A US company has secured funding to become the first private entity to travel to the moon, with a planned 2017 voyage that will be an international milestone in space exploration.
一家美国公司已筹集到资金确保其成为首个赴月的私人公司，他们计划于2017年开启月球之旅，此举将成为国际空间探索中的里程碑。
Moon Express, a Florida-based firm, said it had raised $20m in financing, which will allow it to send a robotic spacecraft to the moon's surface later this year.
The funding is a major step in the company's efforts to become the world's first private enterprise to travel outside the Earth's orbit.
Last year, Moon Express gained historic approvals from the US government after submitting a request for its voyage to the Federal Aviation Administration. An outer space treaty, which was adopted by the United Nations and regulates exploration of the
celestial world, requires governments to
authorize and supervise "non-governmental
entities" seeking to travel in outer space.
"We now have all the resources in place to shoot for the Moon," Bob Richards, Moon Express's CEO, said in a statement announcing the funding achievements. "Our goal is to expand Earth's social and economic sphere to the Moon, our largely unexplored eighth continent, and enable a new era of low cost lunar exploration and development for students, scientists, space agencies and commercial interests."
Moon Express has said it aims to mine the moon for minerals, and the tech entrepreneur Naveen Jain, its co-founder and chairman, has said he hopes to lower the costs of space travel and help pave the way for the
colonization of the moon, and eventually of Mars.
相关单词：entity
entity解释：n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物
entity例句：
The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。
相关单词：milestone
milestone解释：n.里程碑；划时代的事件
milestone例句：
The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。
相关单词：celestial
celestial解释：adj.天体的；天上的
celestial例句：
The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn.玫瑰色的红光依然象天上的朝霞一样绚丽。
Gravity governs the motions of celestial bodies.万有引力控制着天体的运动。
相关单词：authorize
authorize解释：v.授权，委任；批准，认可
authorize例句：
He said that he needed to get his supervisor to authorize my refund.他说必须让主管人员批准我的退款。
Only the President could authorize the use of the atomic bomb.只有总统才能授权使用原子弹。
相关单词：entities
entities解释：实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )
entities例句：
Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。
相关单词：colonization
colonization解释：殖民地的开拓，殖民，殖民地化； 移殖
colonization例句：
Colonization took place during the Habsburg dynasty. 开拓殖民地在哈布斯堡王朝就进行过。
These countries took part in the colonization of Africa. 这些国家参与非洲殖民地的开发。
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