Author Topic: Team Indus Lunar Lander/Rover  (Read 82126 times)

Offline sanman

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Offline chota

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« Last Edit: 12/11/2017 07:41 am by chota »

Offline johnxx9

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Re: Team Indus Lunar Lander/Rover - PSLV-XL - 2018-Q1
« Reply #102 on: 12/14/2017 10:00 pm »
From the above article



Quote
#2: Propulsion system

The primary engine on the spacecraft is a liquid rocket engine with a thrust capability of 440 N for major maneuvers. It is accompanied by sixteen small 22 N thrusters for finer orbital maneuvers and directional control.

I believe the engines are from ISRO. The 440 N engine should be the LAM (Liquid Apogee Motor) and the 22 N altitude control engines should also be the ones that ISRO uses on most of its satellites needing self propulsion (GSAT, Mangalyaan to name a few). 

It is would be a sensible approach especially considering the lack of expertise & resources  in Team Indus for propulsion development and long development times for such hardware.
 

Offline cosmiste

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Re: Team Indus Lunar Lander/Rover - PSLV-XL - 2018-Q1
« Reply #103 on: 12/17/2017 07:25 am »
I believe the engines are from ISRO. The 440 N engine should be the LAM (Liquid Apogee Motor) and the 22 N altitude control engines should also be the ones that ISRO uses on most of its satellites needing self propulsion (GSAT, Mangalyaan to name a few). 

Well, the engines are from Japanese IHI. http://www.ihi.co.jp/ia/en/products/space/thruster/index.html
Not sure if they are "on the shelf" or modified version though.

Offline K210

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Re: Team Indus Lunar Lander/Rover - PSLV-XL - 2018-Q1
« Reply #104 on: 01/09/2018 03:51 am »
It's all over: https://the-ken.com/teamindus-isro-call-off-glxp/

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TeamIndus and Isro have not made it public yet but they have called off the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle launch contract signed for the GLXP mission.

 A host of issues led to this decision though primary among them is a payment cycle gone awry. A chartered PSLV flight costs anywhere between $25-30 million.

TeamIndus continues its fund-raising efforts though it’s not clear whether it would go for an independent moon mission in 2018 or later or take a different growth path altogether.

What was supposed to be a banner year for the Bengaluru company, hasn’t begun well but it could still have an expected end

As far as long shots go, this was truly a moonshot—both literally and otherwise. A true leap of faith which rallied nationalistic sentiments and tens of millions of dollars in angel funds. But in the end, this moonshot seems to have fizzled out. The launch contract that TeamIndus signed with Antrix Corporation—the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro)—in December 2016, in pursuit of its $30-million Google Lunar XPRIZE goal, has been cancelled. Multiple sources within Isro confirmed the news.


Online Steven Pietrobon

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Re: Team Indus Lunar Lander/Rover - PSLV-XL - 2018-Q1
« Reply #105 on: 01/09/2018 04:04 am »
Sad news, but I'm afraid I'm not surprised. The total prize pool of $30M is too small for an endeavour of this size.
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Offline sanman

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Re: Team Indus Lunar Lander/Rover - PSLV-XL - 2018-Q1
« Reply #106 on: 01/09/2018 08:21 am »
Wasn't Japan's Hakuto supposed to rideshare on the same flight as Team Indus? What's Hakuto's current path forward?

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: Team Indus Lunar Lander/Rover - PSLV-XL - 2018-Q1
« Reply #107 on: 01/09/2018 09:03 am »
GLXP doesn't allow funding from government agencies, but once out of race they are free to sell lander to ISRO. Given India's lunar ambitions why not use a domestic lander.


Offline K210

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Re: Team Indus Lunar Lander/Rover - PSLV-XL - 2018-Q1
« Reply #108 on: 01/09/2018 09:10 am »
Chandraayan-2 already has a indigenous lander which is a lot more capable

Online ethan829

Re: Team Indus Lunar Lander/Rover - PSLV-XL - 2018-Q1
« Reply #109 on: 01/11/2018 01:06 pm »
https://twitter.com/lorengrush/status/951454169944219649
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Checked in with Team Indus regrading those GLXP rumors and they tell me they are "still very much part of the competition." No further comment tho on their contract with ISRO

Offline Phil Stooke

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Re: Team Indus Lunar Lander/Rover - PSLV-XL - 2018-Q1
« Reply #110 on: 01/15/2018 05:31 am »
Also, on Thursday at the Lunar lander workshop at NASA Ames, a Team Indus representative was discussing a (probably) non-X Prize flight later in the year when they do get the money they need, and looking ahead to a couple of future missions.

Offline ss1_3

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Re: Team Indus Lunar Lander/Rover - PSLV-XL (TBD) - 2018 (TBD)
« Reply #111 on: 01/23/2018 12:37 pm »
It's official - Team Indus accept that they're out of race. :'(

Received below email from them. They're offering refund for any donations that were made

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2017 was a defining year for TeamIndus and as we move into the New Year, we want to thank you for walking hand in hand with us. Ours is a long journey, both in form and spirit. It comes with a unique set of challenges and obstacles but we are determined to stay on the path and remain focused on the goal.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been given to understand that launching from India is unviable. Our recent interactions with Antrix has indicated that they are not going forward with us for the launch. While that means we will not meet the current GLXP timeline of Mar 31, 2018, we intend to continue our endeavor to land a privately funded spacecraft on the Moon. We have made initial contact with launch providers overseas and will have a clearer picture of the alternatives by the end of this month.

We believe our new challenge has a silver lining – it untethers us, enabling us to push forward with renewed vigor and increased flexibility. It also strengthens our aspiration to continue going moonwards.

While we never publicly launched our engagement campaign, we are delighted to have had over 9000 people contributing Rs.500 to be a part of our journey and send their names to the Moon. We thank you for being one of them. As our launch will be delayed, we would like to offer you the opportunity to get a refund for the money we received from you.

Do confirm whether your payment card/bank account you made the payment from, continues to be your active one and if you would like the refund transferred to your account. We look forward to hearing from you within 3 days of the receipt of this mail if there is any change in the account/card number, after which we will be refunding the money to that account. 

We would love to engage with you again for the next stage of our journey and will continue to be in touch with you. Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions or thoughts you may have.

Wishing you an amazing 2018!

-TeamIndus

Offline Johnnyhinbos

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Re: Team Indus Lunar Lander/Rover - PSLV-XL (TBD) - 2018 (TBD)
« Reply #112 on: 01/23/2018 01:14 pm »
I thought the race was over regardless...
John Hanzl. Author, action / adventure www.johnhanzl.com

Offline Phil Stooke

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Re: Team Indus Lunar Lander/Rover - PSLV-XL (TBD) - 2018 (TBD)
« Reply #113 on: 01/23/2018 04:20 pm »
It is, so they are going on alone if they can find the money.  So are several other teams.  Moon Express, Astrobotic, PTScientists, probably SpaceIL.  It will be GLXP without the G or the XP.

Offline TrevorMonty



It is, so they are going on alone if they can find the money.  So are several other teams.  Moon Express, Astrobotic, PTScientists, probably SpaceIL.  It will be GLXP without the G or the XP.

The GLXP was still a success, it mission was to create commercial lunar cargo lander companies. We now have 6 lander/rover companies, some very well funded.


Offline Kryten

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Re: Team Indus Lunar Lander/Rover - PSLV-XL (TBD) - 2018 (TBD)
« Reply #115 on: 01/23/2018 04:54 pm »
The GLXP was still a success, it mission was to create commercial lunar cargo lander companies. We now have 6 lander/rover companies, some very well funded.
How many will we have a year from now? The Ansari x-prize companies generally snuffed it immediately.

Offline meberbs

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Re: Team Indus Lunar Lander/Rover - PSLV-XL (TBD) - 2018 (TBD)
« Reply #116 on: 01/23/2018 05:15 pm »
The GLXP was still a success, it mission was to create commercial lunar cargo lander companies. We now have 6 lander/rover companies, some very well funded.
How many will we have a year from now? The Ansari x-prize companies generally snuffed it immediately.
At least 2 I'd bet, maybe 4. Plus 2 other possibilities that never were part of GLXP (Blue Origin and Masten).

Moon Express should keep going, and Astrobotic has been out for a while and is still moving.

I haven't followed PTScientists closely, but they still seem active despite also being out of the competition.

Team Indus sounds like they might be able to continue.

I'd count out SpaceIL, since even if they launch once, they never intended to do more. Also counting out Synergy Moon since I haven't seen much from them and their launcher choice is questionable.

Hakuto doesn't have a lander of their own, so that should be a separate category.

Offline vyoma

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Re: Team Indus Lunar Lander/Rover - PSLV-XL (TBD) - 2018 (TBD)
« Reply #117 on: 01/24/2018 01:11 am »
GLXP is shelved: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/science/google-lunar-x-prize-moon.html

Quote
The Google Lunar X Prize competition, which has spent the past decade dangling a $20 million prize for the first privately financed venture to make it to the moon, came to a quiet end on Tuesday. Not with the ka-boom of a rocket launch or a winner beaming photos back from the lunar surface, but with a tweet and a statement.

The organizers at the X Prize Foundation conceded that none of the five remaining entrants have a chance of getting off the ground by the deadline at the end of March.
« Last Edit: 01/24/2018 01:11 am by vyoma »

Offline Phil Stooke

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Re: SHELVED: Team Indus Lunar Lander/Rover - PSLV-XL - 2018
« Reply #118 on: 03/20/2018 11:33 pm »
I'm at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference - LPSC - in (or rather, near) Houston.  Team Indus are here and they are still trying to make their mission work.  Being free of the calendar shackles of GLXP they can plan to fly when they have the funds, and that is still their intention.  In fact they are touting two additional missions after the first.  The second lander would attempt to survive the lunar night, the third might attempt a sample return from a point very close to the south pole. 

LEAG meets tomorrow.  I will look for any news of commercial lunar mission opportunities.

Offline Phil Stooke

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Re: Team Indus Lunar Lander/Rover
« Reply #119 on: 03/22/2018 12:31 pm »
More on Team Indus.  Their first mission, if it can find the funding, will include the Hakuto rover as well as their own - as previously planned for the GLXP.  But a new thing - it will add the Synergy Moon rover.  Looks like they finally got tired of waiting for Interorbital.

 

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