European company wants to send spacecraft to the Moon in 2018

Private company PTScientists is building two probes and plans to launch them to the Moon on billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket next year.

Product introduction video of PTScientists group

In the race to become the first private company to land on the Moon, European company PTScientists has built a landing module and two rovers, scheduled to launch on billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in 2018, according to the Telegraph.

The lander is programmed to land in the Taurus-Littrow Valley. The probe will search for the Apollo 17 mission vehicle, left behind in 1971 by astronaut Gene Cernan, the last man on the Moon. They want to check its current condition.

PTScientists announced a partnership with Vodafone to provide communications between the probe and Earth during the mission.

"This is a crucial first step toward sustainable exploration of the Solar System. For humanity to leave the cradle of Earth, we need to develop our own extraterrestrial infrastructure. With this mission, we will establish and test the first components of a dedicated communications network on the Moon," said Robert Boehme, CEO of PTScientists.

PTScientists have been developing the autonomous lander (ALINA) and two rovers for 10 years. The solar-powered rovers, developed by Audi, are capable of moving across the Moon at a speed of 3.6 km/h. Each rover is equipped with two stereoscopic cameras that can take 3D images, and a third camera that can record video and take panoramic photos.

PTScientist's lunar rover model. Photo: Audi.

ALINA also carries scientific experiments from American, Canadian and Swedish researchers.

"We will collect a lot of scientific data on the Moon. The high-speed communication link allows the vehicles to communicate with ALINA to send valuable data back to Earth," said Karsten Becker, the rover's controller.

The PTScientists team faced stiff competition from four other companies to win Google’s Lunar XPrize, a $30 million prize for the first private team to land a probe on the Moon and send back video and images to Earth.

TeamIndus, PTScientists' competitor

According to VNE