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Japan's Mitsubishi Corp has become the first corporate sponsor of Luna Corp's planned commercial mission to the Moon. Luna hopes to land a pair of teleoperated robotic vehicles on the Moon's surface in 1999. The rovers will begin at the Apollo 11 site and travel 1,000 km to visit the wreck of the Ranger 8 probe and Surveyor 5 spacecraft and search for the Russian Lunakhod-2 rover in the LeMonnier crater [JJM - or the Sinus Medii dome, or the Ukert triangular crater, or all the other alien structures!!].

The Arlington, VA based company hopes to raise $81 million from corporate sponsors toward the $200 million mission. Other targeted sources of funding are science researchers, TV networks and amusement parks. Luna said its rovers, designed by Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics institute, will give researchers access to the Moon "at a fraction of the price of a government mission". Mitsubishi isn't new to commercial space ventures: it has already invested in SpaceHab Inc., the private venture that flies experiments on space shuttle orbiters.

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