Mining the Moon Gets Closer to Reality

Moon Express Inc or MoonEx, co-founded by Naveen Jain, is building the robotic rovers designed to search the lunar surface for precious metals and scarce metallic elements.

While there is no guarantee that the moon is "flush" with these materials, MoonEx thinks it "may be a gold mine of so-called rare earth elements." Adding, "From an entrepreneur's perspective, the moon has never truly been explored," The Los Angeles Times quoted Jain, chairman and company co-founder, as saying.

"MoonEx should be ready to land on the lunar surface by 2013," Jain said, more likely 2014, reports SpaceNews.