World's First Mission to the Moon's South Pole Announced by Moon Express, Inc. and the International Lunar Observatory Association

KAMUELA, Hawaii and SILICON VALLEY, July 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The world's first mission to the South Pole of the Moon was announced today by the International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) and Moon Express, Inc. The private enterprise mission will be both scientific and commercial, and will deliver the International Lunar Observatory (ILO) to the Moon's South Pole aboard a Moon Express robotic lander, establishing permanent astrophysical observations and lunar commercial communications systems for professional and amateur researchers.

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Moon Express will also utilize the mission to explore the Moon's South Pole for mineral resources and water. Lunar probes have provided compelling evidence of mineral and volatile deposits in the Moon's southern polar region where energy and resources may be abundant.

The ILO, with its 2-meter dish antenna, will be the world's first instrument to conduct international astrophysical observations and communications from the lunar surface, providing scientific research, commercial broadcasting and enabling Galaxy 21st Century education and "citizen science" on the Moon. The announcement was made during a NASA Lunar Science Institute conference at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.

"The ILO will demonstrate the value of the Moon for scientific study of the Galaxy, Moon, Earth, Sun and Stars," said Steve Durst, founder and director of the ILOA and Space Age Publishing Company. "We are a global consortium of scientists, educators, entrepreneurs and visionaries who seek to establish a scientific presence on the Moon followed by human exploration and eventual settlement." Space Age Publishing Company, ILOA's commercial affiliate, intends to broadcast its Space Calendar weekly and Lunar Enterprise Daily via the ILO. ILOA expects that the South Pole mission could take place as early as 2016 and contribute to humanity's growth as a multi-world species.

Moon Express is the mission partner in the venture, providing the lunar lander, mission architecture and operations. The company was unveiled in August 2010 as a commercial lunar resource company and is partnered with NASA for its lunar lander development. Moon Express will send a series of robotic missions to the Moon in support of science, commerce and exploration starting in 2015. 

"We are very excited to our announce that our second Moon mission will be to the lunar South Pole to deliver the International Lunar Observatory and to prospect for resources," said Moon Express CEO Dr. Robert (Bob) Richards. "The mission will provide a historic landing in an unexplored region of the Moon that may harbor some of the greatest resource deposits in the solar system."

Earlier this year on May 25^th, ILOA and Moon Express unveiled the ILO precursor instrument that will fly to the Moon in 2015 aboard the inaugural Moon Express mission. Details of the "ILO-X" flight instrument hardware are available here. The ILO-X instrument was on public display and actively demonstrated during the Singularity University / Fox Studios "Backstage Pass to the Future" event on June 1^st, 2013 in Los Angeles.

The ILO and its precursor will have an internet-based access and control system and will be the first private space telescope to operate from the lunar surface, available to researchers, educators and the general public through the internet, allowing the world to access Galaxy / astronomical images from the surface of the Moon and creating a new model of "citizen science" public participation and international collaboration.

ABOUT THE ILOA
The International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) is an interglobal enterprise incorporated in Hawaii as a 501(c)(3) non-profit to help realize the multifunctional ILO—to advance human knowledge of the Galaxy and Cosmos through observation from our Moon, and to participate in lunar base build out. The ILOA also co-sponsors with Space Age Publishing Company affiliate an international series of Galaxy Forums to educate and inspire people about Galaxy 21st Century Education and the wonders of the Cosmos. The ILOA is supported by a number of space luminaries world-wide including Director Emeritus John Young, commander of the Apollo 16 mission to the Moon.

For more information, visit: www.iloa.org

ABOUT MOON EXPRESS
Selected by Forbes as one of the '15 Names You Should Know' in 2011, Moon Express (MoonEx) a privately funded lunar resource company created to establish new avenues for commercial space activities beyond Earth orbit. The company is partnered with NASA for lunar lander development and is engineering a series of low-cost robotic missions to the Moon for commercial and government customers, with a long term goal of locating and developing lunar resources for use in space and on Earth. Moon Express won a $10M commercial lunar contract from NASA in 2010 and is a leading contender in the $30M Google Lunar XPRIZE competition for the first private team to land a robot on the Moon.

The Moon Express founders, Dr. Robert (Bob) Richards, Naveen Jain, and Dr. Barney Pell, believe in the long term economic potential of the Moon to produce resources essential to humanity's future on Earth and in space.

For more information, visit: www.moonexpress.com 

SOURCE International Lunar Observatory Association and Moon Express, Inc.