History was made Monday when the U.S. House of Representatives passed landmark legislation recognizing and promoting the rights of United States companies to engage in the exploration and extraction of space resources from the Moon and other celestial bodies. This historic legislation was passed as Title IV of the "U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act (or H.R. 2262 as amended)", and provides the first ever codification of private sector mining rights for water and minerals obtained from the Moon.
Moon Express, Bigelow Aerospace, and many other companies are applauding the House for the legislation.
"Our goal is to unlock the resources of the Moon for the benefit of humanity, and Moon Express is grateful to have the backing of the United States in our endeavor," said Moon Express co-founder and CEO, Bob Richards. "We thank the House and its visionary champions of the bill led by Majority Leader McCarthy (R-Calf.) and Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) for their leadership and vision in passing this much-needed legislation, and especially wish to thank Representatives Bill Posey (R-Fla.), Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) and Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) for their support."
Moon Express, Inc., is a privately funded commercial space company blazing a trail to the Moon to unlock its mysteries and resources with robotic spacecraft products & services using exponential technologies.
NASA's Morpheus prototype lander performed its 13th free-flight test Thursday from the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The 97-second test began at 2:30 p.m. EDT with the Morpheus lander launching from the ground over a flame trench and ascending more than 800 feet and safely touching down on lunar-like surface.
Morpheus is a prototype planetary lander capable of vertical takeoff and landing. Designed to serve as a vertical testbed for advanced spacecraft technologies, the vehicle provides a platform for bringing technologies from the laboratory into an integrated flight system at relatively low cost. This allows individual technologies to mature into capabilities that can be incorporated into human exploration missions.
