Operator: Axiom Research LabsRegistered Team: Team Indus, a Google Lunar X Prize teamMission type: Lunar RoverProposed Launch date: Q4-2015Proposed trajectory: 9 Steps to Moon1. G1 Initial Orbit: 880 x 71,000 km2. G2 48 hours3. G3 144 hours4. G4 Lunar Transfer Trajectory5. S1 Initial Lunar orbit with capture burn of 250 seconds6. S2 Orbit lowered to 3500 km apolune7. S3 Parking orbit 100 x 100 km8. S4 Orbit lowered 12.6 km perilune9. Descent Trajectory braking from 1.7 km/sLaunch vehicle:PSLV operated by ISRO (proposed)Launch site:SDSC, Sriharikota (proposed)Mission duration:Flight duration: 30 daysSurface operations: 10-15 daysOrbital parameters:Earth Inclination : 19.2 degreesMoon Inclination: 143 degreesArgument of Perigee: 178 degreesDelta V:Orbital 1270 m/sDescent 1940 m/sNet 3210 m/sMass:Lift off Mass: ~ 600kgsPropellant Mass: ~ 404 kgLanded Mass: ~210 kgTotal Lunar Payload mass: ~ 20kgs
The new investors in the venture include Subrata Mitra & Shekhar Kirani of Accel Partners (they have invested in their individual capacities), Sharad Sharma, former Yahoo India R&D head, Vivek Raghavan, chief product manager of UIDAI (the Aadhaar project), Pallaw Sharma, director of analytics at Microsoft based in Redmond, Bala Parthasarthy, serial entrepreneur and part of the AngelPrime angel investor group, Sunil Kalra, entrepreneur & investor, Paras Chopra and Pallav Nadhani, both founders of successful startups.
The Google Lunar XPrize, which carries $40 million in prize money, also requires that a rover will dismount from the landing craft and travel 500 metres on the lunar surface, and take high quality images.
Going by the latest reviews of the project by top space scientists, Team Indus could well achieve its mission. V Adimurthy, a senior ISRO advisor and designer of the Mars orbiter mission, said about two years ago, when he first met Team Indus, there were many loose ends. "Three months ago there was another review, and what I saw made very good sense. It has become a very feasible project, and I think they can do it," he said.
For Team Indus, a huge boost came in February, when Google Lunar XPrize named the team among the five finalists for what it called milestone prizes -teams that had achieved certain technological landmarks and appeared closest to reaching the final objective. Team Indus was among three named for the landing system and among four named for the imaging system. Only two US teams -Astrobotic and Moon Express -were named in all three categories, including the rover. Since the landing system is regarded the most complicated and carried the highest prize money (of $1 million), Team Indus was seen as No. 3 in the race.
Another big boost came three months ago when senior Indian space scientists did a design review and showered the team with praises. "We had tears in our eyes when we heard the fantastic evaluation," says Narayan. V Adimurthy, the Mars orbiter mission designer for ISRO, has recommended to ISRO that Team Indus be provided launch network and ground services. Team Indus will also need ISRO's launch vehicle when the project is ready, and lots more funding in the months to come.
The 9 awarded Milestone Prizes are as follows:Astrobotic (US): IMAGING ($250,000), MOBILITY ($500,000), LANDING ($1M)Hakuto (Japan): MOBILITY ($500,000)Moon Express (US): IMAGING ($250,000), LANDING ($1M)Part-Time Scientists (Germany): IMAGING ($250,000), MOBILITY ($500,000)Team Indus (India): LANDING ($1M)
From the Indiatimes link"Team Indus requires $35 million to build the final pieces and launch the craft."With $25M left in the prize pot, that means that Team Indus will be $10M in the red, even if they win!
So you don't now anticipate any funding challenges?(The team needs about $35 million.) It will still be a challenge. But the good news is, some of our ideas and theories stand validated. We hope to get one large global consumer brand to sponsor half of our requirements. The other half we will raise through equity . For that, the support I have seen among Silicon Valley entrepreneurs gives hope.
Quote from: Steven Pietrobon on 01/27/2015 06:43 amFrom the Indiatimes link"Team Indus requires $35 million to build the final pieces and launch the craft."With $25M left in the prize pot, that means that Team Indus will be $10M in the red, even if they win!I am guessing that none of the teams can hope to get out of the red, hope Google will increase the prize money.
We will land on the moon, being first will be icing on the cake: Rahul Narayan
We will definitely land on the moon. It will be icing on the cake to be the first one to do it. We are not the kind of people who are happy to settle for second place.
Quote from: seshagirib on 01/28/2015 03:17 pmQuote from: Steven Pietrobon on 01/27/2015 06:43 amFrom the Indiatimes link"Team Indus requires $35 million to build the final pieces and launch the craft."With $25M left in the prize pot, that means that Team Indus will be $10M in the red, even if they win!I am guessing that none of the teams can hope to get out of the red, hope Google will increase the prize money.Yeah, the fatal flaw in the GLXP is that the prize amounts are just too low to justify the cost.If SpaceX can manage to greatly lower launch costs, maybe the current prize amounts would make sense in 5 or 10 years, but not today.
Quote from: ChrisWilson68 on 02/10/2015 04:14 amQuote from: seshagirib on 01/28/2015 03:17 pmQuote from: Steven Pietrobon on 01/27/2015 06:43 amFrom the Indiatimes link"Team Indus requires $35 million to build the final pieces and launch the craft."With $25M left in the prize pot, that means that Team Indus will be $10M in the red, even if they win!I am guessing that none of the teams can hope to get out of the red, hope Google will increase the prize money.Yeah, the fatal flaw in the GLXP is that the prize amounts are just too low to justify the cost.If SpaceX can manage to greatly lower launch costs, maybe the current prize amounts would make sense in 5 or 10 years, but not today.Listen to latest TMRO (spacevidcast) show in regards to the prize amount. It was never designed for winning team to get rich.
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/science/features/eyes-on-the-xprize-inside-team-indus-indias-moonshot-thinkers-784239
A name with less than 24 characters will be micro-etched on a 2 inch by 2 inch black cube, which, along with a rover ( a small tank-like robot) will be dropped on the moon by a capsule (spacecraft)Team Indus is looking to micro-etch 1.4 million names on the tiny cube. At Rs 500 collected for every name, it would earn the company Rs 70 crore , a sort of crowdfunding initiative...But Rs 70 crore is still less than the total estimated project cost of $70-80 million (over Rs 400 crore).Team Indus is in talks with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to carry the rover on a PSLV ( Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) sometime around September 2017. The deal is likely to be signed within two months....Former Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani, Flipkarts Sachin Bansal and automobile designer Dilip Chabria have reportedly started funding the project.