I notice talk in the media about private companies undertaking missions to land on the moon.

Recently, Astrobotic and NASA launched a mission to the moon with instruments on a lander called Peregrine for experiments on the lunar surface. Unfortunately, the mission hasn’t gone to plan, complications have arisen due to a leaking fuel line preventing a soft landing on the surface.

But it begs the question, ‘why are commercial companies interested in the moon?’ It can’t be just for the profit in helping NASA achieve its goals.

Several more missions carrying equipment and experiments from private companies are planned for the next 3 years.

Maybe NASA is diversifying the cost and risk of the Artemis program, but why would private companies get involved if not to eventually receive long term earnings from activities on the moon?

This is certainly an interesting time for developments in space exploration.