Moon Express: India-born entrepreneur Naveen Jain to launch first private space mission

Mountain View, CA, United States : The US government has made a historic ruling to allow the first private enterprise, Moon Express, Inc. (MoonEx), permission to travel beyond Earth’s orbit and land on the Moon in 2017.

This breakthrough US policy decision provides authorization to Moon Express for a maiden flight of its robotic spacecraft onto the Moon’s surface, beginning a new era of ongoing commercial lunar exploration and discovery, unlocking the immense potential of the Moon’s valuable resources.

Moon Express received the green light for pursuing its 2017 lunar mission following in depth consultations with the FAA, the White House, the State Department, NASA and other federal agencies.

Moon Express was co-founded in 2010 by space visionary, Dr. Bob Richards, billionaire entrepreneur, Naveen Jain, and serial entrepreneur and space technology guru, Dr. Barney Pell, with the common vision to be at the forefront of commercial space exploration and innovation.

They believe in the long term economic potential of the Moon to produce resources essential to humanity’s future on Earth and in space.

The development of their innovative and scalable robotic spacecraft is designed to radically reduce the cost of space exploration —lifting the veil on the mysteries surrounding the Moon and how its resources can be unlocked and used to benefit Earth and humanity.

Up until now all commercial companies have been limited to operations in Earth’s orbit, and only governments have sent missions to other worlds. With this landmark ruling, Moon Express has become the first private company approved to literally go out of this world as a pioneer of commercial space missions beyond Earth orbit. The federal interagency approval of the Moon Express 2017 lunar mission establishes an important precedent for the private sector to engage in peaceful space exploration, bringing with it monumental implications for the advancement of technology, science, research, and development, as well as commercial ventures that expand Earth’s economic sphere.

The framework of the interagency approval surrounds Moon Express’ proposed ‘Mission Approval’ arrangement that utilizes existing payload review and launch license processes under authorities of the Secretary of Transportation, and adds to them a series of voluntary disclosures intended to provide the Federal Government with sufficient information to help fulfill its supervisory obligations under the Outer Space Treaty.

The company submitted its historic application for a 2017 commercial lunar mission to the FAA on April 8th, 2016.

“The Moon Express 2017 mission approval is a landmark decision by the U.S. government and a pathfinder for private sector commercial missions beyond the Earth’s orbit,” remarks co-founder & CEO, Bob Richards.

“We are now free to set sail as explorers to Earth’s eighth continent, the Moon, seeking new knowledge and resources to expand Earth’s economic sphere for the benefit of all humanity,” he added.

Richards further added, “The recent discovery of water on the moon is an economic game changer for humanity’s future. Water is the oil of the solar system, and the moon has become a gas station in the sky”

Naveen Jain, co-founder and chairman of Moon Express, said, “The sky is not the limit for Moon Express — it is the launchpad. This breakthrough ruling is another giant leap for humanity. Space travel is our only path forward to ensure our survival and create a limitless future for our children,” remarks co-founder and chairman, Naveen Jain. “In the immediate future, we envision bringing precious resources, metals, and Moon rocks back to Earth”.

He added, “in 15 years, the mo on will be an important part of earth’s economy, and potentially our second home. Imagine that”.

About Naveen Jain’s India roots

Naveen Jain was born in 1959 to a Jain family in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. His family was poor, largely because his father, a civil engineer, refused the common practice in Indian construction projects of accepting bribes. He grew up in New Delhi and in villages in Uttar Pradesh, India. Jain moved to Roorkee, where in 1979 he earned an engineering degree from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. He moved to the United States of America that same year. He looked up to business people that made their own fortune, especially Bill Gates. Jain also had an early interest in space.

He was the founder and former CEO of InfoSpace. His work at InfoSpace was one of the contributors to the dot-com bubble. InfoSpace briefly became one of the largest internet companies in the American Northwest, before the crash of the dot-com bubble and a series of accounting lawsuits. After moving to Intelius, Jain co-founded Moon Express, where he is currently chairman.