 Private spaceflight company Moon Express has been promising to mine the Moon. And now, they've announced their plan to get started. The company wants to set up a robotic lunar outpost on the Moon's south pole by 2020. The concept relies on this new fleet of robotic landers that Moon Express wants to build called the MX Robotic Explorers. These spacecraft range in size from the small MX-1 to the larger MX-9. All are powered by a new eco-friendly engine Moon Express is building too called the Pico. And the vehicles are all flexible in purpose. They can be used as landers to put payloads on the lunar surface, or used as orbiters to travel around the Moon. And some are even equipped for sample return. The MX-9, for instance, can carry the smaller MX-1 to the Moon's surface. And from there, the MX-1 can lift off again, bringing resources back to Earth. And just for reference, the last time anyone brought something back from the Moon was in 1976. Bringing back Moon rocks would be super cool, both for researchers and for those looking to take their rock collections to a whole new level. But Moon Express wants to do more than just excavate lunar rocks. The company is also interested in the Moon's water supply. Well, ice supply. There is a whole bunch of ice at the Moon's poles. And Moon Express wants to extract that material and potentially turn it into rocket propellant that could then be used to fuel spacecraft that are already in space. The importance of water on the Moon is water and its constituents, hydrogen and oxygen, are rocket fuel. So the Moon becomes like a gas station in the sky. However, the company has yet to detail the technology it will use to actually mine the Moon's resources. And before any mining can happen, Moon Express has to prove it can get even one spacecraft to the lunar surface. The company is starting small with its MX-1E lander. It's the smallest vehicle of the family, designed to fly on top of an experimental rocket called the Electron, which is made by Rocket Lab. This little robot is a robot that can fly from low Earth orbit all the way to the Moon by itself and land on the Moon. Once on the Moon, the MX-1E can ignite its engine to hop across the surface, as well as send back photos and videos to Earth. Moon Express plans to fly the lander for the first time later this year as part of the Google Lunar X Prize, a competition to send the first privately funded vehicle to the Moon. If Moon Express is the first to land its lander before the other contestants, it's poised to win a $20 million grand prize purse. Time is running out, though. The mission has to launch before the end of the year, the deadline for the competition. And Moon Express has yet to show any of the MX-1E lander's hardware. Richard says they're still doing tests of different components and putting the vehicle together in Florida. Also, the electron rocket that's supposed to carry the lander isn't exactly ready yet. The electron has only flown once, during a test flight out of New Zealand. The vehicle made it to space, but didn't quite make it to orbit. Rocket Lab says it has figured out why, but there are still two more test launches of the electron to do before the rocket can carry customers. If the MX-1E mission is a success, it paves the way for the next two missions Moon Express wants to do. It plans to start the lunar outpost in the next few years by launching one of its landers to the South Pole to prospect for water and establish a permanent presence. Then, in 2020, the company hopes to launch its sample return mission. If it can pull that off, Moon Express will prove it can both land its vehicles on the Moon and return them to Earth. We're here to try to inspire a whole new generation, to open up the frontier of the Moon and to redefine the possible. And I think we have a great future ahead of us, collapsing the cost of transportation from Earth orbit to everywhere else.
 Private spaceflight company Moon Express has been promising to mine the Moon.
 And now, they've announced their plan to get started.
 The company wants to set up a robotic lunar outpost on the Moon's south pole by 2020.
 The concept relies on this new fleet of robotic landers that Moon Express wants to build called
 the MX Robotic Explorers.
 These spacecraft range in size from the small MX-1 to the larger MX-9.
 All are powered by a new eco-friendly engine Moon Express is building too called the Pico.
 And the vehicles are all flexible in purpose.
 They can be used as landers to put payloads on the lunar surface, or used as orbiters
 to travel around the Moon.
 And some are even equipped for sample return.
 The MX-9, for instance, can carry the smaller MX-1 to the Moon's surface.
 And from there, the MX-1 can lift off again, bringing resources back to Earth.
 And just for reference, the last time anyone brought something back from the Moon was in 1976.
 Bringing back Moon rocks would be super cool, both for researchers and for those looking
 to take their rock collections to a whole new level.
 But Moon Express wants to do more than just excavate lunar rocks.
 The company is also interested in the Moon's water supply.
 Well, ice supply.
 There is a whole bunch of ice at the Moon's poles.
 And Moon Express wants to extract that material and potentially turn it into rocket propellant
 that could then be used to fuel spacecraft that are already in space.
 The importance of water on the Moon is water and its constituents, hydrogen and oxygen,
 are rocket fuel.
 So the Moon becomes like a gas station in the sky.
 However, the company has yet to detail the technology it will use to actually mine the
 Moon's resources.
 And before any mining can happen, Moon Express has to prove it can get even one spacecraft
 to the lunar surface.
 The company is starting small with its MX-1E lander.
 It's the smallest vehicle of the family, designed to fly on top of an experimental
 rocket called the Electron, which is made by Rocket Lab.
 This little robot is a robot that can fly from low Earth orbit all the way to the Moon
 by itself and land on the Moon.
 Once on the Moon, the MX-1E can ignite its engine to hop across the surface, as well
 as send back photos and videos to Earth.
 Moon Express plans to fly the lander for the first time later this year as part of the
 Google Lunar X Prize, a competition to send the first privately funded vehicle to the
 Moon.
 If Moon Express is the first to land its lander before the other contestants, it's poised
 to win a $20 million grand prize purse.
 Time is running out, though.
 The mission has to launch before the end of the year, the deadline for the competition.
 And Moon Express has yet to show any of the MX-1E lander's hardware.
 Richard says they're still doing tests of different components and putting the vehicle
 together in Florida.
 Also, the electron rocket that's supposed to carry the lander isn't exactly ready
 yet.
 The electron has only flown once, during a test flight out of New Zealand.
 The vehicle made it to space, but didn't quite make it to orbit.
 Rocket Lab says it has figured out why, but there are still two more test launches of
 the electron to do before the rocket can carry customers.
 If the MX-1E mission is a success, it paves the way for the next two missions Moon Express
 wants to do.
 It plans to start the lunar outpost in the next few years by launching one of its landers
 to the South Pole to prospect for water and establish a permanent presence.
 Then, in 2020, the company hopes to launch its sample return mission.
 If it can pull that off, Moon Express will prove it can both land its vehicles on the
 Moon and return them to Earth.
 We're here to try to inspire a whole new generation, to open up the frontier of the
 Moon and to redefine the possible.
 And I think we have a great future ahead of us, collapsing the cost of transportation
 from Earth orbit to everywhere else.