A lot has been talked about with regard to launch rocketry, transit vehicles, and rovers, but all of that is meaningless if you can't actually land on the Moon.

Minimum velocity to approach the Moon without retro-rockets is 2 KPS, or about 6000 feet per second - twice the speed of a high-speed rifle bullet. Slowing that down and then making a landing where the rover actually survives in one, functional piece, is the real trick.

Launch rockets are prolific. For enough money, anyone can easily buy their way into space. Satellite buses are also, basically, off-the-shelf, again for enough money (or if you can get someone to donate it). Rovers are a known quantity, require little or no autonomy, and with the right hardening against lunar conditions, a shielded toy R/C truck with the right HD camera and transmitter (also off the shelf) could, in theory, do the minimums to win this Prize (no sense in sending a TV truck).

The key is in landing.

Team LunaTrex is looking at various approaches to the landing, which require little complexity and which also require a rover design to be able to handle some impact should things not go perfectly. We intend to design with a lot of "margin" and we think this is a winning strategy.

Could a rover survive a 2 kps impact on the Moon? We don't know, and are guessing probably not, but maybe. There are circuitry systems that, for example, are made to guide artillery shells which are rated to 100,000 G. This should be sufficient to handle a 2 kps impact, but then you have to look at the mechanicals. Can we think outside of the box on that? Could it be possible to eliminate the lander altogether and simply "crater it in"?

Again, we don't really think so, but if we keep that in the cards, we can design for some impact, in case things with a lander go awry. It's likely we will only get one shot at the Moon on this competition; it needs to be right the first time, and within the first time, we need to give ourselves second chances.

LunaTrex has one rover design that has some promise. It's like nothing ever seen before. No wheels, no legs, it's not a sphere, and no, it does not "hop". Nothing we can share at this point, but at some time in the future, if we finalize it, we may release information on it. We are currently running a provisional patent process on it.

Our thought is that if we can build a system that optimizes our first shot, and we succeed, it won't be our last shot. If we fail in the first shot, it is likely our last shot - at least for some time to come. We must retain the confidence of our sponsors, and be utterly outside of the box thinkers in order to give this effort every chance to succeed. No amount of money will buy what it takes to creatively solve this challenge.

Clear Skies,

Pete

Pete Bitar, LunaTrex Team Leader