Our Team
[1]Odyssey Moon Limited is a private commercial lunar enterprise headquartered in the Isle of Man involving partners in many nations. We are dedicated to the long term responsible development of the Moon for the benefit of all Humanity. Join us with your email address and we will keep you updated on our progress and the most important Moon 2.0 developments.
Odyssey Moon is the first team to complete registration for the $30M Google Lunar X PRIZE competition. The company made its first public debut on December 6th at the Space Investment Summit in San Jose, California, unveiling its plans to make history with the first private robotic mission to the surface of the Moon and win the Google Lunar X PRIZE. The inaugural Odyssey Moon mission will involve a unique small robotic lander designed to deliver scientific, exploration and commercial payloads to the surface of the Moon.
“We are proud to participate in the announcement of our first fully registered team. We hope the announcement will motivate and inspire even more teams to enter this race; a race that is now truly international.”
– Dr. Peter Diamandis, Chairman and CEO, X PRIZE Foundation.
Odyssey Moon business plans are actively in development for a series of missions to the Moon during the International Lunar Decade in support of science, exploration and commerce. It is our intention to seed and lead a new market for private commercial lunar enterprise. First we will take on the early risks and prove it can be done; then we will offer inexpensive and reliable lunar products and services to others.
“We have put together an incredibly talented international team with substantial technical know how and financial depth who believe in the long term responsible development of the Moon for the benefit of all Humanity,” -Dr. Ramin Khadem, Chairman, Odyssey Moon Limited.
Describe in general terms your technical plans for winning the prize:
As the first Official Team to register for the Google Lunar X PRIZE, Odyssey Moon is planning to make history with the first private mission to safely reach the surface of the Moon and win the Google Lunar X PRIZE. Our inaugural mission will be a small robotic lander carrying scientific and exploration payloads and is based on Odyssey Moon’s lunar lander “MoonOne” (M-1) concept, which is under development but is not being revealed at this time. The challenge set out by M-1 requirements is to determine the most reliable and lowest cost mission to win the Google Lunar X PRIZE and provide proof that private enterprise can reach the Moon. However the M-1 mission is not just about winning the Google Lunar X PRIZE; M-1 has been under development for some time, and has been adapted within the context of the Odyssey Moon business plan to match the Google Lunar X PRIZE challenge and conditions. As the first in a serious of incremental missions, M-1 will be also be a pathfinder mission with science and exploration goals that support and enable the company’s successor missions.
Odyssey Moon announced in December 2007 that MDA Space Missions of Canada has been selected as our prime contractor and that work is underway on our mission design. In addition, the company is domiciled in the Isle of Man to take advantage of favourable regulatory and export regimes that allow us to choose the best technologies and partners from around the world. We have also assembled an exceptional international management team of experienced international space executives with over 110 collective years of successful track records in technology, space projects and commerce. Odyssey Moon will combine this experience with vision and energy to introduce new approaches to lunar commerce with a goal of reducing the cost of access to the Moon by an order of magnitude compared to government programs.
How, where, and when will your craft land on the Moon?
Landing site selection will be determined following requirements definition and trade studies currently underway. Preference will be given to destinations of high scientific and exploration value; however technical risk will be a significant factor in the final selection.
How will you communicate with and download information from your craft while it is on the Moon?
Odyssey Moon's management and techncal team is highly experienced in space communications and understands the many challenges involved in space mission communications. Although our plans are not being revealed at this time, we will consider the use of Google Lunar X PRIZE preferred communications partners whenever possible and fully support the Google Lunar X PRIZE "Moon 2.0" philosophy in the design of a unique communications system to provide a wide variety of participatory experiences.
How will your vehicle move on the Moon?
The 500 meter roaming requirement will likely be achieved by a rover or team of rovers deployed from the MoonOne lander, however several innovative techniques are still under review. Lander and rover design is led by our prime contractor MDA Space Missions. More information will be revealed about Odyssey Moon mobility technology following the mission requirements definition and design later this year.
Which bonus prizes are you interested in?
Odyssey Moon will try to win any bonus prize purses that are possible within mission risk,cost and design constraints. These additional objectives are currently under review and assessment.
What additional scientific equipment above and beyond competition requirements, if any, might you be launching and why?
Odyssey Moon intends to carry one or more scientific payloads on its initial mission. The return of good science and exploration data is considered essential to Odyssey Moon long term plans.
Team Member Bios
Dr. Robert (Bob) Richards (Founder and CEO),is the Director of the Space Division at Optech Incorporated, a world leading developer of advanced laser radar (lidar) systems for space exploration, observation and operations. In this role he presided over the successful development of the first commercial lidar scanner flown in space, as well as the historic meteorological lidar flown to Mars on the 2007 NASA Phoenix Mars Lander.
Bob studied aerospace and industrial engineering at Ryerson University; physics and astronomy at the University of Toronto; and space science at Cornell University where he became special assistant to Carl Sagan. In 1987 Bob founded the International Space University (ISU) with Peter Diamandis and Todd Hawley.
Bob is a strong advocate of the NewSpace movement and serves on the boards of numerous international space organizations. In 2005 he was elected Vice President of the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG) and a Member of the International Institute of Space Law of the International Astronautical Federation. He is the recipient of the K.E. Tsiolkovski Medal (Russia, 1995), the Space Frontier “Vision to Reality” Award (USA , 1994) and the Aviation & Space Technology Laurel (USA, 1988). He is a contributing author of "Blueprint for Space", published by the Smithsonian Institution (1992), and "Return to the Moon", published by Apogee Books (2005).
In 2005 Bob received a Doctorate of Space Achievement (honoris causa) from the International Space University for “distinguished accomplishments in support of humanity’s exploration and use of space.”
Dr. Ramin Khadem (Chairman of the Board),former Inmarsat Chief Financial Officer and executive Board member, is Senior Adviser to the Chairman and CEO of Inmarsat Plc. Inmarsat is a world-leading provider of mobile satellite communications, delivering a broad base of high bandwidth solutions and content to both the mobile and fixed markets of maritime, aeronautical and multinational enterprises. He has held also a variety of senior positions in the telecommunications sector in Canada, including at Bell Canada Enterprises and at Teleglobe in Montreal.
Dr. Khadem was the Canadian representative amongst an international group that originally founded Inmarsat and successfully launched its business, including taking an active role in the procurement of satellites, launch vehicles and ground facilities and handling risk mitigation and management. Later as Chief Financial Officer of Inmarsat, he was part of the team that negotiated with shareholders and governments the transformation of Inmarsat from an international organization to a public company, and subsequently was involved in its sale to private equity firms Apax Partners and Permira.
His other activities include chairmanship of the Board of Trustees of the International Space University in Strasbourg, France and serving as consultant and non-executive member of the board of a number of other enterprises. He is also Visiting Professor at the Tsinghua University in Beijing where he teaches Business Valuation as part of the Tsinghua-MIT Sloan MBA program.
He obtained his Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois and subsequently obtained his Masters and PhD degrees in Economics from McGill University in Canada. He also received specialized training at Carnegie-Mellon University, in Econometric Analyses of the Financial and Monetary System at MIT and the Executive Management Forum at Harvard Business School.
Mr. Christopher Stott is the Isle of Man Government's Honorary Representative to the Space Community and an international space businessman, President and CEO of ManSat, and Executive Vice President of Odyssey Almaz. In 1998, Mr. Stott left his position as Director of Lockheed Martin Space Operations' International Commercialization and Sales, to found ManSat Ltd., which manages geosynchronous orbital filings for the Isle of Man Government, and of which Mr. Stott is President and CEO.
Before this, he worked in International Business Development for Boeing's Delta Launch Vehicle program. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the International Space University, and co-chairs its School of Business and Management. He is an Adjunct Professor of Space Law at the University of Houston - Clear Lake; a visiting lecturer at the Bates School of Law, University of Houston; and a lecturer in Space Law for the International Space School Foundation of Houston. Mr. Stott is also a published Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and an invited member of the International Institute of Space Law. He co-authored Europe's first work on space privatization and commercialization, and was one of the founders of the British Space Education Council. Mr. Stott holds a Masters in Space Studies from the International Space University. He earned a B.A. in American Studies from the University of Kent, Canterbury, concurrently receiving a Diploma from the University of California, San Diego, where he studied International Relations
at the University and Marine Policy at Scripps. He is a Vice President of the Manna Energy Foundation.
Mr. Michael Potter serves as Director of Paradigm Ventures, an international venture capital firm focused on high technology ventures. Prior to Paradigm Ventures, Potter was Vice Chairman, founder and President of Esprit Telecom plc., a pan-European competitive telecommunications services provider. During his 8 years at Esprit, he grew the company to 1,000 employees in over 9 European countries and a market capitalization of a billion US dollars. He was formerly an international telecommunications analyst at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. Potter was also Vice Chairman of the founding Board of the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA). He is a director Global Connect. His articles on high technology business and policy have been widely published.
Michael received his MS degree from the London School of Economics and his BA from California State University at Sacramento, and a certificate in Space Studies from the International Space University.
Dr. Christian Sallaberger (invited) is Vice President of MDA and is responsible for Business Development and Advanced Systems. MDA is Canada’s largest space company, and is also the world leader in Space Robotics, having designed and built the main robotic systems for the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. Dr. Sallaberger previously held the position of Director of Space Exploration at MDA and was responsible for deep space missions such as those to the Moon and Mars.
Prior to joining MDA in 2000, he worked for the Canadian Space Agency where he held a variety of positions including Manager of Strategic Development and Manager of Space Exploration. He has also worked for the European Space Agency in the Netherlands, where he did engineering systems design and economic analysis for future European lunar missions, and for IBM in Canada. He has numerous technical and programmatic publications and a patent. He is a coauthor of two Space reference texts (Keys to Space, and Human Spaceflight Analysis and Design).
Dr. Sallaberger obtained degrees from the University of Waterloo in Canada, the University of California at Berkeley, and received his doctorate from the University of Toronto in Aerospace Science and Engineering. He was appointed a lifetime member of the International Academy of Astronautics in 2000. He is also a graduate of the first class of the International Space University, held at MIT in 1988, and currently is vice-chairman of the ISU Board of Trustees. He is an appointed member of the faculty, and has lectured at the graduate level in Space Business and Management and Space Engineering for many years.
For several years he represented the Government of Canada on the International Mars Exploration Working Group (IMEWG), and was a member of the Japan-Canada Space Panel. He is currently the chairman of the Space Exploration Committee of the International Astronautical Federation.