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MoonEx aims to scour moon for rare materials

The Silicon Valley start-up is building machines with NASA scientists that are designed to search the lunar surface for precious metals and scarce metallic elements.

April 08, 2011|By W.J. Hennigan, Los Angeles Times






The founding team has its roots in the Internet world. Jain amassed a fortune founding data-aggregating website InfoSpace Inc. Another MoonEx co-founder, Barney Pell, is the head architect behind Microsoft Corp.'s Bing Internet search engine.

Beyond its founders' personal wealth and other investments, MoonEx has received a NASA contract that could be worth up to $10 million.


The idea of exploiting the moon's resources for private gain is not likely to be a concern, Jain said. The United States, he said, "has already brought back moon rocks to our country without any other country fighting war over it."

"I also think that the moon will be treated no differently than the international water in our oceans," he added. "In this case, no one really owns the water but any company or country can mine the resources … from the international water as long as they follow certain safety/moral guidelines."

Jain also noted that "there is strong legal precedent and consensus of 'finders keepers' for resources that are liberated through private investment, and the same will be true on the moon. You don't have to own land to have ownership of resources you unlock from it. Moon Express will use existing precedents of peaceful presence and exploration set by the U.S. government 40 years ago."

The start-up is on firm financial footing, Jain said, notable because a moon launch would require massive investment. In the coming months, MoonEx hopes to stage a public demonstration of its hardware.

"MoonEx should be ready to land on the lunar surface by 2013," Jain said. "It's our goal to be the first company there and stay there."

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