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Commercialization

MoonEx To Us SLC-36

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
January 22, 2015
Filed under ,
MoonEx To Us SLC-36

Cape Canaveral SLC-36 Is Central to Moon Express’ Commercial Efforts to Reach the Moon
“Moon Express and Space Florida have signed an agreement that will lead to Moon Express spacecraft development and flight test operations at SLC-36 starting early this year. The agreement allows Moon Express and the state of Florida to make investments into the refurbishment of SLC-36, leading to a revitalized range and the immediate creation of 25-50 new jobs and potentially hundreds of direct and indirect new jobs over the next 5 years.”

Keith Cowing

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

12 responses to “MoonEx To Us SLC-36”

  1. cynical_space says:
    January 22, 2015 at 9:49 pm
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    So, they are using SLC-36 as office space, and not as a launch site, right?

    • Hug Doug ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ says:
      January 22, 2015 at 11:34 pm
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      it looks like MoonEx intends to do development work and also flight testing of their lunar lander there.

    • Zed_WEASEL says:
      January 23, 2015 at 12:01 am
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      If they want to use SLC-36 for a launch site, they have to build it.

      There is just grass & dirt there right now.

      • cynical_space says:
        January 23, 2015 at 2:24 am
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        Yes, I noticed that all signs of a launch pad there have been completely erased (and there used to be two pads!).

    • ellegood says:
      January 24, 2015 at 2:34 am
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      Masten had plans to use LC-36 for test flights, plus they built out a control room and machine shop there. Space Florida put a small square pad in place for the Masten vertical launch/lander. I don’t think Masten still plans to operate there.

  2. Brian says:
    January 22, 2015 at 10:18 pm
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    Who?

  3. Bernardo de la Paz says:
    January 23, 2015 at 1:54 am
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    At least somebody in the US isn’t afraid to go to that big object in Earth’s sky that NASA falls all over itself not to talk about anymore…

  4. Antilope7724 says:
    January 23, 2015 at 11:27 pm
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    I think we know how to land things on the moon. The first US soft landing was 49 years ago. Maybe it’s time to “really” do it again and stop “playing” space on the ground.

    This must be all about “burning” up grant money.

    • PsiSquared says:
      January 24, 2015 at 5:07 am
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      Well it certainly couldn’t be about perfecting autonomous rocket powered landing technology and systems, such as those that Masten, NASA, and others are working on.

    • Moon Express says:
      January 25, 2015 at 8:55 pm
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      Moon Express is a commercial enterprise privately funded through equity investments. The company does not rely on government grants or contracts. Although we are proud of our partnership with NASA, we are a private venture, not a government venture.

      Our use of SLC-36 is through a commercial lease agreement with Space Florida. There we will work to develop and test new commercial spacecraft capable of providing services beyond Earth orbit, to the Moon and beyond.

      Before doing so we will be making investments into the refurbishment of the facility, which has lots of space for our test flights and still has buildings and infrastructure that is useable and repairable.

      Here’s a video of our flight tests at the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility last month: http://youtu.be/QAMPD65dvIY

      We hope you’ll follow our efforts.

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