Private company aims to mine the moon by 2020

A private company that has long flaunted its goal to mine the moon has finally revealed its secret plan.

On July 11, Moon Express rolled out its ambitious proposal to set up a lunar outpost and send three robotic spacecraft to the moon by 2020.

The Florida-based startup initially was formed in 2010 to win Google’s $20 million Lunar XPRIZE competition, which will reward the first privately funded project to land a spacecraft on the moon and send back footage. While Moon Express believes it still has a shot at winning (Google’s deadline for the lunar landing is December 2017), its current goal far exceeds taking a few videos.

It wants to take a piece.

Lunar Scout, the company’s first mission and the vehicle that would be eligible for Google’s $20 million prize, is slated to launch at the end of this year, according to Ars Technica. The robotic lander, referred to as MX-1E, will ride into space aboard an experimental rocket known as the Electron, which is manufactured by Rocket Lab and will lift off from New Zealand. The MX-1E is capable of hopping across the moon’s surface and can deliver up to 66 pounds of payload.

The second mission, Lunar Outpost, is planned for 2019 and will aim to set up a research outpost at the moon’s south pole. This lander will mine for minerals and ice inside craters that are permanently in darkness. NASA is particularly interested in this mission for the potential to turn water ice into rocket fuel. The lander will also mine for other minerals, like ore.

Finally, Harvest Moon is scheduled for a 2020 launch and will attempt to bring moon rocks back to Earth.

“We absolutely intend to make these samples available globally for scientific research and make them available to collectors as well,” Bob Richards, one of the company’s founders, told Ars Technica.

A few hurdles remain if the company plans on sticking to its extremely tight timeline. One is that Rocket Lab has only tested its Electron rocket once and while it reached space, it didn’t reach orbit. Moon Express also didn’t reveal any details of the technology that would actually mine the moon. It also has to complete the MX-1E lander, according to The Verge.

But should the plan succeed, Moon Express would likely be the first private company to land on the moon.