The Wall Street Journal has reported that the US is poised to approve the first commercial space mission beyond the Earth’s orbit, paving the way for a space startup co-founded by an Indian-origin entrepreneur to go ahead with its proposed Moon mission.
The report has stated that the government’s endorsement would make way for Moon Express, a relatively obscure space startup co-founded by Naveen Jain, to land a roughly nine-kg package of scientific hardware on the Moon sometime next year.
As per the report the decision is anticipated to set important legal and diplomatic precedents for how Washington will ensure such nongovernmental projects comply with longstanding international space treaties and the formal approval, which could be months away, may also pave the way for potential commercial space tourism and asteroid mining ventures.
Moon Express was founded in August 2010 and the company is developing innovative, flexible and scalable new robotic spacecraft that will radically reduce the cost of space exploration and unlock the mysteries and resources of the Moon.
