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I work with a former GLXP team (PTScientists from Germany). We left the prize in early 2017 and will launch in 2019. We're actually grateful for the GLXP. It op
by jk4930 9y ago
I work with a former GLXP team (PTScientists from Germany). We left the prize in early 2017 and will launch in 2019.
We're actually grateful for the GLXP. It opened doors, it did spread the word and created a community, it forced us to push through to meet deadlines. We had to develop business models (the prize itself wouldn't cover the costs) and adopt a professional mindset while not losing the hacker approach. And while nobody won the prize, the primary goal (kickstarting an ambitious private space industry) was accomplished.
That said, we still offer payload capacity to the lunar surface and lunar orbit. Since there's not much time left, it should be rather small and nice (think CubeSat format). We provide transportation, energy, communication. Don't be shy, fellow hackers, ask me. Here or under jk at ptscientists.com
- boltzmannbrain 9y agoSeconded. I worked with Astrobotic (https://www.astrobotic.com https://www.astrobotic.com) while at CMU, and many of us have the GLXP to thank for becoming better engineers and leaders.
- boltzmannbrain 9y agoThrowback to the milestone prizes we won in 2015: https://twitter.com/theAlexLavin/status/560103792805306369 https://twitter.com/theAlexLavin/status/560103792805306369
- wgolsen 9y agoWhat years? I visited Dr. Whittaker and David Gump in ~2010 to present an analysis of their business plan. At the time I was thoroughly impressed with the tech/team and equally unimpressed with the business case Gump had made. I hope things have progressed since then because I'd love to see (some iteration of) the lander I touched actually reaching the lunar surface. My favorite part of this encounter was how convinced I was that my team was teasing me when they insisted Red would tell 'the gorilla story' within 20 minutes of meeting us. Lo and behold, no more than 10 minutes in he tells us about the time he wrestled with a gorilla ('way back before animal rights was a thing'). What a fascinating guy.
- greenhouse_gas 9y agoJust curious (not a competitor :), what business model is there in placing micro-sats on the moon?
- mLuby 9y agoNot in the industry, but I'd guess in the short term there are two options: - scientific orgs (NASA, universities, etc); I get they'd love to pay for access to lunar surface. Maybe even some imaging from the dark side of the Moon? - prospecting companies like Deep Space Industries or Planetary Resources.
- Beltiras 9y agoI know what people mean when they say "dark side of the moon" but it always bothers me. There is no "dark side" to the moon. The picture that got stuck in my head was seeing the moon transit the earth: http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2015/08/21/4296866.htm http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2015/08/21/4296866.ht... Beautiful picture.
- dnautics 9y agoIts the side of the Moon that's dark when it faces the earth?
- Beltiras 9y agoWhen people say "dark side of the moon" they are almost exclusively speaking about the side that faces away from Earth.
- dotancohen 9y agoThe moon is tidally locked: rotates at the same speed that it resolves around the Earth. Therefore the same side always faces the Earth, modulo liberation.
- Zenka 9y agoIsn't it the dark side of the moon, since spacecraft passing behind the moon go 'dark'; out of radio contact since the moon blocks radio signals? On the other hand: it's the side of the moon that never receives earthshine. So it's dark in that sense.
- anovikov 9y agoIs there some site where i could find the mass estimates for all system components, as well as injection trajectory/delta-V budgets? All GLXP entrants i heard of seem to have planned to make do with exceptionally low LEO insertion mass. Which sometimes made me think of them as vaporware.
- jk4930 9y agoOther than that it's GTO, we didn't publish orbital parameters or spacecraft/payload specs AFAIK.