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Well, it was fast.
Just two weeks after the launch of Moon Express, the tiny lunar aspirant who became famous in the Google Lunar XPRIZE contest, which ended in March, announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding. with the Canadian Space Agency. back by announcing the creation of a brand new Canadian subsidiary to capitalize on this relationship. On October 16th, Moon Express announced the creation of Moon Express Canada "to take advantage of Canadian space science and technology in the exploration of the Moon and its resources".
He does not waste any time either. Moon Express has already signed partnership agreements with half a dozen Canadian companies interested in collaborating on Moon-sponsored projects for the Moon. His new partners include:
- Micro and Nano Space Technology Company Canadensys Aerospace Corporation
- Company "Mining Technologies and Robotics" Deltion Innovations
- Gedex Geological Imagery Society
- Space "Technology Development Company" Mission Control Space Services
- Independent NGC Aerospace Consulting Company (no relationship with Northrop Grumman Corporation)
- Teledyne Optech lidar system developer
Painting of a quite fit astronaut, looking through the giant circular window a moon
The exploitation of the moon continues to give rise to new opportunities in the space sector, but realistic projects to extract the moon are still far away. Source of the image: Getty Images.
How important is this news for investors?
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Of course, few of these companies are familiar names. the six new partners of Moon Express, only one – Teledyne Optech – is linked to a publicly traded company (its parent company, Teledyne Technologies Inc. (NYSE: TDY), is a US medium size defense contractor). Among the other partners, some of MoonEx's new partners appear to be so new that their names do not even appear in a search for known companies on S & P Global Market Intelligence. "Data-reactid =" 34 "> Certainly, few of them The six new partners of Moon Express, of which only one – Teledyne Optech – is linked to a publicly traded company (its parent company, Teledyne Technologies Inc. (NYSE: TDY), is a US medium size defense contractor). Among the other partners, some of MoonEx's new partners appear to be so new that their names do not even appear in a search for known companies on S & P Global Market Intelligence.
Nevertheless, in a sector as fast growing as the "new space", it is likely that many leading-edge companies would be brand new companies. And of course, we are talking about Canada – a country known for its penny-stock mining companies offering "many business opportunities" (but also serious financial dangers for the unsuspecting investor).
Words for the wise
And that's actually what I want to talk about today.
Canada is a land renowned for its natural resources, and many of the Canadian stocks that attract the most attention from investors come from the mining industry. This makes them natural partners for a company like Moon Express, whose ambition is to facilitate transport on the moon for those who wish to exploit lunar resources. However, the smaller, and often unprofitable, publicly traded shares of the Canadian mining sector are also those that often give the country's stock market a reputation for being a little "Wild West".
If and when Moon Express becomes public, more partners are numerous, the more we are crazy. These are the companies that would provide revenue streams that could generate profits for Moon Express. At the same time, however, investors must remain vigilant: as Moon Express prepares to launch its first lunar launch, its new partners may overestimate investment opportunities in Moon Mining.
Access to finance could be an obstacle to such opportunities. Earlier this year, space industry pioneer Planetary Resources ran out of money, forcing it to sell to a "blockchain production studio" in October.
Another problem is the great difficulty of equipping the Moon with equipment capable of carrying out large-scale mining activities and returning the resources extracted on Earth. Moon Express predicts that one of its first missions to the Moon will be to collect and bring back to Earth lunar soil samples. However, this first "mining" mission will probably not recover more than a kilogram of lunar rocks, which will be valuable here on Earth, mainly for their novelty. It is also unlikely to happen before 2020 at the earliest.
Yet, here is the result of all these developments: While progress is being made, huge efforts on a large scale to extract appreciable amounts of precious metals (or, even more valuable in space, the water of the Moon) are almost certainly years away, and more. likely decades. Keep this in mind when assessing the appropriateness of investing in any start-up touting the "prospects" of mining the moon.
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<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Rich Smith has no position in any of the actions mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in the mentioned actions. Motley Fool has a disclosure policy."data-reactid =" 56 ">Rich Smith has no position in any of the actions mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in the mentioned actions. Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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