MOON ΞXPRΞSS @MoonEx 5m5 minutes agoToday we unveiled our exploration architecture & plans for a robotic outpost at the south pole of the Moon by 2020. http://www.moonexpress.com
Moon Express announces plans to build lunar outpost by 2020The Moon could soon be open for business.Eric Berger - 7/12/2017, 3:30 PM
Moon Express shows off mockups, other providers' prototype hardware, and powerpoint slides. Their launch date has slipped year-for-year dating back to 2015. Why are they still getting coverage? Because they tweet?
I'd take them more seriously if they had pictures of flight hardware by now instead of just mockups and glossy ambitions.
supposedly they have built two engines.
Have they tested them?
They plan to soon, Richards said.
Yeah, they got a 980 on the SAT
Richards, standing next to a full-scale mockup of the MX-1E, said work on that initial spacecraft is going well. “We have flight hardware already,” he said, citing development of the lander’s engine, called PECO, that uses rocket-grade kerosene and high-test hydrogen peroxide propellants. Two of those engines have been built and will soon be undergoing tests.Other components of the spacecraft are either undergoing testing — its laser altimeter, Richards said, is being tested at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center — or are being manufactured. That includes the main spacecraft bus, a carbon composite “unibody” design that includes both the spacecraft structure and propellant tanks. The company did not release photos or videos of that hardware.Current plans call for integrating the spacecraft components by September at the company’s facility at the former Launch Complex 17/18 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, then shipping the spacecraft to the New Zealand launch site of Rocket Lab, which will launch the spacecraft on its Electron rocket.
The current expected launch is in less than six months, incompatible with your claim of year for year slips. Especially since expected launch was in 2017 as of 2015.
SPACE.com: When do you think your lunar lander could be ready?Jain: Our team has proven out many of our critical subsystems of our lunar lander systems through rapid prototyping and will be proceeding on [an] accelerated flight program to meet our goal of a late 2013 or early 2014 launch to the moon.
Meanwhile, at Moon Express, Mr. Jain’s imagination runs wild. A robot could scrawl a marriage proposal in the lunar dust, take a picture and send it to the customer’s beloved back on Earth. A time capsule filled with mementos or a strand of someone’s hair — and DNA — could be sent to the Moon, where it would persist, pristine in the airless environs.
Quote from: meberbs on 07/12/2017 06:16 pmThe current expected launch is in less than six months, incompatible with your claim of year for year slips. Especially since expected launch was in 2017 as of 2015.Aricle from November, 2011https://www.space.com/13615-moon-express-lunar-lander-naveen-jain-interview.htmlQuote SPACE.com: When do you think your lunar lander could be ready?Jain: Our team has proven out many of our critical subsystems of our lunar lander systems through rapid prototyping and will be proceeding on [an] accelerated flight program to meet our goal of a late 2013 or early 2014 launch to the moon.
Richards admitted that the schedule was tight, both for spacecraft assembly and launch, in order to meet the deadline in the $20 million Google Lunar X Prize competition of launching by the end of the year. “We have a lot to do in a very short timeframe, and Rocket Lab has a lot to do in a very short timeframe,” he said.
Quote from: synchrotron on 07/12/2017 05:59 pmMoon Express shows off mockups, other providers' prototype hardware, and powerpoint slides. Their launch date has slipped year-for-year dating back to 2015. Why are they still getting coverage? Because they tweet?They are still getting coverage because your statements about them are false. They have done tests including powered landing tests on their own hardware. The current expected launch is in less than six months, incompatible with your claim of year for year slips. Especially since expected launch was in 2017 as of 2015.Maybe you have them confused for some other company.edit: typo
Quote from: meberbs on 07/12/2017 06:16 pmThe current expected launch is in less than six months, incompatible with your claim of year for year slips. Especially since expected launch was in 2017 as of 2015.Aricle from November, 2011https://www.space.com/13615-moon-express-lunar-lander-naveen-jain-interview.htmlQuote SPACE.com: When do you think your lunar lander could be ready?Jain: Our team has proven out many of our critical subsystems of our lunar lander systems through rapid prototyping and will be proceeding on [an] accelerated flight program to meet our goal of a late 2013 or early 2014 launch to the moon.EDIT: i think this right here also describes the problem:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/22/science/space/22moon.htmlQuoteMeanwhile, at Moon Express, Mr. Jain’s imagination runs wild. A robot could scrawl a marriage proposal in the lunar dust, take a picture and send it to the customer’s beloved back on Earth. A time capsule filled with mementos or a strand of someone’s hair — and DNA — could be sent to the Moon, where it would persist, pristine in the airless environs.The imagination in that team, from founders and investors and executives does run far ahead from the art of feasible.
Quote from: savuporo on 07/12/2017 06:59 pmQuote from: meberbs on 07/12/2017 06:16 pmThe current expected launch is in less than six months, incompatible with your claim of year for year slips. Especially since expected launch was in 2017 as of 2015.Aricle from November, 2011https://www.space.com/13615-moon-express-lunar-lander-naveen-jain-interview.htmlQuote SPACE.com: When do you think your lunar lander could be ready?Jain: Our team has proven out many of our critical subsystems of our lunar lander systems through rapid prototyping and will be proceeding on [an] accelerated flight program to meet our goal of a late 2013 or early 2014 launch to the moon.To summarize the status:2011: 2 - 2.5 years away2015: 2 years away2017: 6 months awayYear for year slips is not a valid complaint, at least not anymore.This doesn't mean that I don't think their current schedule for completion isn't optimistic given their current status, but that is the case for basically any aerospace project.-- Noting that the sentence above has a triple negative in it - yes, their schedule is probably still optimistic.
Quote from: meberbs on 07/12/2017 06:16 pmQuote from: synchrotron on 07/12/2017 05:59 pmMoon Express shows off mockups, other providers' prototype hardware, and powerpoint slides. Their launch date has slipped year-for-year dating back to 2015. Why are they still getting coverage? Because they tweet?They are still getting coverage because your statements about them are false. They have done tests including powered landing tests on their own hardware. The current expected launch is in less than six months, incompatible with your claim of year for year slips. Especially since expected launch was in 2017 as of 2015.Maybe you have them confused for some other company.edit: typoIncorrect. Better check which post has the false statements. Moon Express did not develop the landing technology. It's out of Ames. They have not funded it and they are not the design authority.
.. I am more concerned with the constant changes (similarly for Astrobotic).