coaxialgamer]

All i can say is that i want to go to the moon 

[ThinkWithPortals]

And then Elite: Dangerous becomes a reality. I can only hope.

[BuckGup]

4 hours ago, Citadelen said:

The ESA and the Russian Space Agency are planning a base on the moon by 2020 I believe.

Yeah they are planning either a rail gun to shoot satellites into deep space with or use the moons materials to make concrete for bases on Mars.

[Stadin6]

Who is going to launch the lander? SpaceX?

[Master Disaster]

54 minutes ago, SamStrecker said:

Yeah they are planning either a rail gun to shoot satellites into deep space with or use the moons materials to make concrete for bases on Mars.

Not going to happen, all nations have agreed to a treaty whereby they cannot decimate or pollute any other body that we visit. Besides that they wouldn't be stupid enough to mess with the moon. 

[DXMember]

omg... they should've named the company "Planet Express":

[Master Disaster]

1 hour ago, SamStrecker said:

Ignore this, can't delete it. 

 

24 minutes ago, DXMember said:

omg... they should've named the company "Planet Express":

[BuckGup]

1 hour ago, Master Disaster said:

Not going to happen, all nations have agreed to a treaty whereby they cannot decimate or pollute any other body that we visit. Besides that they wouldn't be stupid enough to mess with the moon. 

They what about MarsOne? Where we are literally populating Mars with people who will die there

[Master Disaster]

1 hour ago, SamStrecker said:

They what about MarsOne? Where we are literally populating Mars with people who will die there

I imagine they agreed on strict rules that must be followed by the inhabitants. 

[BuckGup]

Just now, Master Disaster said:

I imagine they agreed on strict rules that must be followed by the inhabitants. 

Well they got delayed 2 years but we will still have people living on Mars in 2026. Only 10 years away. Man what a time to be alive. They also get internet! They get 3 lives sites and the rest are cached and downloaded at the beginning of each month.