Quote from: DistantTemple on 04/28/2018 06:05 pmThe 5 Lunar XPrize finalists were all progressing towards small landers and rovers, and had demonstrated technology. https://lunar.xprize.org/news/blog/important-update-google-lunar-xprize They were "progressing" for a long time.
The 5 Lunar XPrize finalists were all progressing towards small landers and rovers, and had demonstrated technology. https://lunar.xprize.org/news/blog/important-update-google-lunar-xprize
Quote from: AncientU on 04/28/2018 11:33 amWhy do sample returns at all. Let's go to the surface and set up lab facilities in situ.Geologists don't even do that on Earth. I think you have a very naive view of how geoscience works.
Why do sample returns at all. Let's go to the surface and set up lab facilities in situ.
It's a little easier to return samples from anywhere on Earth.
Quote from: envy887 on 04/28/2018 09:14 pmIt's a little easier to return samples from anywhere on Earth.No matter how hard it is to return samples, it's easier than returning geologists (alive, anyway).
Go with what you have. For the next 4 years or so NASA has the landers being produced under the Lunar CATALYST initiative.
Again, Bridenstine tweeted the following AFTER the piece in The Verge. Meaning, why are people still saying it’s cancelled?https://twitter.com/jimbridenstine/status/989975389870215169?s=21
Quote from: A_M_Swallow on 04/28/2018 10:32 pmGo with what you have. For the next 4 years or so NASA has the landers being produced under the Lunar CATALYST initiative. Look up what Lunar CATALYST actually is.
Quote from: Blackstar on 04/28/2018 10:53 pmQuote from: A_M_Swallow on 04/28/2018 10:32 pmGo with what you have. For the next 4 years or so NASA has the landers being produced under the Lunar CATALYST initiative. Look up what Lunar CATALYST actually is.Lunar CATALYST is basically a cheerleading exercise. However this grand daughter of COTS is 2 years away from the Moon.
Quote from: Johnnyhinbos on 04/29/2018 01:05 amAgain, Bridenstine tweeted the following AFTER the piece in The Verge. Meaning, why are people still saying it’s cancelled?https://twitter.com/jimbridenstine/status/989975389870215169?s=21"Instruments will go forward" and "more landers, more prospectors" is not the same as "Resource Prospector is not cancelled". He is pretty much saying, we're going to start over but incorporate any useful instruments. IMO from a little reading that's a good way forward.
Quote from: A_M_Swallow on 04/29/2018 06:43 amQuote from: Blackstar on 04/28/2018 10:53 pmQuote from: A_M_Swallow on 04/28/2018 10:32 pmGo with what you have. For the next 4 years or so NASA has the landers being produced under the Lunar CATALYST initiative. Look up what Lunar CATALYST actually is.Lunar CATALYST is basically a cheerleading exercise. However this grand daughter of COTS is 2 years away from the Moon.Everything is always two years away.
All too true. The Moon Express prototype lander's launch to lunar orbit is booked for this year, 2018. I added a safety margin.
Astrobotic is willing to provide this lander for RP: https://www.astrobotic.com/griffin
Quote from: russianhalo117 on 04/29/2018 04:58 pmAstrobotic is willing to provide this lander for RP: https://www.astrobotic.com/griffinThe problem was that NASA wasn't willing to pay for a lander.
It sounds like NASA is putting in place the bureaucracy to buy lunar landers under the CLP scheme.
Quote from: A_M_Swallow on 04/30/2018 11:58 amIt sounds like NASA is putting in place the bureaucracy to buy lunar landers under the CLP scheme.I don't think that they currently know what they want to do or how to do it. They're figuring that out. But it seems like their general approach is more towards capacity building rather than hardware procurement. So they want to create an industry and a capability to transport stuff to the Moon. That's fine, but that could take a long time to do. It means encouraging the creation of new companies and new hardware and a new method of doing business. And that could take 10-15 years or more. So it really gets down to how quickly do you want to put stuff on the Moon? If you are looking to land a science payload there, you want to do that in 5-7 years. You don't want to wait 10-15 years. If you are envisioning a long-term lunar project, then developing the broader capability is probably a better bet, assuming that the next administration doesn't just come along and yank the plans down. And... this assumes that such a commercial approach is really possible. How much of its own capital is a company going to invest in this if they think that the government is the only customer? It's not the same as satellite delivery to LEO/GEO where a commercial market has existed for a long time. So this new approach may not be viable at all.