If all goes according to plan for Moon Express, we could have the beginnings of a Moon mine as soon as 2020.
First, the private Florida-based space exploration company just needs to land a probe on the lunar surface, a feat so far only managed by national space agencies. Should they do it they'll earn a cool US$20 million prize from Google for their efforts.
To Moon Express CEO Bob Richards, the eyes are on the bigger prize, not that a boost in funding would hurt.
"I really hope that we can be in a position to win it," Richards told press at a recent meeting in Washington DC.
"But from our business perspective, it's not a dependency, and it never was. So we will be launching this mission as soon as we can."
The Google Lunar XPrize is a competition intended to encourage entrepreneurs and engineers to aim high and develop a way to privately launch technology onto the Moon's surface. Read more...
First, the private Florida-based space exploration company just needs to land a probe on the lunar surface, a feat so far only managed by national space agencies. Should they do it they'll earn a cool US$20 million prize from Google for their efforts.
To Moon Express CEO Bob Richards, the eyes are on the bigger prize, not that a boost in funding would hurt.
"I really hope that we can be in a position to win it," Richards told press at a recent meeting in Washington DC.
"But from our business perspective, it's not a dependency, and it never was. So we will be launching this mission as soon as we can."
The Google Lunar XPrize is a competition intended to encourage entrepreneurs and engineers to aim high and develop a way to privately launch technology onto the Moon's surface. Read more...