Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #9 February 6, 2010
Posted by Nick Azer in : Commercial Crew Development [CCDev], Google Lunar X Prize, Google Lunar X Prize Roundup, NASA , trackbackWith the cancellation of NASA’s Constellation program this week—and subsequent shift to a focus on private space—the Google Lunar X PRIZE has taken on greatly added significance, especially to Americans, as private space essentially is becoming our program. What role America plays in the integration and colonization of the Moon, will now be driven by what our private companies and citizens can accomplish.
Keep an eye here this coming week for a special look at the American Google Lunar X PRIZE efforts, and what they’re up to as they (along with companies like SpaceX) take on the mantle :)
But, without further ado, here’s your two-week edition of the GLXP Roundup!:
The X PRIZE Foundation held their third Google Lunar X PRIZE team summit! A recap:
- The X PRIZE Foundation issued a quick press release with highlights :)
- Lots of photos from the event on the official GLXP TwitPic page!
- Team Euroluna did a write-up on strategies discussed for communications-–essentially, the kinds of goodies teams post that make it onto these roundups :)
- Euroluna also posted a video about the summit.
- ARCA posted a photo of the gang.
All the other news and bits from across the spectrum:
- Popular Mechanics posted a great interview with X PRIZE Foundation Chairman and CEO Peter Diamandis on the changes for NASA. Diamandis also did an awesome guest post at the Huffington Post on the subject!
- Space systems company Sierra Nevada Corp., a member of Team Next Giant Leap, won the largest of NASA’s new CCDev (Commercial Crew Development) contracts—$20 million out of the $50 million in stimulus funds, for the development of its Dream Chaser spaceplane! (I’ll have more on those contracts this coming week…)
- Team Part Time Scientists announced a big new sponsor: Xilinx, the world’s largest supplier of programmable platforms! (Fun fact: Xilinx’s Portland, OR office may literally be visible from my apartment’s balcony…out of only 4 North American corp. offices! Low odds on that one)
- Team Micro-Space had a small NASA contract realised—a nice little milestone :)
- Team Astrobotic held a lunar expo at Carnegie Mellon University!
- The documentary “Space Tourists“, which includes ARCA team leader Dumitru Popescu, won a directing prize from Sundance!
- Paragon Space Development Corp., a partner of Team Odyssey Moon, was profiled in detail at SpaceNews.com!
- Moon Daily mentioned the GLXP in an article highlighting how Moon exploration is not dead.
- The Washington Examiner also mentioned the GLXP in an article on NASA’s shift towards private space.
- Team Odyssey Moon chief scientist Paul D. Spudis logged three interesting blog posts for his Air+Space Magazine blog, The Once and Future Moon!
- Team White Label Space looked at how many Super Bowl ads a Moon mission would cost.
- Team Astrobotic posted an update (w/ photo) on the ‘moldy’ progress of a robotic arm :)
- And last but not least, the kids’ paintings keep rolling in for Team ARCA :) (Personal anecdote #2: Have a few Romanian co-workers, and a roommate who recently spent two years there with the Peace Corps. Romania popping up at work, home, and blog!)
Phew! Tons of big stuff for that one, and virtually all of it was in only one of the two weeks. Pace should only continue with NASA’s new mandate :) Keep an eye out this week for my posts on the American GLXP efforts and on those big CCDev contracts!
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[...] February 13, 2010 Posted by Nick Azer in Uncategorized. trackback The pace continues after last week’s action-packed roundup, with plenty of Google Lunar X PRIZE goodies to go around this week—great videos [...]
[...] February 12, 2010 Posted by Nick Azer in Uncategorized. trackback The pace continues after last week’s action-packed roundup, with plenty of Google Lunar X PRIZE goodies to go around this week—great videos [...]