Odyssey Moon Announces NASA Partnership (News) October 31, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : Current News, Google Lunar X Prize, NASA, Odyssey Moon, private sector , add a commentRight on the heels of Astrobotic‘s big announcement of the details of their commerical missions, there’s big news out of Odyssey Moon, Ltd., another Google Lunar X Prize competitor and major private lunar venture.
Odyssey Moon put forth a media release announcing a deal between them and NASA, with Odyssey Moon paying NASA for technical support on their MoonOne (M-1) Google Lunar X Prize mission. This agreement was reached through a Reimbursable Space Act Agreement, signed at the Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. As that above link notes, the difference between a ‘reimbursable’ and a ‘non-reimbursable’ Space Act Agreement is whether or not there is a transfer of funds from the private entity (here, Odyssey Moon) to NASA, with NASA providing “data, facilities and services to the paying entity.”
An important element of the agreement is that Odyssey Moon will then “share its technical data from its engineering tests and actual lunar missions with NASA”, as the release puts it. So in exchange for getting initial support from NASA, Odyssey Moon’s operational (and efficiency, a crutch of the value of the private space sector) knowledge will be utilized by NASA it it’s own colonization efforts.
Leonard David over at LiveScience.com had the inside scoop on the agreement; check out his blog post for neat insider tidbits from his own experiences at Ames and from elsewhere.
Astrobotic Technology Announces Details Galore on Series of Commercial Moon Missions (News) October 31, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : Astrobotic, Current News, dozer, Google Lunar X Prize, Integration, lander, Lunar Chariot, Obama, private sector, rover, selenography, Shackleton , add a commentToday, Astrobotic Technology (a leading contender for the Google Lunar X Prize) announced a new series of missions as part of their commercial efforts.
“Astrobotic will robotically explore the Moon’s high-interest areas on a commercial basis, collecting information required to design future outposts and to answer scientific questions about the Moon and Earth.”
-David Gump, President of Astrobotic, from their announcement
As part of the announcement, Astrobotic released a White Paper (a ‘white paper’ being an a report or guide that addresses problems and how to solve them, typically seen in business and politics) detailing their program and goals.
In addition to their initial effort for the $20 million Lunar X Prize, TranquilityTrek (which, as David Gump told Space.com for their article today, was “very clear” that it was “going to cost more to win the prize than the prize itself”), Astrobotic will follow with five more missions:
Rovers and landers are pretty commonplace ideas, but the ‘dozer‘ was a new one to me. With some digging (excuse the pun), I found an example: NASA’s Lunar Chariot prototype, which could build roads, dig trenches, or even mine minerals. There’s even some video of it in action, kicking ass and taking names on Earth:
The White Paper has oodles of details on their exact mission plans, particularly the diagram on page 3.
With the X Prize TranquilityTrek slated for Q2 2010, they’ve got their South pole scout (headed for the rim of Shackleton Crater, long considered a prime location for a moon colony) shooting for Q3 2011, with two more missions (a North Pole scout and a ‘Moon Quake 1″ seismic and weather collection mission at Shackleton) set for 2012 and an Ice Surveyor mission going deep into Shackleton itself, followed by the Lunar Dozer mission also at Shackleton Rim, both being conducted in 2013.
So, for Astrobotic alone, that’s 6 total lunar missions in the next four years. Exciting times. And this, of course (and as the White Paper notes), is just the initial slate. Most or all of the rovers will include HD video broadcasting, it sounds like, so we’ll all have a front row seat, to boot.
The general goal of the missions is to build a data library to facilitate other organizations’ (e.g., NASA; Barack Obama, in his space plan, talked of “amplifying NASA’s reach” with the private space sector) and companies’ missions with information for sale, such as detailed terrain maps, allowing future colonial efforts to simply buy the information from Astrobotic at a lower cost that it would take for the efforts to collect the data themselves.
Check out that 4-page White Paper and Astrobotic‘s site for the full skinny on their efforts, and keep an eye here for frequent updates and analysis as they (and other similar companies, such as fellow Google Lunar X Prize competitor Odyssey Moon, Ltd.) progress rapidly towards their mission slate :)
Picture of the Week: Finally Got a Plasma October 29, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : Fusion Power, Helium-3, ITER, KSTAR, Picture of the Week, South Korea , 2comments
That is an image from the Korea Times (by way of Gizmodo) of the first plasma generated by South Korea ‘s KSTAR (Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Reactor) fusion reactor.
The experiment back in June produced 2 1/2 times more plasma than anticipated, which was good news for the project and for other, similar projects, like the high-profile ~$7-14 billion ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) reactor being built in France.
Fusion power is considered a leading motivation for moon colonization, as a primary fuel for it (helium-3) is rare on Earth, but plentiful on the Moon. Seen as an ultimate power source, fusion power could be a solution to certain problems that may crop up in the next 50 years.
Last year, South Korea announced plans to launch a lunar orbiter in 2020 (similar to the craft just launched by India), so they could be getting ahead of the game with their early development of the fusion side of things.
Lunar Lander Challenge Wrap-Up October 28, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : Current News, Google Lunar X Prize, Lunar Lander Challenge 2008, Youtube , add a commentDay 2 of the 2008 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge turned out to be uneventful. The official X Prize Foundation video recap explains what happened on the only attempt of the day:
Still, it was an exciting event and a great first day, with Armadillo Aerospace taking home the $350,000 prize with a successful flight and TrueZer0 getting a launch off (which, as you’ll see in the video below from the actual craft, didn’t end as well as it started:)
Keep an eye here at Luna C/I for future event coverage as the private space boom and Base Race continue to take shape :)
NASA Test Driving New Small Pressurized Rover in Arizona (News) October 27, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : Current News, NASA, rover, Youtube , add a comment
That is a NASA image (from their EDGE blog) of their Black Point, Arizona test driving yesterday of their lunar Small Pressurized Rover concept.
In a lava-field area with many geologic similarities to the lunar surface, the new rover roared into action at speeds up to 6 mph, designed with leather seats and bunks with the ability for astronauts to take the vehicle on two-week trips. The vehicle includes “suitports” (see at right, image also from NASA’s EDGE blog), allowing the astronauts to enter and exit the rover without having to bring the suits (and the potentially dangerous dust clinging to them) in.
“Dust is the No. 1 environmental problem on the moon.”
-Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, Apollo 17 astronaut (Wired.com dust article)
This is where the name “Small Pressurized Rover” comes in–the cabin being pressurized is what allows the astronauts to not have to wear the suits inside.
The testing has been going on for a week with day-long rides (sounds like fun), with the big test coming up in a three-day jaunt, largely to test the comfort of the vehicle (sorry, no wet bar).
Check out NASA’s official page for their trademark really huge pictures and more details (including some great informational PDFs with even more images, and a short video, embedded below via Youtube:)
Lunar Lander Challenge: Day 1 Recap October 25, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : Current News, Google Lunar X Prize, Lunar Lander Challenge 2008, Youtube , add a commentDay 1 of the 2008 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge is complete, and there’s some great success out of it to recap for ya. (A location note: the event, orginally scheduled to be at Holloman Air Force Base, was recently moved to a different venue, the Las Cruces Airport).
Of the nine teams to enter the contest, two managed to make it to the point of actually getting flights in at the Challenge: Armadillo Aerospace and TrueZer0 (check out my previous post for short profiles on each).
A congrats to Armadillo Aerospace as, third time being the charm this year (after competing the last two years), they won the $350,000 prize with a successful flight (check out that Space.com/MSNBC article for a full skinny on their frustrations, including a lot of clock problems, many due to the aforementioned venue change to Las Cruces airport).
“Color me quite frustrated on several counts.”
-John Carmack, Armadillo Aerospace founder/lead engineer, and co-founder of iD software (makers of Doom, Quake), to Space.com
TrueZer0 gets something of an underdog prize, though, despite not qualifying for a prize with their Level One flight: they were already only the fourth competitor ever to get their craft off the ground (and that’s ever, including in test flights), and they had entered the competition very late. Bad news, though, in that their craft (while making it into the air) crashed and burned after 18 seconds, being lost completely.
There’s a completely awesome recap from the X Prize Foundation of Day 1 up on Youtube today, embedded below for your enjoyment:
For Day 2 coverage, there’s a live blog by Leonard David at LiveScience chronicling the events as they happen, and of course there’s the live webcast with chat and much narration by Dr. Peter Diamandis, Chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation (which as you see with the video above, is itself really interesting, to see such a wealth of dialogue from an important figure in the private space boom). As TrueZer0 was only entering Level One competition, it’s all the Armadillo show today as they go for the big one, the Level Two prize (landing on difficult lunar surface-like terrain).
Check back for more link-a-riffic coverage here as the weekend rolls on… :)
Lunar Lander Challenge: The Teams October 24, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : Current News, Event Coverage, Lunar Lander Challenge 2008, spacevidcast.com, Youtube , add a commentAs promised earlier this week, here’s a look at the teams competing in the Lunar Lander Challenge event coming up tomorrow (starting at ~630am, looks like) and Saturday (via live webcast, from a new and really cool site I hadn’t heard about previously: Spacevidcast.com).
There are a total of nine teams; today, here’s a look at (for now, four of them; I’ll update this post with the others as the night comes along)
- Acuity Technologies: Coming from Menlo Park, California (just north of Palo Alto–home of Stanford–and the rest of Silicon Valley where I happened to grow up), Acuity is one of the teams returning from last year’s event. Started in 1992, Acuity develops specialized unmanned aerial systems. Their Level One (of two; there are two difficulty levels teams can compete for, one with smooth landing pad, one with a more lunar-surface-like landing area) “Hop & Hover” offering is a Hydrogen Peroxide and Methanol-fueled craft, coming in at 210 lbs.
- Armadillo Aerospace: The only team from last year’s event to get into the air, and only narrowly missing a victory in Level One competition (7 seconds short of the required time), Armadillo is a developer of resuable rocket-powered vehicles. Their site has a lot of goodies, including everything from a blog (of sorts) to a message board. They probably also have the logo and graphic design contests in the bag ;). Their craft, MOD, is a moose, weighing 1340 pounds with ~1800 pounds of thrust.
- BonNova: An engineering design firm, they’ve developed designs for extreme conditions ranging from racecars to oil wells (and, with their specially-formed rocket team, this Lunar Challenge). Also a returning team, their leader (Allen Newcomb) has experience from the winning craft (SpaceShipOne) of the Ansari X Prize. Their craft (“Lauyad I”) is similar in size to Acuity’s (small-ish, at 200 lbs), but is using a Propane and N2O propulsion system.
- High Expectations Rocketry: With no pressure from their name, High Expectations’ team comes from Moscow, Idaho as a first-time participant in the challenge. Composed of four guys (the first three teams coming in at four, seven, and five, respectively), they look to succeed where last year’s teams came up short. They are using more medium-sized craft, with their Level One offering “ISP 1″ coming in at 350 pounds on a Nitrous oxide, nylon and propane propulsion system.
The most interesting contrast, clearly, is that none of them use the same type of fuel (and the Armadillo’s craft weighing a good 1000 pounds more than the others’; note that Armadillo were the ones to get into the air last year, and so perhaps bigger will prove better?).
Tune into that webcast over the next two days to see just how the craft do, and check out the official matchup page.
Edit: Here’s the rest of the teams, I’ll edit/update as I go along.
- Paragon Labs: This Denver-based team developed their effort in what they describe as a “skunk-works” environment, fielding a weightier 650-pound (1800-pound gross) craft (“Volkon“) with a Liquid Oxygen/Ethanol fuel (check out this article for details on that combination). Chekc our their great gallery of works-in-progress and other images.
- Team Phoenicia: With their eyes also set on the Google Lunar X Prize, probably the more poetic of the teams (and a competitor with Armadillo in the graphic design department) comes in with “The Wind At Dawn”, a 660-pound RP-1(Rocket Propellant-1)-fueled craft with 550 pounds thrust. They’ve got an oddly familiar blog (I’m workin on it, I’m workin on it…;) ) and some sweet Youtubeage to go along with their interesting literary style.
- TrueZer0: This Chicagoland 4-man team comes with with a 475-pound craft called “Ignignokt” (a name that is gloriously and amazingly not invented by the team, unlike some of the other teams’ craft that ironically sound more like real-world influences; go figure) and plenty of dry humor (and as Ignignokt shows, humor of all kinds). Poetry, humor, armadillos; this competition has it all. Their site, while minimal, has a cool narrative to it, including some more great Youtube material. Ignignokt (and I presume his fellow “Mooninites“) are fueled by Hydrogen Peroxide and Nitrogen gas.
- Unreasonable Rocket: Fellow Blogspot-dwellers, their entry to the competition was the Hydrogen Peroxide-fueled Burning Speed 80 ( for the Level One), a 300 pound craft. As that link attest to though, they were not able to get operational in time. Shooting for next year (or the constant stream of opportunity we’ll be seeing for efforts like theirs over the next decade), though, would not be unreasonable ;)
- Seraphim Works is listed as a team on the official site, but their Landr Challenge page is a “coming soon” and a quick google turned up not even a whisper, so their status is unclear (and with so little presence at this late point, they are likely not a final competing team).
I watched Armadillo’s first attempt while finishing this up (8:30 am on the 24th), and it was entertaining, as they got into the air but didn’t fit within the required time frame. Tune back in at the end of the day for a full recap of that flight and the rest of Friday’s Lunar Lander Challenge events :)
India Launches Chandrayaan 1 Moon Mission (News) October 22, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : Base Race, Bulgaria, Chandrayaan, European Space Agency, Helium-3, Indian Space Research Organization, Japan, Kaguya, Roscosmos, rover, Russia, selenography , add a commentToday, India’s Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched it’s first lunar mission, the Chandrayaan 1.
An unmanned lunar explorer (a la Japan‘s Kaguya), the Chandrayaan-1 (which is “moon craft” in Sanskrit) is set to map lunar topography in 3D, creating (as the ISRO puts it) a “3D atlas” and notably, chemical mapping of the lunar surface.
While I haven’t found any specific references to helium-3 in any Indian or other documentation of the Chandrayaan project, that prominent “chemical mapping” goal suggests that, like Russia, China, NASA, and others, India is seriously interested in the resource potential of the Moon.
The craft is carrying scientific payloads for six other organizations (check that link for specific pages for each one), including NASA, Europe’s ESA, and Bulgaria’s Space Research Institute.
This story got some big media play in the form of a huge front-page Drudge Report splash, with a huge picture of the Moon in the place usually reserved for the likes of Obama and McCain. Here’s that spectacular image (which ran with an “INDIA TO THE MOON!” headline):
I’m a little surprised at the high-profile coverage, as this Indian mission isn’t a whole lot different than JAXA‘s, which didn’t appear to get quite the same sort of media push. I think this speaks to the sort of excitement the Base Race can generate, especially as the significant 2010-2020 decade pulls closer (and as things domestically get more and more grim in the meantime).
The Chandrayaan-1 mission is expected to last for two years, with Chandrayaan-2, a joint Indo-Russian moon rover venture, shooting for 2011.
Preview: X Prize Foundation's Lunar Lander Challenge October 20, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : Google Lunar X Prize, Lunar Lander Challenge 2008 , add a comment
Coming up this week (Friday the 24th and Saturday the 25th) is an event the X Prize Foundation announced back in June: the 2008 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.
The competition, taking place at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico, challenges competing teams to successfully simulate an lunar orbit-to-surface trip, launching into the air and landing at a specified location and then making a return trip. The prize at stake is $2.5 million, making this the first of NASA’s Centennial Challenges to have a multi-million dollar purse.
There are nine teams set to compete, and the entire event will be webcast live, which should be a blast to watch. The X Prize Foundation’s got a fun little Matchups feature up to compare the teams and their offerings, and I’ll post a closer-profile look at all the teams later this week as things ramp up for the event.
Space Knights? Virgin Territory for the Pentagon October 19, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : NASA, private sector, space conflict, space tourism, spaceplane, Virgin Galactic , add a comment
The Times Online has a story today about the Pentagon planning a “spaceplane” that could deliver troops (or supplies) to an emergency zone within four hours.
