The first private company has received permission to sit on the Moon – BBC

The first flight and landing of a private spacecraft to the moon can be held at the end of 2017. It became known yesterday after the US regulator – the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued the Moon Express private space company first ever resolution on a flight to the satellite of the Earth

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it is assumed that the machine MX-1E leave the Earth, will make a soft landing on the lunar surface and, using its own rocket engines,

will make a series of jumps to explore several areas of the moon.

3 August for a permit from the FAA said the company itself. “Breakthrough decision by the US authorities to allow Moon Express to fly his robot apparatus to the Moon’s surface and give rise to a new era of commercial exploration of the Moon, reveal the immense potential of lunar natural resources».

It is reported that a positive decision was made after consultations with the FAA, the White house, State Department, NASA and other federal agencies.

The company Moon Express, the device developer, has become one of the participants in the competition Google Lunar XPRIZE, announced in 2007, the results of which $ 30 million will receive team,

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first managed to put machine on the moon, move at a mile on the surface and transmit to Earth the signal from the high-resolution video.

in order to participate in the competition the other teams is required before the end of this year to provide contracted to run in time to implement it before the end of 2017.

As for Moon Express, the company announced an agreement to launch a company Rocket Lab in October 2015. Contract signed for launch of three vehicles to the Moon. Two of them will be launched at the end of 2017. Electron missile (which, incidentally, has not yet flown in space). Bred into orbit machine MX-1E will have to include their engines for flight and landing on the moon.

Historically, that in the USA the Private Space regulates precisely the FAA, often referred to in matters related to commercial aviation .

Moon Express sent a request for start-up and approval of the necessary payload on April 8 this year. FAA concluded that the flight program and a device lander

«does not endanger public health and safety, the preservation of private property, the national interests of the US and other countries, and are not in violation of international obligations of the US »

The approval of FAA required to receive pursuant to the so-called Outer space Treaty (literally -.” The Treaty on principles Governing the activities of States in the Exploration and use of Outer space including the Moon and other celestial bodies “) – an intergovernmental document, originally signed in 1967, the United States, the USSR and the UK

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the contract Participants undertake not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction,

do not install such weapons on celestial bodies and not to stir such weapons in outer space.

The agreement provides for the use of the Moon and other celestial bodies exclusively for peaceful purposes and expressly prohibits their use for testing weapons of any kind.

«The activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the state – party to the Treaty “, – stated in the document

The machine MX-1E -. reduced by size rocket Electron version of the original module MX-1 . In 2015, it was reported that the company originally planned to be sent to the Moon Lander great, but then decided to shrink its size. If successful, the company plans to concentrate on flying to the moon for further exploration and production there of minerals and delivering them to Earth.

The recent detection of water on the Moon “is changing the rules of the game ‘for future space projects, written on the site company. This summer, the company signed an agreement with the US military on the use of 17 and 18 launch pads at the launch site at Cape Canaveral to test their Lander.

Ultimately, the founders dream to significantly reduce the cost spaceflight, lunar mineral resources using

«To the sky Moon Express -. not the limit, it is a launching pad. This resolution – another big step for mankind. In the near future we expect the delivery of rich natural resources, metals and soil back to Earth, “- said Chairman of the Board of Nun Jane Moon Express

.