Odyssey Moon, one of the competitors in the Google Lunar X Prize, is looking for payloads to fly to the lunar surface. It has issued a request for information “to identify potential payloads and Principal Investigators (PIs) who wish to explore rapid, low-cost lunar flight opportunities.” The payloads must be 15 to 25 kilograms (33 to 55 lbs.)
The company hopes to land its MoonOne spacecraft on the lunar surface in July 2011 in order to claim the $30 million prize. The lander is set to be first of a series of spacecraft the company will send to the Moon.
You can read the full RFI on its website. Odyssey Moon Limited is a private company based in the Isle of Man.
There have been a series of stories about and interviews with the leaders of teams competing for the Google Lunar X Prize. The groups are competing to land a rover on the lunar surface. The interviews include:
INTERNATIONAL SPACE FELLOWSHIP
Team Italia
Team Cringely
InterPlanetary Ventures
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO (AUDIO FILES)
Team FredNet
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has a great profile of William “Red” Whittaker, the Carnegie Mellon University professor who is leading one of 10 teams competing for the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize.
Whittaker’s team, Atrobiotic, hopes to land its “Tranquility Trek” rover on the lunar surface in July 2009, the 40th anniversary of the first lunar landing by Apollo 11. Whittaker is planning to set the rover down near the original landing site and beam back pictures.
“When I was really little, I thought about adventuring, discovering new worlds, unclimbed mountains,” he told the paper. “A lot of people just get iced over; it’s as if there isn’t anything new under the sun. But the reality is that history is written every day.”
A group at Glasgow University in Scotland has announced plans to join the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize competition. The group, lead by Dr. Gianmarco Radice, put out a call for partners last Friday, according to the Sunday Herald.
“We are looking for partners to join us - we can definitely get to the moon,” he said. “It is very expensive though, so it’s more a prestige thing than an economic investment. It would be quite a PR stunt, to say the least.”
Ten teams are already competing for the prize, which requires landing rover on the lunar surface by 2012.
The Arizona Daily Wildcat has published an editorial praising the university’s participation in the Google Lunar X Prize. The paper believes the combination of UA’s imaging experience, Raytheon’s missile technology, and Carnegie Mellon robotics expertise makes this a very strong entry in the competition to land a rover on the lunar surface.
“Private exploration is lighter, leaner and smarter than lumbering government projects, and we’re glad the UA is playing an important role in the future of space exploration. Google may be paying for the prize, and the UA may be a formidable competitor, but it’s humans everywhere who will reap its rewards,” the editors write.
Here is a roundup of news stories about Indiana-based Team LunaTrex, one of the entrants in the Google Lunar X Prize competition:
IndyStar.com: Skies are prize for spacey Anderson biz
Heard Bulletin: Anderson company pursuing $30 million lunar exploration prize
WSBT Channel 2: Anderson company to help in bid for $30 million lunar prize
Wired Science has an interesting story analyzing the entrants in the Google Lunar X Prize, a competition to land a private spacecraft on the moon. The competitors include include “a Jesus freak, a Linux geek and a guy who recently bought 30 books on space exploration…an eclectic mix of engineers, rocketeers and dreamers so confident of winning they made reaching the moon sound easy.”
Grand Prize Winner will receive $2M Bonus Prize for Successful Florida Based Launch.
Space Florida Press Release via Business Wire
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.–Space Florida, the organization charged by the Florida Legislature with promoting and developing Florida’s aerospace industry, today announced that it will be a new preferred partner and Florida will become the first preferred launch site for the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE competition. Each preferred partner offers additional prizes or strategic services at a discounted rate to all competition teams.
As the first preferred launch site, Space Florida will award an additional prize of $2 million to the Grand Prize winner of the Google Lunar X PRIZE competition, provided the winner launched the winning flight from the State of Florida and upon confirmation that the winner has complied with all competition rules.
Continue reading ‘Space Florida Announces Strategic Partnership for Google Lunar X PRIZE Competition’
UA News has a story about the University of Arizona’s partnership with Carnegie Mellon University and Raytheon Missile Systems to form Team Astrobotic - one of 10 competitors in the Google Lunar X Prize competition.
The UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and its Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering are the major elements of the university’s participation. “This is the dream team,” Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Director Michael J. Drake said.
LPL will provide its expertise in designing, building and operating imaging camera systems. It will add a clean room and a high bay to its Phoenix Science Operations Center, where the lunar lander will be assembled.
The Arizona Daily Star also has a story.
Florida is offering a $2 million incentive to encourage entrants in the Google Lunar X Prize to launch their robotic rover from the state.
The money would be in addition to the $20 million prize being offered by Google and the X Prize Foundation for the first private group to land a spacecraft on the moon by the end of 2010. Ten organizations have registered for the competition.