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posted by janrinok on Wednesday August 03 2016, @05:29PM   Printer-friendly
from the treaty-obligations dept.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/2/12275980/moon-express-private-mission-spaceflight-us-government

Private spaceflight company Moon Express will soon announce it has been granted regulatory approval by the US government to send a lunar lander to the surface of the Moon, according to a source familiar with the matter. If so, that means the company will be the first private company to have received permission from the government to send a vehicle beyond Earth orbit and on to another world.

Moon Express is a private spaceflight company with long-term hopes of mining the lunar surface. But in the short term, the company is focused on simply getting to the Moon first. The venture is developing the MX-1 — a 20-pound lunar lander designed to "hop" across the Moon's surface. MX-1 is in the Google Lunar X Prize competition, an international contest to send the first privately funded spacecraft to the Moon. In order to win that competition, Moon Express has to get its lander to the surface of the Moon before December 31st, 2017.

[...] Currently, there's no regulatory framework in place that allows the US government to oversee private missions beyond Earth orbit.

And that's a problem, since the US has to adhere to obligations set by the Outer Space Treaty — an international agreement that guides how nations conduct missions in space. Specifically, the US has to adequately oversee private missions to other planetary bodies, as well as ensure that companies don't violate planetary protection.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 03 2016, @11:26PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 03 2016, @11:26PM (#383818)

    Sweet baby jesus, you just insert your own outrage into everything! The "angst" you mention is here:

    "Currently, there’s no regulatory framework in place that allows the US government to oversee private missions beyond Earth orbit. And that’s a problem, since the US has to adhere to obligations set by the Outer Space Treaty — an international agreement that guides how nations conduct missions in space. Specifically, the US has to adequately oversee private missions to other planetary bodies, as well as ensure that companies don’t violate planetary protection. But right now, there is no way for the government to make sure that private missions going beyond Earth orbit don’t violate these portions of the treaty."

    They're referring to the fact that the US has not had to deal with this situation before and has no legal documents to settle liability, etc. The company found a way around that problem, and "... Moon Express is expected to announce that its regulatory patch idea worked ..."

    No one is mad that a private company is doing this, pretty sure everyone on this site is stoked about it, except for you. So angry about something so meaningless. You're too focused on your pointless rage that you refuse to acknowledge the various points that have been brought up.

    Go smoke a joint already, might calm you down in the long run.