With Astrobotic quoting a mission mass of <300 kg isn't it safe to assume it will be a secondary payload?
I thought Moon Express was going to win
Quote from: docmordrid on 11/11/2013 07:33 amI thought Moon Express was going to winTweets and "social media presence" dont actually keep the spacecraft warm in space.
With Astrobotic quoting a mission mass of <300 kg
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.
Quote from: docmordrid on 11/11/2013 07:33 amWith 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
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.
“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”.
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/#newsMirror: 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.
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.
The Phoenicia‐1 launch will be scheduled for the 4th quarter of 2015.
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.
Google Lunar XPRIZE Selects Five Teams to Compete for $6 Million in Milestone Prizeshttp://www.astrowatch.net/2014/02/google-lunar-xprize-selects-five-teams.html
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.
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.
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.