Moon Express

To the founders of Moon Express, the Earth’s nearest neighbor is far more than a lifeless landscape of ancient craters and hardened lava flows. It is an eighth continent, potentially full of resources that can improve our lives. Or, at the very least, a useful way station for deeper space travel. The first mission, planned for 2017, will send a robotic spacecraft—carried into space by the Rocket Lab Electron—to the moon’s south pole. If successful, the team wins the $25 million Google Lunar XPrize. That would be followed by four more missions to send equipment and conduct science experiments on behalf of corporate clients. And within a decade, Moon Express says it plans to send people to the moon as well.