Bob Richards (Bob_Richards) Robert D. Richards - Home. Odyssey Moon. Moon Express, Inc. (Moon_Ex) sur Twitter. Moon Express. Meet the Man Who Wants to Mine the Moon. — Naveen Jain wants to privatize the moon by exploring its precious minerals. — His company, which calls itself MoonEx, was awarded a contract as part of NASA's $10 million Innovative Lunar Demonstration Data. The moon is made of far more valuable stuff than green cheese. And one man wants to capitalize on that fact. NASA, which ended America's space shuttle program in June, says it wants to privatize spaceflight.
Naveen Jain, co-founder and chairman of Moon Express, Inc., wants to go a step further: He wants to privatize the moon itself. NEWS: New Photos Show Astronauts' Trek on the Moon Jain's company plans to piggyback on private shuttle flights, using them to carry his lunar landers and mining platforms to the moon. "People ask, why do we want to go back to the moon? Green cheese indeed — there's cash in them lunar hills! Beyond mineral resources, Jain imagines a variety of ways to capitalize on the public's lunar love. PHOTOS: Apollo 18 Myths of the Moon Missions.