Author Topic: GLXP Update Thread  (Read 93330 times)

Offline savuporo

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #80 on: 11/12/2013 02:45 pm »
With Astrobotic quoting a mission mass of <300 kg isn't it safe to assume it will be a secondary payload?
Mission mass is what, mass lifted to LEO or put through TLI ? Looking at the hardware they have shown, its hard to believe their lander fully fueled and rover together will be < 300kg.

Quote
I thought Moon Express was going to win
Tweets and "social media presence" dont actually keep the spacecraft warm in space.
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Offline Kryten

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #81 on: 11/12/2013 10:24 pm »
 Do we have any idea what Barcelona Moon Team's actual relationship with CAST is? They list CGWIG (a CAST subsidiary) as a sponsor rather than as 'contractor' or anything of that sort-is there a possibility they're actually getting subsidised/free support from CAST/CGWIG?

Offline Garrett

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #82 on: 11/13/2013 09:33 am »
I thought Moon Express was going to win
Tweets and "social media presence" dont actually keep the spacecraft warm in space.
ME seems to be ticking along quite nicely. They have a very significant test coming up tomorrow: a GNC closed loop test on NASA's Mighty Eagle robotic lander.
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Offline savuporo

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #83 on: 11/13/2013 04:01 pm »
With Astrobotic quoting a mission mass of <300 kg
Where did you get that number by the way ? From their website:
Lander Mass: 525kg
(Red) Rover Mass: 80kg

ME seems to be ticking along quite nicely. They have a very significant test coming up tomorrow: a GNC closed loop test on NASA's Mighty Eagle robotic lander.
Yeah i'm probably overly critical ( due their omnipresent self-hype that gets slightly obnoxious at times ), as they do seem to be putting together some hardware, although real details are hard to come across - and they are probably keeping it that way intentionally. According to LinkedIn, they do have about a dozen engineers of various disciplines working in their Moffet Field location.
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Offline docmordrid

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #84 on: 11/14/2013 09:25 am »
With Astrobotic quoting a mission mass of <300 kg
Where did you get that number by the way ? From their website:
Lander Mass: 525kg
(Red) Rover Mass: 80kg

From an apparently outdated page at GLXP.


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Offline Garrett

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #85 on: 11/19/2013 09:10 am »
The Mighty Eagle has Landed (with Moon Express GNC)
www.googlelunarxprize.org - Moon Express Blog -  Bob Richards - Nov 14, 2013 04:57 PM
http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/teams/moon-express/blog/mighty-eagle-has-landed-moon-express-gnc

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Today the NASA Mighty Eagle prototype lunar lander took flight for the first time with Moon Express navigation and control (GNC) software in the driver’s seat.

In a relatively brief (in human terms) flight, our GNC software successfully controlled the vehicle in a tethered hover flight and landed with all nerves and pieces intact.

Of course today’s flight was actually a relatively conservative logical next step beyond our September 20th open loop free flight test, and was a very carefully planned event supported by high confidence at Moon Express and NASA due to many rigorous simulations, reviews and empirical data.  Still, spacecraft GNC involves highly complex software algorithms and the vehicle itself is in a high energy state where safety has no room for compromise. We congratulate our GNC team for a job well done, particularly our Principal GNC Engineer Jim Kaidy and Software Engineer Mike Stewart (pictured here with the Mighty Eagle today), and we continue to be impressed and appreciative of the support and professionalism of the Mighty Eagle team.

The second pic from today's flight test shows the "Mighty Eagle" going through its pre-flight "burp sequence" where it basically warms up the rocket engines. You can see the tethers attaching the vehicle to its launch pad. As today's test was about validating our GNC software logic and command sequences, not about flying high, the use of tethers is a standard and logical safety measure in early flight software testing.

We hope to be able to share further pics and videos soon once released from NASA.

We will be analyzing the flight data with NASA over the coming days and determine whether we are ready to move on to a closed loop free flight test. We have certainly learned a lot in this flight test series and NASA Marshall and its Mighty Eagle team have been very supportive and helpful throughout. The entire experience has been a great example of collaborative efforts between NASA and the private sector to advance new capabilities of mutual benefit.

We’ll post more news as we come to understand the volumes of data arising from today’s test flight, and meanwhile you can continue to follow the Moon Express / Mighty Eagle post-flight test news through Twitter at @NASAMightyEagle and @Moon_Ex.
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Offline savuporo

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #86 on: 11/29/2013 11:53 pm »
http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/teams/barcelona-moon-team/blog/barcelona-moon-team-unveils-new-lander-and-rover-modules

This is not flight hardware, but engineering models.
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“These are previous models to study the mechanics and some of the subsystems such as the guidance and control, power and communications” said Claramunt, “after them, the qualification and flight models will be built, tested, and finally will travel to the Moon by mid 2015”.

I think most of the teams will choke after they actually start trying to run their machines on space rated electronics. The expenses will go up by multiple  factors, and using commercial off the shelf electronics like a lot of cubesats are doing is likely not an option.

EDIT: Another recent update,
http://lunarlion.psu.edu/press-release-roaring-to-the-moon-lunar-lion-pays-launch-reservation-fee/

This is one GLXP team paying another ex-GLXP team fees for payload manifesting, but no actual booking of the launch has apparently occured yet. Team Phoenicia claims they have more customers in the rack, soon to be disclosed.
« Last Edit: 11/30/2013 12:03 am by savuporo »
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Offline Garrett

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #87 on: 12/09/2013 06:09 pm »
As it's relevant to the GLXP, am copying this over from the Moon Express MX-1 announcement thread:
About the size of a large coffee table, the MX-1 is a completely self-contained single stage spacecraft that can reach the surface of the Moon from a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) commonly used to place communications satellites above the Earth. It is also designed to be a flexible spacecraft platform that can support a number of applications including serving as a flexible, agile upper stage for existing launch systems enabling Earth orbit cubesat deployment, satellite servicing, and "space tug" applications such as cleaning up space debris.

Full press release: http://moonexpress.com/#news
Mirror: http://spaceref.biz/2013/12/moon-express-unveils-breakthrough-mx-1-commercial-lunar-lander.html
--
It uses HTP/RP-1 and is being built by Tim Pickens in Huntsville, Alabama.
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Offline savuporo

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #88 on: 12/10/2013 11:59 pm »
http://www.parabolicarc.com/2013/12/10/51021/
"Team Phoenicia Inks Deal for Space Traffic Control Services"
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Team Phoenicia will provide launch opportunities to Pennsylvania State University’s Lunar Lion Google Lunar X PRIZE team, California Polytechnical University at San Luis Obispo, Tyvak Nanosatellite Systems and Spaceflight Services, Inc. on the Phoenicia-­‐1 (P-­‐1) mission using a commercial domestic launch vehicle. The launch will carry over twenty small satellite payloads and potentially up to 75 cubesat payloads.

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The Phoenicia‐1 launch will be scheduled for the 4th quarter of 2015.

i.e. two years from now. Which domestic, commercial launch vehicle may still have a slot open for 2015 Q4 launch ? And where on earth are they going to find 75 paying cubesat customers.
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Offline savuporo

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Offline savuporo

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #90 on: 12/17/2013 10:00 pm »
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/moon-mars/the-lunar-x-prize-heats-up-16278801

Five further teams drop out, PopMech constructs this as "heating up". Apparently they have a requirement to submit their launch schedules 18 months before flight - so that leaves about next 6 months for announcements.
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Offline Warren Platts

Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #91 on: 12/19/2013 06:45 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.

http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/prize-details/rules-overview

No mention now of the $5 million penalty for coming in 2nd place after China. ;D
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Offline Bubbinski

Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #92 on: 02/16/2014 03:08 am »
The Clark Planetarium is showing a new film narrated by Tim Allen called "Going to the Moon For Good".  It's about the GLXP and discussed some of the 30 teams involved along with the basic rules. I knew next to nothing about this prize before I saw this today, and I learned a lot more from this thread and searching online after I got home.  The show did a good job with the graphics, describing some of the concepts, and describing the basics, and was a good production, I enjoyed seeing it.

However after I got home and researched the GLXP site, I found that some of the teams had withdrawn, I don't recall that being mentioned in the show.  The show sounded pretty optimistic about the whole thing.  I hope someone wins this or at least launches but they have till Dec 2015 (also not mentioned in the show as I recall, unless I missed something).  If there's no one ready to go soon might Google push back the deadline?

Good luck to all the GLXP competitors!
« Last Edit: 02/16/2014 03:12 am by Bubbinski »
I'll even excitedly look forward to "flags and footprints" and suborbital missions. Just fly...somewhere.

Offline Robert Thompson

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #93 on: 02/22/2014 11:53 am »
Google Lunar XPRIZE Selects Five Teams to Compete for $6 Million in Milestone Prizes
http://www.astrowatch.net/2014/02/google-lunar-xprize-selects-five-teams.html

Offline Jcc

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #94 on: 02/22/2014 12:27 pm »
Google Lunar XPRIZE Selects Five Teams to Compete for $6 Million in Milestone Prizes
http://www.astrowatch.net/2014/02/google-lunar-xprize-selects-five-teams.html

Nice!
The only thing I don't get (OK, maybe not the only thing) is who pays for the launcher? The cheapest launch system capable of reaching the moon would exceed the whole $40M purse.
Could some of them go as a secondary payload on another launch, in which case they would need a hefty kick motor to get to LTO.

Offline QuantumG

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #95 on: 02/22/2014 08:43 pm »
Could some of them go as a secondary payload on another launch, in which case they would need a hefty kick motor to get to LTO.

Most of them are, and no, you don't need a "hefty kick motor" to go from GTO to LTO. Going to lunar orbit is about the same delta-v as going from GTO to GEO.
Human spaceflight is basically just LARPing now.

Offline savuporo

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #96 on: 06/05/2014 03:39 am »
GLXP teams are at summit in Budapest, and seems like they are getting really really serious now.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/aerospace/robotic-exploration/google-lunar-x-prize-summit
Quote
No teams have announced firm launch dates, but of the 18 participants, a group of five teams has demonstrated good progress...

One highlight of this year's summit is the variety of additional projects the teams have taken on, in part to fund their expensive missions...

Astrobotic, the Carnegie Mellon spin-off, announced this week that its lunar vehicle will carry a capsule provided by a Japanese beverage maker. The capsule will contain titanium plates with notes written by children, and it will also include a powder package of Pocari Sweat, a sports drink. Astrobotic says this is the first marketing campaign to be delivered on the moon.

But that wasn't the only lunar stunt discussed at the summit. Swedish artist Mikael Genberg saw the moon race as the perfect opportunity for an art project. His idea: building a traditional Swedish house on the moon.

Seems like they are all sorted now.
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Offline oiorionsbelt

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #97 on: 06/05/2014 03:52 pm »

But that wasn't the only lunar stunt discussed at the summit. Swedish artist Mikael Genberg saw the moon race as the perfect opportunity for an art project. His idea: building a traditional Swedish house on the moon.
What the heck, this on the Moon is art?

Online TrevorMonty

Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #98 on: 09/19/2014 10:18 am »
Astrobotic Lunar Lava Cave exploration.

This is video of the mission Astrobotic plan on their first landing. Landing successfully would be great but being able to explore a lava cave will be so much cooler.

http://www.livestream.com/newchannel/popoutplayer?channel=niac2014&clip=pla_ab831db4-57fb-48a8-a95e-0ad43f4d9f76

Offline symbios

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Re: GLXP Update Thread
« Reply #99 on: 09/19/2014 11:17 am »
This is the project in question, picture from google images

http://themoonhouse.com/en

Edit: Added link
« Last Edit: 09/19/2014 11:18 am by symbios »
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