Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.
RECENT POSTS
- Mars Rover: Stuck in the Mud
- Tranquility Base
- NASA's Ares 1-X Test: The View From Above
- The Yes Men
- The Missing Link -- Not
- Moon Crash Kicked Up Plume After All
- Moon Crash: Where's the Water?
- Green Apple: Firm is Latest to Leave U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- Recovery.gov: Your Tax Dollars at Work
- Climate: Power Companies Quit U.S Chamber of Commerce
MONTHLY ARCHIVES
« Previous | Main | Next »
Moon 2.0
December 07, 2007 4:23 PM
The latest version of the X Prize is backed by Google: $20 million to the first private enterprise that can land a robotic rover on the lunar surface, send back images and data, and travel at least 500 meters--with more rewards if it can find artifacts from the early days of lunar exploration, when only the U.S. and Soviet governments could afford to send probes.
The Apollo landings and the probes that preceded them were, to the X Prize managers, "Moon 1.0"--done by Cold War powers in an expensive rush, with no long-term plan to stay and mine the moon for whatever it had to offer. Now comes Moon 2.0.
"The Google Lunar X PRIZE is an unprecedented international competition that will challenge and inspire engineers and entrepreneurs from around the world to develop low-cost methods of robotic space exploration." say the backers.
They now have their first applicant: an operation called Odyssey Moon, founded by Robert Richards, an entrepreneur who's also founded the International Space University in France.
"The Moon is a stepping stone to the rest of the solar system and a source of solutions to some of the most pressing environmental problems that we face on Earth -– energy independence and climate change. Moon 2.0 will begin with robotic explorers that will deliver new knowledge about the Moon and the Earth. They will be followed by people with the goal of permanently integrating the Moon into Earth’s economic and social spheres, creating a two-world system for human growth and prosperity," says Odyssey Moon.
In the meantime (using a lot of NASA imagery), Odyssey Moon has produced a very pretty eight-minute video, which can be found HERE on YouTube.
Will any of this happen before NASA's Constellation Project reaches the moon with similar goals to mine the soil and explore beyond? Google's offer expires in 2014, about the time Constellation expects to launch astronauts.
December 7, 2007 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (10)
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
I sure hope so. We could have been to Mars and the like by now if we'd have put our minds to it. But we've been so worried about alot of other things, and space exploration seems to always be on the back burner. I think its great to see that private industries are starting to see the economic value of space exploration. I sure wish I could help out in any of these projects.
Posted by: Lawrence | Dec 7, 2007 5:06:22 PM
May the best team win!
Posted by: Daleri | Dec 8, 2007 3:52:43 AM
Please! A robust, economically viable space station is more immediately important than a lunar colony. It's more fuel friendly, makes more sense as a stepping stone, and overall would give us a more flexible presence in space.
So how about a prize for money-making low gravity industry or other enterprise? Moon 1.0 or Space 1999 - the future really begins with the best next step, whatever the first one happened to be....
Posted by: Greg | Dec 8, 2007 9:37:58 AM
Don't kid yourselves. Mankind will fight ever-increasing wars for even fewer resources until civilization collapses and those who are left become nomadic tribes again. Eventually all knowledge of our spacefaring society will be lost and the remnants of the human race will be destroyed in a few billion years when the sun turns into a red giant and consumes the earth. That is our future.
Posted by: RIP | Dec 8, 2007 2:51:31 PM
Silly as it may seem, I just watched The Astronaut Farmer last night. Why can it not be THAT easy to get back up there? Technology exists today that I would join any crew in a heartbeat to go up yonder.........
Posted by: Tim | Dec 9, 2007 11:21:42 AM
RIP, while giving a darned good impression of a Gloomy Gus, is right both in the short-term view and the longer term view. But between now and then, we humans owe it to ourselves to carry on, regardless. We can't just give up, willy-nilly. Who knows, someone just may come up with a solution to our earthly problems, so we can get on with the business of being human beings.
And Tim, I seem to remember a movie called, "The Mouse on the Moon." Another example of people giving a darned good example of what can be done with minimal resources. It takes only cooperation and a willingness to forego our differences to arrive at a mutually beneficial solution.
I wish the best of luck to any people or organization who decide to embark on such a course.
Posted by: Andy | Dec 9, 2007 12:52:42 PM
Anyone else who's worked out the Rocket Equation (see wikipedia) will realize that chemical rocketry is too expensive to be commercially viable.
It's saving virtue is how quickly it can get to orbit.
The Space Elevator Games, however, show us that for less than 20 billion dollars, we could send people and materials into orbit in 13 ton increments.
Go far enough out the tether and you can launch to the moon or Mars without using a rocket.
Moreover, NASA has a side bet on the space elevator games. Maybe given enough sustained public outrage they'd be forced to open space to commercialization like they were supposed to do.
Posted by: Matt | Dec 9, 2007 7:12:45 PM
I think this prize provides real incentive for the worlds scientist and engineers to revisit the moon. Living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania I know Carnegie Melon University will play a big part in this competition. I also hope they continue their research on an autonomous vehicle that will someday benefit individuals with disabilities and society at large.
Posted by: greg | Dec 10, 2007 7:09:41 AM
Basically, if we aren't going to do anything about overpopulation on Earth, we better start right now, looking for another planet to inhabit, because we are rapidly killing this one.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | Dec 18, 2007 3:52:49 PM
The moon mission on the Solar Planet appears to be on the wrong course if one searches more closely through Cosmology Research with an objective approach
Posted by: Vidyardhi Nanduri | Jan 4, 2008 10:54:54 AM
Post a comment
