When our team leader, Pete Bitar, first came to me many moons ago about this new hullabaloo called the Google Lunar X PRIZE I was already quite familiar with the contest, and so I immediately shot an email back to him: "You're crazy. Can't be done." But then I took a moment for myself, scratched my head here and there, scribbled a few notes, and then sent Pete another email: "Well, maybe I was too hasty. I suppose you could do it, but it will cost a small fortune." Over the next week I ran more and more napkin calculations (that's a technical term, mind you), getting progressively more excited and engaged, until I finally wrote to Pete (and I paraphrase), "By Jove, this is very doable! And on the cheap, no less!" I generally find it takes about a week for someone confronted with GLXP to go through the conversion process from skeptic to space cadet. And after that conversion, there's no turning back. I am an engineer by trade and a scientist at heart. I completed my undergraduate degree in astrophysics from Williams College, and will forever have the fundamental questions of the universe on my mind. I am a firm believer in the well-rounded education that a liberal arts college like Williams provides. I do not see GLXP as simply a cold technical challenge. We are pursuing the great adventures that only heroes of myth dared before. In the end, will we look like Hercules or Sisyphus? Where does our new exodus to space fit into history? What would Nietzsche or Hume say about pursuing with such vigor a goal that so few believe is attainable? Do we need a new Adam Smith to unlock the wealth of a space economy? Who will write the epic poem of humanity's race to the stars? All of my pontificating aside, I was a little too practical-minded to pursue astronomy as a career. As I polled my options, I came across astrodynamics, or celestial mechanics (or my favorite, as an astronaut once put to me, "celestial billiards"). It was practical engineering, but as close to physics and astronomy as you can get in engineering. I was hooked, and completed my master's degree in astrodynamics from Purdue University. My company, Orbit Frontiers, is a start-up with a focus on trajectory design and space-based data-mining. In addition to our GLXP responsibilities, we have a variety of exciting projects in the oven that will be premiering over the next year. Our company's mission is to bring the benefits and access of space to everyone, and it is a goal shared by all of the members of Team LunaTrex. GLXP is an integral component of our team's and my company's long-term business plans to open up that access. Orbit Frontiers and I are honored and thrilled to be working with such an amazing team, with centuries of cumulative experience across every facet of a mission of this magnitude. The Google Lunar X PRIZE isn't just a project or a job, it's a way of life. The people on my team appreciate that you can't do X PRIZE as a 9-5 job, or 8-6 (even skipping lunch). It's 24/7, living and breathing this great undertaking. It's leaping out of bed at 2 a.m. because a new trajectory comes to mind and you just have to run it now. It's doing a day trip all the way across the country to meet a vendor. It's learning bits of a new language so you can communicate with your new partner in Malaysia. My time on Earth is finite, and I intend to do as many amazing things as possible. Going to the Moon is one of the biggest I could hope for, and I want to bring along as many people as I can. Keep in touch, Joseph Gangestad President, Orbit Frontiers LLC From Pete: Joe is a core member of the team and brings a ton of energy and passion to our efforts, in addition to his brilliant mind and articulate writing. BTW, I am posting these in the order I receive them from our team members; the order in which we post profiles does not imply "rank" or any order...