US grants first commercial license for a lunar mission

Ars Technica : Historically, Earth’s orbit has been the limit for commercial activity, with an international treaty holding signatory nations responsible for the supervision of all commercial access and use of outer space. Now the US has granted Moon Express, one of the companies competing for Google’s Lunar XPrize , approval to send a probe to the Moon, which the company intends to do in 2017. The company applied for the license in April 2015. The approval process, which has not been formalized, included reviews by the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of State, NASA, and the White House, with input from the Department of Defense, the Federal Communications Commission, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A more formal system will likely need to be developed as other companies, such as SpaceX, are likely to pursue similar licensing.