Main Engine Cut OffMoon Express Lands $20 Million in Funding
Eric Berger, of Ars Technica:
Moon Express has a contract to fly with Rocket Lab, which plans to begin tests on its Electron rocket in the next month or so. According to Richards, Moon Express is launch number eight on the company’s manifest, which would mean Rocket Lab would have to fly eight missions on its unproven vehicle this year for Moon Express for a chance to win the X Prize.
I can’t wait to see how Rocket Lab does this year. It will be a seriously impressive feat if they launch 8 times this year—all on or close to schedule—and get Moon Express off by December.
It’s not clear whether any of the teams—SpaceIL from Israel, Moon Express, US-based Synergy Moon, Team Indus of India, and Hakuto of Japan—will succeed. Only the United States, Soviet Union, and China have ever softly landed on the Moon and deployed a rover, let alone any privately funded company.
Quick note: “Only [short list of countries] have ever done [achievement in space], let alone a privately-funded company.” is going to become a very tired sentence structure.