Thanks .
A rendering of Moon Express’s MX-1 Micro Lander spacecraft. The relatively obscure space startup aims to land a roughly 20-pound package of scientific hardware on the lunar surface sometime next year. Photo: Moon Express
Posted on 06/08/2016 8:56:18 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
U.S. officials appear poised to make history by approving the first private space mission to go beyond Earth's orbit, according to people familiar with the details.
The government's endorsement would eliminate the largest regulatory hurdle to plans by Moon Express, a relatively obscure space startup, to land a roughly 20-pound package of scientific hardware on the Moon sometime next year.
It also would provide the biggest federal boost yet for unmanned commercial space exploration and, potentially, the first in an array of for-profit ventures throughout the solar system.
The expected decision, said the people familiar with the details, is expected to set important legal and diplomatic precedents for how Washington will ensure such nongovernmental projects comply with longstanding international space treaties. The principles are likely to apply to future spacecraft whose potential purposes range from mining asteroids to tracking space debris.
Approval of a formal launch license for the second half of 2017 is still months away, and the proposed mission poses huge technical obstacles for Moon Express, including the fact that the rocket it wants to use hasn't yet flown.
But the project's proponents have considered federal clearance of the suitcase-size MX-1 lander and its payload as well as approval of a planned two-week operation on the Moon itself to pose the most significant legal challenges to the mission.
After months of lobbying by Moon Express officials and high-level deliberations among various federal agencies led by the White House science office, the people familiar with the matter said, the company appears close to obtaining what it has called "mission approval." Until recently, Moon Express faced a regulatory Catch-22 because there was no template for getting Washington's blessing for what it proposed.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
A rendering of Moon Express’s MX-1 Micro Lander spacecraft. The relatively obscure space startup aims to land a roughly 20-pound package of scientific hardware on the lunar surface sometime next year. Photo: Moon Express
Why does anyone need the permission of the US government to fly to the Moon?
In the article (part that had to be edited out) there’s a reference to that conundrum.
My thought exactly except for navigational issues to avoid satellite collisions.
No wall on the border, but a regulatory wall of controlled airspace to get over - from sea level to about 60,000 feet. The remaining 250,000 miles, not so much.
It’s covered by the Living Constitution.
S/out of this world.
as crazy as our PC culture has become, I’m almost glad there are no more flags being planted on other moons or planets.
You know Obama sure wouldn’t want to plant an American flag on Mars if we were to send a person there.
My first question also.
Obama would have the homo rainbow flag planted on Mars.
Exactly.
Unless it’s a US-based launch. Aren’t the French launching at sea. It would take a big ship to launch a moon mission. Launching near the equator is more efficient, but then you’d have to build the assembly and launch complex down there.
That’s what I’m wondering.
I get if you have to check-in with the DoD and NASA so people know what you are sending and who you are, so that Russia doesn’t think it’s some ICBM launch, but if you want to go, then head on out.
Will they be sending Frank Sinatra’s ashes?
I didn’t know the US government owned the moon. If anything it belongs to some tribe in Oklahoma.
BTTT
They do not need permission to fly to the Moon. They need permission to launch, and they need a place to launch from.
TANSTAAFL........................
No “S”!
That’s the most dangerous precedence here.
Screw that noise.
By now you almost expect government to demand permits for the hiccups.
What the he11's the U.S. got to say about smebody going to the moon.
It's not like the U.S, has to be "ready" to go get them if there's trouble. Or it's the U.S.'s moon.
I'd tell the U.S. to "pound moon dust" if I were Moon Express.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
