Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #12 March 23, 2010
Posted by Nick Azer in : Google Lunar X Prize, Google Lunar X Prize Roundup, property rights, Thomas Gangale , 1 comment so farIt’s time for this week’s roundup of all the latest goodies from around the Google Lunar X PRIZE…
- The official GLXP site has a new poll: Should lunar property rights be allowed on the Moon? (I commented on the poll, noting what I gathered from reading Thomas Gangale’s “The Development of Outer Space: Sovereignty and Property Rights in International Space Law“–namely that property rights on land aren’t allowed under the Outer Space Treaty, but you do own anything you can collect or mine from the commons).
- Team ARCA‘s daily video blogs keep on rolling in! Most impressive :)
- ‘Team Astrobotic announced they’ll now have room for 240 pounds of third party payloads, increased from the original 12 pounds! Astrobotic also updated the progress of their battery pack on their blog.
- The official GLXP blog, The Launch Pad, reposted a SmartBlogs.com blogger’s perspective on the GLXP SxSW panel.
- Team Synergy Moon noted that their launch provider, Interorbital Systems, is now also going to carry a payload for fellow GLXP team Euroluna! Good to see some cross-team props :)
- Team Selenokhod added a new partner: management consulting company, Project PRACTICE!
- Team c-base Open Moon also added a sponsor: TresCom Technology!
- Team Euroluna posted a video on their productive (and fun) trip to France :) They also posted an interesting video demonstration, using a run in Copehagen to illustrate the benefits of a detour (as their landing rover plans to make en route to the Moon).
- Team Part Time Scientists launched a neat contest on their Facebook page (March 15th): post an idea for their firs taction on the Moon onto their wall, and whoever’s idea gets the most /likes wins a shirt :)
- Team SELENE posted a video of an outdoor hybrid rover test!
- Team White Label Space‘s rover got front-page attention in a major Spanish-language paper, via an article on their partner, Emxys.
- Team FREDNET‘s Picorover team also got a lot of Spanish media coverage, video and otherwise. Muy bien!
- White Label Space also posted a neat look at lander thermal design and analysis.
- FREDNET also got mentioned in a National Geographic blog post on real science you can do from home.
Team Selenokhod Joins Google Lunar X PRIZE! September 27, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : Google Lunar X Prize, Kosmotras, private sector, property rights, Russia, Selenokhod, Thomas Gangale , add a comment
This past week, a new Google Lunar X PRIZE team was announced—Team Selenokhod, the first Russian team to compete!
Their website has an interesting level of detail from the get-go. They sound seriously committed to post-GLXP commercial enterprises, and they mention their launch company— ISC Kosmotras, using Dnepr rockets.
It’s exciting to have such an advanced team joining the fray (and another nationality). I’ve been reading a book by Thomas Gangale on int’l space law and property rights, and so far I’ve gathered that while nations can’t claim sovereignty, if a private enterprise from their state does, then the parent state is considered somewhat responsible for the private entity and its actions/claims. So, having a serious Russian lunar effort confirmed could mean a lot for Russia’s lunar affairs as a state (and that goes for each team, and its parent nation[s]).
Keep an eye here for updates as Team Selenokhod develops and more teams enter the 20-strong field for the prize…