James Dean

FLORIDA TODAY

When Launch Complex 17 was last active nearly five years ago, the final Delta II rocket to fly from Cape Canaveral sent a pair of NASA spacecraft on their way to the moon.

The moon remains the goal for a private company that has now taken over the historic launch site, and a neighboring one, to support development of commercial lunar landers that could fly as soon as next year.

Moon Express has reached what it says is a long-term agreement with the Air Force’s 45th Space Wing to use complexes 17 and 18 to assemble and test its washing machine-sized lander, which is a contender to win the $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE.

“The moon is rising again over the Space Coast,” said CEO and co-founder Bob Richards, who on Tuesday will address the National Space Club Florida Committee in Cape Canaveral.

The landers will perform short, low-altitude hops during tests at the former Cape launch complexes, but flights to the moon could launch from as far away as New Zealand initially, depending on which rocket the company uses.

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The agreement finally settles Moon Express in a new home at the Cape, a short hop down the coast from where it had originally planned to set up shop.

Early last year the company announced a deal to use Launch Complex 36, but agreed to relocate after Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin committed to launching orbital rockets there by the end of the decade.

Space Florida will contribute $1.9 million to upgrades of complexes 17 and 18, an amount Moon Express will match. The company expects to base up to 50 employees at the Cape by later this year and to grow over time.

About 25 employees already work at offices near the Air Force Station and at KSC’s former shuttle runway, where Moon Express has performed tether tests of a lander prototype.

Built in 1956 for Thor missile tests, Launch Complex 17 is distinguished by twin gantries that the Air Force eventually plans to tear down.

Moon Express’ test flight activity will take place primarily next door at Launch Complex 18, where the United States attempted its first, unsuccessful launch of a satellite after the Soviet Union’s surprise launch of Sputnik.

The lander Richards says resembles the “Star Wars” droid R2-D2 will be tested in stands and in tethered and free flights no higher than 30 or 40 feet up, probably not visible to the public.

The first launch to the moon is targeted for the last quarter of next year, from a location still is to be determined.

Moon Express has booked three launches with Rocket Lab, developer of the new Electron rocket that will start flying from New Zealand. Rocket Lab is considering establishing a Florida launch site.

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That first launch could put Moon Express' MX-1E lander on course to win the Google Lunar XPRIZE, if it becomes the first privately developed robot to land on the moon, move around and transmit pictures back to Earth, but that is not the company’s reason for being.

“Our long-term vision is to explore and unlock the resources of the moon for the long-term benefit of humanity as we expand into space,” said Richards. “We see the water on the moon as the oil of the solar system.”

Moon Express has raised more than $30 million from investors and is in the process of raising another $25 million.

The company joins SpaceX and Blue Origin as local representatives of a “New Space” sector driven by entrepreneurs aiming to lower the cost of spaceflight and enable more commercial activity.

The companies, Richards said, are part of “a vibrant future here on the Space Coast, and a transition from a government-based operational presence to an entrepreneurial-based operational presence here,” he said. “A mix of both I think is healthy.”

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 orjdean@floridatoday.com.And follow on Twitter at@flatoday_jdeanand on Facebook atfacebook.com/jamesdeanspace.

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