Author Topic: GLXP Update Thread  (Read 93322 times)

Offline Robert Thompson

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #60 on: 10/22/2012 12:40 pm »
http://evadot.com/glxpscorecard/

Moon Express and Barcelona Moon have highest score for funding.

3rd, Astrobotic intends polar ice characterization.

Offline MikeAtkinson

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #61 on: 10/22/2012 04:05 pm »

Offline Jason1701

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #62 on: 10/22/2012 04:08 pm »
http://evadot.com/glxpscorecard/

It looks like those scorecards are 2 years old.

They were stopped two months ago, see that site's homepage.

Offline Danderman

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #63 on: 11/23/2012 03:55 pm »
GLXP News: SpaceIL, Odyssey Moon Team Up

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2012/11/21/glxp-news-spaceil-odyssey-moon-team-up/

LOS ANGELES, CA, Nov 20, 2012 (SpaceIL/Odyssey Moon PR) – SpaceIL and Odyssey Moon Ltd., two teams competing in the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, announced today a joint teaming deal to pursue the competition purse. Odyssey Moon, the first team entrant in the Google Lunar X PRIZE, is joining SpaceIL, the most significant international teaming deal in the private $30 million race to the Moon. Together, the alliance formed under team SpaceIL will compete in the competition and, according to many, the most likely team to succeed in this dramatic race to the Moon.

The joint teaming arrangement is based on an innovative commercial partnership model that infuses high impact scientific missions with a commercial enterprise funding element. This dynamic partnership brings together the best characteristics of non-profit activities with commercial and entrepreneurial skill sets.

Offline Galactic Penguin SST

Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #64 on: 11/23/2012 03:57 pm »
GLXP News: SpaceIL, Odyssey Moon Team Up

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2012/11/21/glxp-news-spaceil-odyssey-moon-team-up/

LOS ANGELES, CA, Nov 20, 2012 (SpaceIL/Odyssey Moon PR) – SpaceIL and Odyssey Moon Ltd., two teams competing in the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, announced today a joint teaming deal to pursue the competition purse. Odyssey Moon, the first team entrant in the Google Lunar X PRIZE, is joining SpaceIL, the most significant international teaming deal in the private $30 million race to the Moon. Together, the alliance formed under team SpaceIL will compete in the competition and, according to many, the most likely team to succeed in this dramatic race to the Moon.

The joint teaming arrangement is based on an innovative commercial partnership model that infuses high impact scientific missions with a commercial enterprise funding element. This dynamic partnership brings together the best characteristics of non-profit activities with commercial and entrepreneurial skill sets.


I see that they still haven't book a launch yet on any rocket...... so I'm still betting that the GLXP will be won by that Spanish team....  ;)
Astronomy & spaceflight geek penguin. In a relationship w/ Space Shuttle Discovery. Current Priority: Chasing the Chinese Spaceflight Wonder Egg & A Certain Chinese Mars Rover

Offline Danderman

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #65 on: 11/27/2012 02:20 pm »
IMGO, the loss of Falcon 1 pretty much made this prize impossible to achieve. Since Falcon 9s go for more than $30 million, a dedicated launch for a lunar lander is not economically feasible. Conversely, a shared launch between a lunar lander and some other payload not going to the Moon is difficult to achieve.

Elon needs to bring back the Falcon 1 for this prize to work.

Offline koraldon

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #66 on: 11/28/2012 04:32 pm »
The falcon 1 is only suitable if you have a dedicated kickstage on your mission.
I think most, if not all, teams prefer a more energtic launcher which can do the TLI, or most of it, for you.
So the falcon 1 has no impact imho, on the prize. High costs of launchers in general, falcon 9 included, do.

Offline savuporo

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #67 on: 11/28/2012 06:25 pm »
SpaceX manifest doesnt list a single GLXP flight.
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Offline Danderman

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #68 on: 11/28/2012 06:40 pm »
The falcon 1 is only suitable if you have a dedicated kickstage on your mission.
I think most, if not all, teams prefer a more energtic launcher which can do the TLI, or most of it, for you.
So the falcon 1 has no impact imho, on the prize. High costs of launchers in general, falcon 9 included, do.

The Falcon 1 could loft considerable mass to high energy orbits. Any decent lunar lander could probably perform the final TLI  burn from HEO.

Offline Moe Grills

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #69 on: 11/28/2012 09:52 pm »
  A change of subjects...slightly.
The Israeli team vying for the GOOGLE lunar X Prize.

1) I know that they are not intending to land a rover on the Moon.

2) The hardware they are intending to land on the Moon is tiny in mass;
not much more than the mass of the Blackberry (if you have one) in your hands when the lander is devoid of braking propellant.

3) I get regular email updates from  the team.

4) My query to them as to what kind of booster they intended to use was
not answered with a direct reply, but left plenty of hints.

5) Over 150 volunteers and a tiny paid staff work on the project in Israel,
including members of the Israeli MILITARY. There's your first hint.

6) A converted-demilitarized (surplus) Jericho-1 missile/booster to serve
as first stage is the conclusion they left me to conclude.

7) Indirect confirmation of the upperstages being converted Israeli
military missiles (including converted portable antitank and antiaircraft
missiles can be drawn from one of their sponsers). 

7b) The Israeli government is 'secretly' supporting this project. Why not?
Proverbial ballistic swords into space-exploration plowshares; Israeli hardware on the Moon; something Jews in Israel would take pride in.
« Last Edit: 11/28/2012 09:55 pm by Moe Grills »

Offline koraldon

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #70 on: 11/30/2012 07:36 am »
  A change of subjects...slightly.
The Israeli team vying for the GOOGLE lunar X Prize.

1) I know that they are not intending to land a rover on the Moon.

2) The hardware they are intending to land on the Moon is tiny in mass;
not much more than the mass of the Blackberry (if you have one) in your hands when the lander is devoid of braking propellant.

3) I get regular email updates from  the team.

4) My query to them as to what kind of booster they intended to use was
not answered with a direct reply, but left plenty of hints.

5) Over 150 volunteers and a tiny paid staff work on the project in Israel,
including members of the Israeli MILITARY. There's your first hint.

6) A converted-demilitarized (surplus) Jericho-1 missile/booster to serve
as first stage is the conclusion they left me to conclude.

7) Indirect confirmation of the upperstages being converted Israeli
military missiles (including converted portable antitank and antiaircraft
missiles can be drawn from one of their sponsers). 

7b) The Israeli government is 'secretly' supporting this project. Why not?
Proverbial ballistic swords into space-exploration plowshares; Israeli hardware on the Moon; something Jews in Israel would take pride in.

1 - yep,
2 - nope, it is the size of a washing machine (roughly).
4 - When it will be formal, it will published.
5 - There are no military members in the team, except as voluanteers. Like there are pensioners, high school students, young professionals, teachers, etc... except to say that there is a military in Israel, don't see the connection.
6-7 100% Incorrect, love the conspiracy though.

Danderman, what is considerable mass?
« Last Edit: 11/30/2012 07:37 am by koraldon »

Offline Comga

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #71 on: 11/30/2012 07:33 pm »

Quote
The Falcon 1 could loft considerable mass to high energy orbits. Any decent lunar lander could probably perform the final TLI  burn from HEO.

Danderman, what is considerable mass?
This is from the April 2007 Rev 6 of the Falcon 1 Launch Vehicle Pauyload User's Guide, althought the program is no longer active.
What kind of wastrels would dump a perfectly good booster in the ocean after just one use?

Offline jongoff

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #72 on: 05/22/2013 06:01 pm »
Via Twitter (from the Space Tech Expo conference going on in LA right now):
Quote
@jeff_foust
Richards: Moon Express is "doing well." On a Series B round now; when it closes, will be at $10M raised, a key milestone. #spacetechexpo

Richards estimates cost of lander mission at $50M; worried it would be $100M. Believes can be profitable at that cost. #spacetechexpo

That puts things in perspective. So they're almost 20% of the way to the amount of funding they need. Kudos for being up-front about where they are financially though. It's pretty easy for space companies to talk about having billionaire investors and just let people assume that that means that they have a lot of money. $10M is nothing to sneeze at, but it's good to actually get some numbers from one of these companies about where they're actually at.

~Jon
« Last Edit: 05/22/2013 06:02 pm by jongoff »

Offline Warren Platts

Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #73 on: 05/22/2013 06:31 pm »
I heard they're going to change the rules so that the prize money won't be reduced if they all get beat back to lunar surface by the CNSA.
"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."--Leonardo Da Vinci

Offline Robert Thompson

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #74 on: 05/22/2013 07:15 pm »
http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/prize-details/rules-overview
"The competition's grand prize is worth $20 million. To provide an extra incentive for teams to work quickly, the grand prize value will change to $15 million whenever a government-funded mission successfully explores the lunar surface, currently projected to occur in 2013."
December 31st, 2010 ;)

I wonder what happened since then to make it look less likely that a government-funded mission to successfully explore the lunar surface would be American.

Offline Warren Platts

Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #75 on: 05/22/2013 09:39 pm »
Well, it's not really fair to penalize these small, private teams trying to make something happen with extremely limited budgets because of the actions of a big government with a trillion dollar budget.
"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."--Leonardo Da Vinci

Offline simonbp

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #76 on: 05/24/2013 05:32 am »
Via Twitter (from the Space Tech Expo conference going on in LA right now):
Quote
@jeff_foust
Richards: Moon Express is "doing well." On a Series B round now; when it closes, will be at $10M raised, a key milestone. #spacetechexpo

Richards estimates cost of lander mission at $50M; worried it would be $100M. Believes can be profitable at that cost. #spacetechexpo

That puts things in perspective. So they're almost 20% of the way to the amount of funding they need. Kudos for being up-front about where they are financially though. It's pretty easy for space companies to talk about having billionaire investors and just let people assume that that means that they have a lot of money. $10M is nothing to sneeze at, but it's good to actually get some numbers from one of these companies about where they're actually at.

~Jon

To put it further in perspective, the cheapest recent lander mission was Mars Pathfinder, at ~$150 million in 1996 dollars, or about $216 million today. So, they are basically trying to do this for a quarter the budget of Pathfinder.
« Last Edit: 05/24/2013 05:33 am by simonbp »

Offline savuporo

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #77 on: 11/10/2013 06:26 pm »
GLXP lowering expectations

Its been a long while coming, but it has been pretty obvious for years that getting together funding, team and leadership for puling off a lunar landing is just highly unlikely.
Astrobotic is probably the only org that really has anything serious going, and they keep re-scoping  and postponing their effort.
Predictably, none of the teams has booked a launch yet.

EDIT: sorry i take that back. Astrobotics claims to have a contract with Falcon 9 but it doesnt show on SpaceX manifests. Barcelona Moon claims to have a contract on Long March 2C ( cite ). Further, they claim a launch date of June 2015, or as is the tradition with most private space ventures, "we will launch two years from now".
« Last Edit: 11/10/2013 06:42 pm by savuporo »
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Online docmordrid

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #78 on: 11/11/2013 07:33 am »
With Astrobotic quoting a mission mass of <300 kg isn't it safe to assume it will be a secondary payload? ISTM that would explain he manifest issue. If so, can we work the numbers backwards and figure our what the max primary payload mass could be and attempt an ID by elimination?
DM

Offline spectre9

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #79 on: 11/12/2013 08:29 am »
I thought Moon Express was going to win and cop the financial loss.

GLXP is a good idea but the prize pool wasn't realistic enough.

There's a MASSIVE gap between suborbital trajectories and TLI and that's before you factor in the lander.


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