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Announcing Our 5th Payload, a British Science Instrument...

Odyssey Moon — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:45:49 -0700

London, UK & Douglas, Isle of Man – Education has taken ‘the next great leap’ in Britain as Odyssey Moon announces its fifth payload to the Moon.

Google Lunar X PRIZE contender Odyssey Moon Limited today is announcing its partnership with the International Space School Education Trust (ISSET) and their customer Moonlink Ltd. of Yorkshire to put a British science instrument on the Moon.

Moonlink has signed up with the International Space School Educational Trust (ISSET) to set aside one kilogram of payload capacity on Odyssey Moon’s “MoonOne” lunar lander, to be launched to the Moon in late 2012. Moonlink will be heading up a county wide competition driving innovation in schools, universities, and local industry in the form of a competition to design, build, and fly an experiment to the Moon.

Chris Barber, director of ISSET, said: “It is a world-class opportunity to discover the unfound genius of Yorkshire. Also, importantly, the building of a lunar experiment in Yorkshire will increase jobs, together with research and development capabilities in the region.”

The competition will be open to students from UK universities, colleges and high schools, with individual entries also invited from the public. Full–details regarding participation in the competition will be announced after summer.

Gary Fawcett, chief executive of Link Telecom, one of the UK’s leading private sector sponsors of education-related initiatives, has been appointed Managing Director of Moonlink. “The project will put Yorkshire at the forefront of technological discovery in the UK and help increase both the prestige and confidence of the region,” he said. “It will provide spin-off technologies and business opportunities, raise the county’s technological and innovative profile, boost the self-esteem of the region and help create new employment opportunities."

Fawcett and Barber also aim to leverage the mission to increase research capabilities among Yorkshire universities and intensify student and pupil interest in STEM partnerships - a series of regional hubs that provide up-to-date information, support and advice to schools about quality science technology engineering and mathematics activities that enhance and enrich the curriculum.

“Yorkshire is literally now leading the world in innovation," said Odyssey Moon chairman Dr. Ramin Khadem. “We are thrilled to have ISSET and Moonlink onboard.”

“This is a fantastic opportunity for students and an inspiration to all of us,” said Odyssey Moon CEO, Dr. Robert Richards. “Seeing a program like this makes me wish I was back at school as a student again. I hope this educational competition model catches on worldwide.”

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Odyssey Moon Announces Historic Teaming with Top Industry Leaders for its Commercial Moon Venture

Loretta.Whitesides — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:00:43 -0700

Mountain View, California & Douglas, Isle of Man – Google Lunar X PRIZE contender Odyssey Moon Limited announced today that top industry leaders Near Earth LLC, WPP Group, Aon and Milbank have joined its corporate team. Odyssey Moon intends to become the first private company to supply payload delivery services to the Moon in support of science, exploration and commerce. This is the first time such major organizations have come together to support a commercial Moon venture.

As the world celebrates the 40th anniversary of “Moon 1.0” – mankind’s first but short lived activities on the lunar surface – Odyssey Moon is forging ahead with its plans to capitalize on commercial opportunities created by renewed interests in exploring the Moon – “Moon 2.0”.

Joining the Odyssey Moon venture is:

-Near Earth LLC: a leading investment bank specializing in satellite, media and telecom

-The Brand Union/WPP: one of the world's largest marketing and communications companies

-Aon International Space Brokers: the leading global space risk advisor and provider of space related insurance

-Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP: a leading global law firm experienced in telecommunications and space

“This is a power house team, a dream team,” said Dr. Robert (Bob) Richards, Odyssey Moon’s CEO. “We are combining the very best from the global satellite industry with the very best of the space exploration community to make this company and its historic first mission a success.”

“Odyssey Moon’s team now includes world-class leaders from the areas of finance, insurance, law, marketing, communications, advertising, and technology," said Odyssey Moon chairman Dr. Ramin Khadem. “Each of these are esteemed firms that have been highly successful in their own right and now for the first time they have come together to support our lunar venture.”

Odyssey Moon has also announced the addition of veteran investment banker Ms. Carol Goldstein to its executive team. With a career spanning 25 years on Wall Street specializing in financings and corporate transactions in the commercial satellite and telecommunications industries at ABN AMRO and Morgan Stanley, Carol is leading the company’s financial activities focused on its fundraising requirements. "I am very excited to be working with this world class group,” she said. “While providing attractive returns to investors, Odyssey Moon creates new opportunities for public and private companies in lunar science, exploration and commerce.”

CORPORATE BACKGROUNDERS

Near Earth LLC is a leading specialized provider of investment banking and advisory services to companies and investors in the satellite, media and telecom sectors. The company provides a full range of private placement, corporate finance, and mergers & acquisition services to emerging as well as established companies in its sectors of specialization. Reflecting the extensive industry-focused track records of its team of professionals comprising more than 50 years and $30 billion in aggregate transactional experience at major Wall Street firms, the company maintains high-level relationships with the leading corporations and institutional investors in its field. [www.nearearthllc.com]

The Brand Union/WPP is a world leading brand design and communications group, which includes Caviar (specializing in premium, leading global innovative brands), Brouillard (global corporate brands) and BIG (global experiential branding). The Brand Union is an agency part of the WPP group, one of the world's largest communications services groups, employing 135,000 people working in over 2,000 offices in 107 countries. WPP's advertising agency company holdings include the Grey Global Group, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, Young & Rubicam, and JWT (formerly known as J. Walter Thompson Co.), Asatsu-DK (a.k.a ADK). Its public relations company holdings including Hill & Knowlton, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Burson-Marsteller (originally part of Y&R Brands) and Cohn & Wolfe. The Brand Union/WPP will be applying its world leading expertise to support Odyssey Moon’s branding, marketing, advertising and sponsorship goals. [www.wpp.com]

Aon is the leading global space risk advisor and provider of space related insurance. The Aon ISB Insurance team combines individuals with market leading experience in space engineering, contract negotiation, finance, risk management and insurance. The company’s client list is a ‘Who's Who’ of the space industry, including eight of the world’s Top 20 Satellite Companies. Aon ISB has placed over $52bn in insured values, collected over $1.5bn of insurance proceeds since its founding in 1991 and today acts for some 35% to 40% of the world’s space insurance business. [http://isbworld.com/]

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is one of the world's preeminent global law firms, providing a full range of financial and business legal services to many of the world’s leading financial, industrial and commercial enterprises, as well as governments, institutions and individuals. In recognition of its leadership in the telecommunications and space industries, Milbank has been awarded numerous awards from top industry publications, including being named “Law Firm of the Year” for three years running (2007, 2006 and 2005) by Satellite Finance magazine and ranked “the predominant law firm for telecom finance” by Chambers & Partners. With excellence recognized around the world, Milbank is headquartered in New York with offices in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, London, Frankfurt, Munich, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore. [www.milbank.com]

The announcement of the Odyssey Moon veteran finance, marketing, insurance and legal team fortifies the existing corporate partnerships with experienced industry players, including:

NASA – Odyssey Moon Ventures LLC, a related U.S.-based company responsible for all Odyssey Moon U.S. programs and commercial launch operations, established a partnership with NASA in 2008 for the development of a robotic lunar lander. The unique public-private partnership combines NASA expertise with Odyssey Moon’s innovative approaches to commercial space systems, resulting in new industrial capabilities for the company and benefits to the American space program. [www.nasa.gov]

MDA (MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd) – Odyssey Moon's prime contractor, is an experienced company with substantial space heritage in priming end-to-end space missions, as well as in providing robotics on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station, and more recently for satellite servicing and planetary exploration. [http://sm.mdacorporation.com]

ManSat Limited – an Isle of Man Corporation that focuses on international telecommunications and spectrum issues, representing a revolutionary partnership of aerospace, banking, financial services, strategic consulting, and international legal interests that have come together to offer unique business services to the world’s commercial space marketplace. [www.mansat.com]

Paragon Space Development Corporation – a Tucson-based company that joins the engineering disciplines of environmental control, life support, and thermal control to provide premier products and services for the world’s most challenging life support needs, such as human spaceflight and first responder personal protection. [www.paragonsdc.com]

Optech Incorporated – a privately-owned Canadian high technology company that dominates worldwide markets in advanced laser measurements systems, including laser radar (lidar) based hazard avoidance and precision landing technologies that are expected to play an essential role in lunar missions. Optech’s proprietary lidar technology was the first of its kind in orbit and was flown to Mars in 2004 aboard the NASA Phoenix Mars Lander. [www.optech.ca]

Quayle Munro – a leading independent merchant bank specializing in corporate finance advice, public finance advice, specialist fund management and principal investment, with offices in London, Edinburgh and New York. [www.quaylemunro.com]

* * *
About Odyssey Moon
Odyssey Moon is a multi-national corporation headquartered in the Isle of Man with U.S. and Canadian subsidiaries that was created to capitalize on commercial opportunities created by renewed interests in exploring the Moon. The company is building an experienced world-class team from the space and satellite arena to enable lunar science, exploration and commerce with a particular focus on mission planning, system design, contractor supervision, and most importantly, customer service. Odyssey Moon will provide a cost-efficient means for government, academic and commercial institutions to send scientific instruments and other payloads to the Moon. Odyssey Moon is the first official contender in the $30M Google Lunar X PRIZE competition. The company has attracted numerous customer commitments and expects to begin its operational phase with its first mission to the Moon in 2012. [www.odysseymoon.com]

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Please Open Your Lunar Hymnals to Page 79...

Loretta.Whitesides — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 02:35:08 -0700

Delft University uses their church as the venue for Bob Richards' talk this week about Odyssey Moon. Quite an impressive backdrop...

The assembled audience of students:

A shot from the back:

Sequel to Bob's Interview on Engineering TV Released!

Loretta.Whitesides — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 05:52:17 -0700

Engineering TV interviewed Bob at the Space Foundation's annual conference earlier this month. Now check out the long awaited sequel to the first interview focused on the lander itself. It is called, "MoonOne Robotic Lunar Lander."

In addition they released two interviews with Paragon's Taber McCallum about the challenges of growing a plant on the Moon. That makes four video segments. Check them all out!

MoonOne Robotic Lunar Lander:

ABC News- "The Astronaut Farmer"

Loretta.Whitesides — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:39:31 -0700

Gotta love ABC's story on our new plant growth chamber (link below). They even include a picture of the lander prototype in its cold gas test firing rig at NASA Ames. I love the idea of being a farmer. I always wanted to be a space farmer. Probably that formative trip to the Land Pavilion at EPCOT with the rotating lettuce chamber for growing plants in zero-g...

The Astronaut Farmer: Growing Moon Food Small Company Plans Mini-Greenhouse for Lunar Lander

New Video of Bob Richards on Engineering TV

Loretta.Whitesides — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:23:44 -0700

Engineering TV interviewed Bob at the Space Foundation's annual conference talking about Odyssey Moon and some of our new payloads (the greenhouse and cute Arabidopsis flowers can even be seen in the background). Check it out!

Media Loves That Cute Little Plant....

Loretta.Whitesides — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:18:21 -0700

Well, our "sending a greenhouse to the Moon" story got a second wind last week when AP ran a new story on it. We got a flood of inquiries from other media organizations about it. I have to say, I totally love it. People just like plants, they like lifeforms, they like things they can relate to. Not to mention the cute little yellow flowers (which also happen to be the most scientifically relevant species to send...) are being sent in such a cool looking sci-fi space capsule of their own...

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Favorite Media Coverage of Paragon Press Conference

Loretta.Whitesides — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 08:36:41 -0700

Here is some news coverage of the beautiful new plant growth module with its lovely yellow Arabidopsis flowers (pronounced A-ra-bi-dóp-sis).

Featured in the video are of course Bob Richards, but also Taber MacCallum, CEO of Paragon, and his wife Jane Poynter, who is President and Founder of Paragon. Enjoy!

Bob Richards and Odyssey Moon BOTH nominated for World Technology Awards!

Loretta.Whitesides — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:21:44 -0700

We are pleased to pass on the news that Bob Richards and Odyssey Moon have both been nominated for World Technology Awards in the category "Space"- part of the World Technology Awards initiative held in association with TIME magazine, Science magazine/AAAS, and others.

Previous nominees and winners will vote on the winner. The Winners and Finalists will be announced from the stage at the "black-tie" World Technology Awards gala ceremony, to be held on the evening of July 16th, 2009, at the conclusion of the two-day World Technology Summit at the historic Time & Life Building in New York City.

You can visit http://www.wtn.net for further information regarding both the World Technology Network and about the World Technology Summit & Awards and even to buy tickets to join us the main event (discounts for "Future Leaders" under 35).

The WTN members eligible to vote in the World Technology Award category of space include (but are not limited to):

Eric Anderson
John Carmack
Elon Musk
Daniel Goldin
Jill Tarter
David Thompson
Charles Elachi
Burt Rutan
Peter Diamandis

Building the First Lunar Greenhouse

Loretta.Whitesides — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:54:45 -0700

When you are building the first ever lunar greenhouse, you have to make sure it is small, lightweight, strong and super space-age looking. Paragon has nailed all four.

Today we are unveiling a prototype design for a lunar greenhouse that can fly to the moon on our Google Lunar X PRIZE lander and grow a flower. In this case, an Arabidopsis flower. Arabidopsis is in the mustard family and is the lab standard for all plant geneticists. As such it is very well characterized and is an excellent choice to send to the moon to study how a plant responds to that unique environment. Although government space programs have grow plants in microgravity (orbiting around the Earth). No one has ever grown a plant in partial gravity- as you would find on the surface of the moon.

Lunar gravity is 1/6 Earth gravity. That means a person who weighs 180 lbs on Earth would only weigh 30 lbs on the moon. No one knows if the plants will grow taller, devote less resources to structurally reinforcing their stems, or change nothing at all. Being a biologist, especially one with a keen interest in bioregenerative life support systems, growing a plant on the Moon is a very exciting step. The first greenhouse on the surface of another world. Godspeed little plant!

We hope there are many more to follow you.