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GLXP Teams at the Google Headquarters in February

Chandah — Tue, 20 May 2008 12:42:41 -0700

This picture was taken at the Google headquarters at the inaugural launch when 10 teams presented themselves to the world. This is about to change. Tomorrow, more teams shall be announced, expanding the universe of explorers who aspire to go to moon!

Getting media trained at GLXP Summit

Chandah — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:48:43 -0700

Mike Fabio is my new instructor. He is teaching me how to blog using different media - putting his media lab training to work. I am having fun. It is Strasbourg after all, and ISU is buzzing this summer. The camera gifted by Google is an Ultra Series Flip that can capture videos for posting on the Youtube. Of course, there are many other sites one can post space related stuff on to once they're comfortable using that medium.

More later...

There's an idea.

Chandah — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 22:51:50 -0700

Enamored by the vision to go to moon, there seems to be no dearth of people willing to put their name in the hat to contribute. Yet, it all seems disparate. There is no one place one can go and say, "take me to moon on so-and-so date, I'll be there vacationing for 6 days on Shakleton crater, and please make sure I get a window seat". I believe that the question is not 'whether' that will ever happen - but 'when'. And the sooner we as a society ask for it - greater the chances of a critical mass gathering to support such a venture.

So, I truly believe that moon's true value is in quenching the tremendous human thirst for venturing out of the cradle and experiencing new, interesting environments.

Our culture, literature, history, and our very selves have lived with moon for a long time. Armed with the powers of observation and inference, we have perhaps even understood it well. But only cognitively - not experientially.

Question is how would such a "moon" venture work? Who would finance it? When would it break-even, and what price would the service fetch in an open market? How many people would be ready to sign up, and what extra perks would they buy? How much would insurance cost...the launch...the craft...the works? Would strong competition arise (take it from it, it ALWAYS does), or would government create rules to forbid competition?

Who knows.

However, in discussing the problem with a childhood friend, he said that he would be more than willing to pay $1MM of his family's money to ensure that his 8 year old son can go to moon in 15 to 20 years - "Moon Fund" he called it, parodying the immensely successful college fund for kids.

Now the question is how many such people exist globally, and what it would cost to set up the basic infrastructure to serve such millonaires. (For those curious, there are approx. 9MM millionaires in the world, with over 85,000 classified as 'extreme millionaires' in the +$30MM bracket).

Team CHANDAH Inaugural Entry

Chandah — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 11:29:18 -0800

Challenging technical aspects of landing a rover on the moon and getting the bionic rover to do interesting things notwithstanding, participating in the GLXP challenge has opened my eyes to a universe of concepts and people I didn't previously know existed.

Intelligent people with bold, visionary ideas and often several novel solutions to a given problem - many with PhDs and multiple interests and degrees. A LOT of vision and ingenuity - ready to serve the humanity.

Some want to create the first privately funded lunar lander, while others want to master the science behind building spacecrafts, launching them, and robotics.

Why then, despite all this brilliance and solutions, is Space still so inaccessible to the common man today? Why is the common man not “interested” in what the solar system bears in terms of our understanding of who we are and our possible destinies?

While rumination and philosophical deliberations are important – the goal of entry in GLXP is obviously to facilitate with an understanding of how a spacecraft can be built and sent to the moon with a built-in program it to do certain acts – rove, take pictures, and observe and validate existence of certain objects and phenomenons.

Yet I have a feeling that this journey will be as much a philosophical invocation as a practical excursion.

I am looking forward to the learnings, friendships, and tribulations embedded in this exciting journey, which I owe to my children, my family, and those who have helped and inspired me. Here's to new directions and experiences!!

- Adil Jafry