![A model of the Manfred Memorial Moon Mission (4M), a communications experiment built by a privately-owned company in Luxembourg. [Credit: LuxSpace]](https://sciencevspseudoscience.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/luxembourg_4m_probe.jpg?w=500&h=498)
A model of the Manfred Memorial Moon Mission (4M), a communications experiment built by a privately-owned company in Luxembourg. [Credit: LuxSpace]
Private companies have been involved with spaceflight from very early days, albeit largely as contractors. Today, many companies are jostling to take on many roles: servicing the International Space Station, building the next generation of rockets, and designing spacecraft to carry human passengers. These companies include SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, Sierra Nevada Space Systems, and more.
These mostly focus on propulsion and transport, but 4M is a different concept. It is riding as an auxiliary payload in the Chang’e 5-T1 mission, so all the literal heavy lifting is done by the Chinese Long March rocket. Instead, the focus is on probe design and communications technology, as well as low cost. [Read more…]