Google Lunar X PRIZE, 2/28/2008

I am surprised by how little attention the other competitors give to the Lunar Lander question. This specific development has kept us busy for the last two years, even though it relies on hardware we had perfected in flight operations dating back 6 years!

This is of course one subsystem which can not be purchased “off the shelf”, for no usable system (with storable propellants) has been flown in several decades. New development (or redevelopment) is required. It is unlikely that a large organization can accomplish this at appropriate costs, when all their organizational overhead is included. In any case, the operational system will have development costs which are a multiple of the development cost of its liquid fuel motors, and any organization which has not accomplished the later has no financial history upon which to base an estimate for this system's development.

We may, of course, be surprised by “Intrepreneurial” efforts (innovative management WITHIN an organization) which shatter all historic precedents in this field.

We are preparing our integrated Lunar Lander vehicle for flight tests, and have in place “Hardware in the Loop” simulators to practice control procedures.

As mentioned previously, we expanded our focus to include Manned Spaceflight when we registered in the original X PRIZE competition, and retain that broader focus. With 300 pounds of fuel, our lander will be able to land an astronaut on the Moon. (With 900 pounds of fuel, it will lift an astronaut from Mars to rendezvous orbit). With only 50 pounds of fuel, it will land itself and a low mass rover on the Moon. Customized clusters of fuel tanks allow use in a wide range of applications.

It is our expectation that inclusion of these groundbreaking goals in our development plan will make funding easier to obtain. For discussion of progress of our “Deep Space” life support components, see

< http://spacefellowship.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=1155&start=225>.

Space Demonstration COSTS Multiply:

As reported in our first BLOG the situation for cost effective development and demonstration of innovative technologies in space, continues to deteriorate.

Arianespace, in spite of attractive information on their website, informed me earlier this month that they no longer offered the affordable “Auxiliary Payload Service”. Recent follow up phone calls make it clear that this service will be offered in the future, with the word “Affordable” deleted.

A telephone call from Arianespace headquarters today (prompted by yesterday's call to their New York office) informed me of PRICING for their planned “Auxiliary Payload” service. The cost for any single payload (10 kg to 400 kg) is the same: 7 Million Euros (est. $10 Million). Service will not be available until mid 2009 at the earliest (after Soyuz launches are operational from Kourou) and always subject to launch contracts for the main 5000+ kg payload. This price may or may not be competitive with a customized Falcon 1 launch ( estimated payload 720 kg for the Falcon 1e) and these should be operational before this date. The “Air Launch Ltd” vehicle may also be available by that date.

An enterprising group could partition a 400 to 720 kg payload (with a carrier “Bus”) to allow testing of several companies' flight hardware with lower unit costs.

It has become a “Sellers Market” for launch services and yesterday's deals are now ancient history. This is very Bad News for innovators who need to demonstrate their systems in space, but it is of course also an opportunity for a “Visionary” launch provider to capture tomorrow's innovative space companies as customers.