 |
 |
||
 |
|
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||
 |
Planetary News: Private Spaceflight (2007)Odyssey Moon Enters Google Lunar X Prize CompetitionBy A.J.S. RaylDecember 6, 2007
Odyssey Moon, a British-based company, has officially entered the $30-million-dollar Google Lunar X Prize, foundation and company representatives announced today at a press conference during the Space Investment Summit 3, held at the Dolce Hayes Mansion Conference in San Jose, California. By completing the registration process and paying the entry fee, the company effectively starts the latest major X Prize competition, which aims to send the first private mission to the Moon and deposit a rover to the surface. Like the Wright Brothers and Charles Lindbergh in eras long ago, Odyssey Moon hopes to fly into the history books. A private commercial enterprise with "partners in a number of nations," Odyssey Moon defines itself in company documents as "an innovative partnership of aerospace, banking, property, and international legal interests" that has formed "to develop and offer unique commercial, lunar business services and products for humanity’s permanent return to Earth's satellite." It is headquartered in the Isle of Man. This archipelago in the Irish Sea that is a self-governing dependent of the British Crown, which gives space and satellite communications companies a tax break. Odyssey Moon is the brainchild of the company's chief executive officer Robert (Bob) Richards, a founder of the International Space University and director of the space division at Optech Inc., a leading developer of advanced laser radar (lidar) systems for space exploration, observation and operations. Helming the company's board is Ramin Khadem, a well-known leader in the international satellite industry and former chief financial officer of INMARSAT, a highly successful mobile satellite communications company that he helped pioneer, then privatize. With other proven and experienced directors and advisory board members – including Jim Burke the first project manager of Ranger, the first American effort to place operating instruments on the Moon in the early 1950s, Wendell W. Mendell, Chief of the Office for Lunar & Planetary Exploration at the NASA's Johnson Space Center -- it is a company with "space cred." It all sounds "jolly good," as any space-loving Brit might say. But to take the Grand GLXP, a team must successfully soft land a privately-funded spacecraft on the Moon, rove on the lunar surface for a minimum of 500 meters, and transmit a specific set of video, images, and data back to the Earth by December 31, 2012. That is a huge challenge by anyone's measure and why the Moon, historically, has been the domain only of governments. Building the spacecraft and an autonomous rover and meeting that deadline will be extremely difficult and promises to be far more expensive than the total sum of the prize money. "It is indeed a huge challenge," noted Planetary Society Executive Director Louis D. Friedman, also a member of Odyssey Moon's advisory board. "Only the U.S. and U.S.S.R. have ever done automated rovers -- and it was after many precursor steps and several failures." There are many competent technical groups, he added, but "[a]s challenging as are the technical requirements, the financial challenge is even greater." The Moon is a stepping-stone into the solar system for governments and for the private sector, he said. "Anyone who wants to go beyond Earth must first try Moon missions and Odyssey Moon's leap forward could presage a new day of commercial ventures beyond Earth.”
Richards, who presided over the successful development of the first commercial lidar scanner flown in space, as well as the historic meteorological lidar en route to Mars onboard the Phoenix lander, seems undaunted by the level of the challenge and criteria of the competition. "We believe the Google Lunar X Prize goals are achievable," he said via email yesterday. "And we do intend to win." Odyssey Moon "will involve a unique, small robotic lander designed to deliver scientific, exploration, and commercial payloads to the surface of the Moon." But Richards and Khadem offered few details past that about the company's plans and there were no spacecraft designs models of rovers rolled out at the press conference. Richards did say that the company’s goal is to lower the cost of getting to the Moon, which he describes as "an eighth continent rich in energy and resources floating just offshore." The company intends to lower the cost "by an order of magnitude," he said, by developing the capability, then, down the road, providing lunar services. Neither Richards, nor Khadem, however, would offer their estimate on what it will cost them to get the Moon and take the Google Lunar X Prize. The first X Prize -- the Ansari X Prize -- made international headlines when Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites, financed by Microsoft entrepreneur Paul Allen, twice sent SpaceShipOne and a civilian astronaut into sub-orbital space and return him safely for the $10 million dollar purse. Created by Peter Diamandis, also a co-founder of the International Space University and a co-founder of Zero Gravity Corp., the X Prizes follow on the Orteig Prize that inspired Charles Lindbergh to take the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic in 1927. The purpose is to stimulate breakthroughs in space and other advanced technologies to "solve some of the greatest challenges facing the world today."
The Google Lunar X Prize calls on entrepreneurs, engineers, and visionaries from around the world "to return us to the lunar surface and explore this environment for the benefit of all humanity," as Peter H. Diamandis, chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation, put it last September when the GLXP was announced. Part of the mission underlying the GLXP is to "encourage and foster competition and lower cost of space travel" with a philosophy of open access, individual participation, and recognition of the importance of communicating planetary exploration to the public. The Moon is a natural destination for a variety of reasons, as legendary planetary scientist Gene Shoemaker informed audiences long ago, during the early days of Apollo. It is a stepping stone to the rest of the solar system; provides a natural storehouse of minerals and resources, including oxygen and perhaps water; offers a platform for astronomical observation; and, as a remnant of ancient Earth created from a collision between a planet-sized object and the early Earth, the Moon can inform us about Earth's geological past. Those are some of the reasons that the prize is only the first goal for Odyssey Moon, not the end objective, according to Richards. "It is not just about the prize," he stressed. "The company has been in development for over a year planning a series of missions to the Moon during the International Lunar Decade. We want to seed and lead a new market for private commercial lunar enterprise. That includes taking on the early risks and proving it can be done, then offering inexpensive and reliable lunar products and services to others. The GLXP was a catalyst -- the right thing at the right time for us to unveil our company and plans," said Richards, who envisions a kind of "Moon Rush" looming on the horizon. Despite repeated, sometimes almost hostile, questions during the press conference about the financial and technical details of how Odyssey Moon plans to make history, the company's representatives were pretty much "mum," holding the specifics close to their chests. "We are not revealing that information at this time," Richards said later, noting that Odyssey Moon "will be revealing more international partners in the coming months."
“We have put together an incredibly talented international team with substantial technical know how and financial depth who believe in the long-term responsible development of the Moon for the benefit of all humanity,” Khadem stated in the press release. At the press conference, he expounded, a little. "Are we fully funded? No, we're not," he said. "But we believe we have a robust business case, even if we don't win the prize. The prize is a bonus," he added, underscoring Richards' statements about the company's intentions to go the distance. MDA of Canada is "under contract for the initial study phase of our mission design," Richards said yesterday. "Requirements will follow from the initial studies." With decades of experience in the space business in providing robotics on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station and, more recently, in satellite servicing and planetary exploration, MDA has "the technical heritage and expertise to support Odyssey Moon's plan and make it happen," says company vice-president Christian Sallaberger. Clearly, Odyssey Moon's course has not yet been fully charted and there is much to be designed and developed and tested. Khadem announced that the company is "open to international collaboration at several levels" and still "welcomes discussion with others" that may wish to join them in their quest for the prize or "the pursuit of the company’s long-term business plans for the peaceful development of the Moon." The Planetary Society has joined the Odyssey Moon team to assist in education and public involvement as well as international and science liaison. "We will work on and coordinate with others on education and public involvement, and on science for and related to the mission," Friedman said. "Those are Planetary Society strengths built up over years of experience on various national missions, and are part of our mission statement to inspire the public and advancing exploration of the solar system." The union is one that evolved naturally. Founded in 1980 by Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray and Friedman, part of the Planetary Society's mission is to encourage government, non-government and private and public participation in the exploration of planets. The world's largest space interest group is currently also working with NASA on Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), and Japan on Kaguya, said Friedman, and "seeks to work with all who want to go to the Moon and advance peaceful exploration of the solar system" and "is willing to work with others in addition to the Odyssey team, who want to do lunar missions."
Richards, meanwhile, was once a student and special assistant of Carl Sagan, at Cornell University, and has worked with the Society on various projects over the years. Moreover, added Friedman, "we have also worked with other principals at MDA and have much respect for Ramin Khadem, Odyssey Moon's chairman." In the face of skepticism, declaring intention in the space business takes some courage in and of itself. “We applaud all the teams who have been motivated to declare their intentions to compete,” said Diamandis. "We'll see the first attempts to win this competition within the next four years," he assured reporters, who waxed skeptical when their questions about financing and design plans were not answered. "I would expect we'll see a half-dozen teams fully registered by the middle of 2008." Following the GLXP, which runs until someone wins or through 2014, the next phase plans to send humans "with the objective of permanently integrating the Moon into Earth's economic and social spheres, creating a two-world system for humanity." Although Odyssey Moon insists it is in it for "the long haul," the GLXP offers the company a "short term goal," Richards said before the press conference. "But even if we don't win, it won't heavily impact our case for continuing commercial lunar business." Despite the fact the details of the plan and the structure of the financing remain under wraps for now, the writing appears to be on the sky. Moon fever has spread beyond the governments of the United States, Russia, Japan, China, the European Union, and India and into the private sector. "Future generations will view the Google Lunar X PRIZE as the turning point of the 21st century, when humanity realized the Moon’s critical role for prosperity and survival in space and on Earth," Richards predicted. “We believe in competition and we believe in this prize."
|
||||||||||
 |
 |
||||||||||
[ what is this? ]