SpaeCor News

Its been a while since I’ve last given an update on this exciting space race so I thought it was about time to revisit the Subject.  The Google Lunar Lander Challenge is now officially underway.  The year 2010 was the market for the beginning of the challenge period, so any team has the opportunity to win as early as Tomorrow!  Although we would probably know about any attempts weeks ahead of time.  The teams now have 2 years in order to grab the full 20 million dollar first prize, after that the prize will drop incrementally, The final deadline being the year 2014.   The full list of teams that are competing is available on the Space companies page.

The secrecy of the different teams has tightened up since the competition has officially gotten underway.  The lunar X prize forums have also been shut down, because of so called in adequate ability to manage the forum,  thus most chatter has been cut to a minimum since the start of 2010.   A few teams still stand out as the best possible teams for achieving the challenge in the near future.  These teams include:  Odyssey Moon, Astrobotic, ARCA, and Frednet.   Currently the main challenge for the rest of the teams that sets them behind these ones is launch capabilities.  For Example Odyssey Moon, works closely with NASA and has the intellectual know how working for them.  ARCA has developed a balloon launching system that seems promising,  And the Frednet and Astrobotic,  either have large pocket books or the ability to Raise the funds for a ride on SpaceX’s Commercially driven Launch Systems.

I’m sure its come as a shock to everyone as it has to me. The Moon contains actual liquid water.  Its unbelievable that it took us 40 years to discover water on the moon, but we’ve finally done it. For those of you that are still unaware of the current Moon Situation I will be happy to enlighten you.

A couple weeks ago NASA shot a rocket into the centaur crater, to analyze a debris plume.  The rocket was then followed closely by the satellite LCROSS which would analyze the plume transmit data and ultimately meet the same fate as the rocket.  The study was to discover if the debris that was shot up from the moon contained any form of water. After many weeks later the results were astounding, In the debris they found significant amounts of water, gallons to be exact. This completely counteracts the beliefs that the moon was as dry as a bone. This new discovery is a significant opportunity to the space industry, for those in it and those still looking to become a part of it.


Talks of a moon base went from being, purely distant future to a reality in our lifetimes. I expect that we will have a functioning moon base 10-15 years from now. However it may come as a surprise to you that NASA may not be the ones to do it.   Private enterprises will be at the forefront of this one, because of NASA budget cuts there is no way the United States can do this solely as a governmental exercise. If you’ve ever dreamed of owning your own space company now is the time! With the current plans of colonizing the moon there will be many support opportunities to fill in the marketplace, be it from habitat building materials to software equipment there will be opportunities a plenty within the coming years for a budding space company to get its start.

While this poses great opportunities for space companies to get their foot in the door, this discovery is known worldwide, countries  such as China (who has been looking to land on the moon by the year 2020) . I believe we are on the brink of a new world order created by the space race of our time: the race for water on the moon. China has been steadily increasing its presence in space. For Example they’ve even issued statements about creating manned weapons platforms in space. They also stand on being the first country to return to the moon, and this was before water was discovered! This new knowledge can only amplify the situation.

In an effort to maintain space superiority in a world of economic stagnation and limited funding, America has gone so far as to offer joint space operations with China. These talks will occur next year and I just hope we don’t give up to much to a country who has historically been a one way door. Sure China has opened some economic opportunities but it still has a long way to go before it can be trusted with such delicate information. Especially when the country has publicly stated its intentions for a manned weapons platform. Its up to global Space corporations to step up and make sure no one country settles the moon or space for its own advancements.

What is this unknown company and why is it suddenly so important? Well, as it turns out Moog is an aerospace manufacturing company that chose Space Port America for its testing site. Working in conjunction with UP Aerospace Moog launched its test rocket using UP’s Launch systems. While the flights were not successful in nature it created much needed data for engineers to work with.

Although I am embarrassed to admit I’ve never heard of Moog until today, but the company is actually very large and covers multiple sectors of the economy. Moog covers Aerospace, Energy, Industrial Technology and even Medical Tech just to name a few of their markets. Throughout these markets Moog specializes in motion control.

(To learn more about Moog you can visit their website by checking out my space companies tab.)

Moog’s demonstration is an important step for Space Port America’s survival. If Space Port America hopes to be successful it must not only attract tourism but be a bed for innovation and future space travel testing. The absence of red tape that is usually a pain when dealing with military establishments makes Space Port America much more hospitable towards innovation, hopefully pushing America into a much more involved space future.

Space Port America is slated to finish construction at the end of 2011. Hopefully with the influx of space tourism, Moog will be a leader in a much larger job market for the state of New Mexico. Not only will hotels and tourist activities be built but maybe even a larger community will blossom to support testing facilities and high tech industry. If your looking for a place to invest I would have my money in New Mexico.

As part of my Lunar Challenge Spotlight I’m adding another team team to the ranks, Odyssey moon.

Odyssey moon is an international team based in the Isle of man was the first to sign up for the Google lunar Challenge.  This team reflects a well organized corporation and offers a solid business plan, while broad the plan does a good job of formulating a vision for future moon development. They have one of the best websites I’ve seen a team create yet, but with international funding I would hope their pockets would be deep enough to spend a few bucks on a good website. Odyssey moon may be the most organized teams in the Lunar Challenge and with a well defined chain of command in mission critical areas it looks on paper to be a team of choice for the execution portion of the contest. The execution will play a much bigger role in the Lunar Challenge than that of  the Ansari X Prize was. Because  the moon will require a greater deal of resources. The mission will take much longer than one day and with a small team commanding such an expedition would result in overlooked mission critical problems. As I discussed above Odyssey Moon has a vision for the development of a lunar base, and to help them execute the plan Paragon.

One of Oydssey moons partners, Paragon, plans to work with Odyssy to create the first generation of plants to grow on the moon, in glass chambers. Properly named project greenhouse, the mission is important for developing long lasting lunar bases. Although we may be a long way from it Odyssey moon says they will establish moon bases by the year 2020, while I believe that timetable is a bit shunrealistic, with the ambition of corporations behind space development, we may progress faster than any country can alone.  For Example NASA recently pushed back their timetable for their new series of rockets. Giving the Chinese that an even greater chances of reaching the moon before we return. With decreased funding  We cahave to rely on the ambition of corporations to lead us to the moon before China.

While NASA is commemorating 40 years of wasted time, private space companies bound for the moon are preparing for the next major breakthrough.  The private sector, fed up with the funding that space exploration has received, have pooled resources for the Google Lunar Xprize.  As a follow up to my first Article on the Lunar X Prize Contest , I will be taking a look at two out of the nineteen teams competing for the $20 million USD. Romanian based team ARCA and US based team Astrobotic.

ARCA (Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association) is one of the few teams that has the ability to launch their own robotics into space.  Every other competitor is relying on outside launch capability mostly SpaceX to boost their payloads to the moon. ARCA plans to launch their balloon like moon rover from a solar powered balloon that will be 15km above the earths surface. This is expected to cut their launch costs, but create headaches for orbital calculations on getting to the moon.


Astrobotic plans to begin their exploration of the moon and claim the Lunar X prize as soon as 2011. They will begin their exploration of the moon by landing at the Apollo 11 site during the contest thus claiming an extra $5 million in prize dollars. Future missions Astrobotic plans to explore the poles and areas with persistent sunlight.

Astrobotic is not new to building robots for extreme environments.  They’ve sent rovers to earths poles the most inhospitable deserts, and abandoned mine shafts. Now they’ve decided to expand their business to the moon. Astrobotics’s business plan, for the moon, consists of scouting the surface of the moon for high interest areas for commercialization.  Exploration of polar regions for liquid ice and areas with persistent sunlight will be among the first high interest areas.  With information about these sites future colonization efforts will be able to make much more detailed lunar base blueprints.

ARCA is the first team that will attempt to take the Google’s Lunar X prize.  They plan to launch as soon as 2010. Personally I would like to see ARCA succeed in their plan, but their lack of a long term business plan makes me less inclined to cheer for them. ARCA definitly seem like the underdogs in the media’s light, but the fact that they run their own time schedule and not that of SpaceX they have a much higher chance of winning the XPrize. Although the media neglects ARCA support is high for them among online forums. One thing is for sure starting 2010 there will be no shortage of excitment about the moon.

This is it kids the main event for everything business related about space. The Space Frontier Foundation Conference will bring together experts in engineering, science and business to help advance new space. The focus is to make space travel cheaper and more reliable.

On Sunday will be the business plan competition where a series of teams will present business plans to a panel for review. The winning teams will get prize money up to $5,000 a nice incentive for aspiring students but pocket change for any real space company. As of right now it is unknown whether these plans will remain secret but hopefully we can get a sneak peak of what aspiring space entrepreneurs are planning and what the rest of us are up against.

Space transportation company SpaceX boasts its first successful commercial launch on July 13. Space X with founder Elon Musk, the mastermind behind Paypal, launched a Malaysian satellite named RasakSat into orbit late Monday night. The Launch went off without any problems and proved that private space corporation can succeed in Space travel and make a tidy profit.

SpaceX’s Falcon launch vehicles are designed for earth orbit and inter planetary missions and offer much lower costs with higher reliability than previous launch vehicles. The bureaucracy of NASA launches and unreliability of Russian launches prove that SpaceX is the vehicle of choice for future space businesses to rocket to the stars.

SpaceX was among 3 companies that recently won a contract from NASA to ferry equipment to the international space station. At this time SpaceX is the only one of these companies that has successfully completed a commercial space flight, putting them in a great spot for landing future contracts. Currently NASA has plans to use Russia for human transport to the space station during the interim of the space shuttle retirement and NASA’s new model Ares and Orion. However with SpaceX’s success NASA may have a new choice. SpaceX is currently testing their Dragon spacecraft which will be capable of ferrying humans to the space station.
The commercial space race truly has begun.

View the RazakSat Launch here http://www.spacex.com/webcast.php

Have you often wondered when we are going back to the moon? Just when you thought the 2nd race to the moon would be won by India or China private entities with the help of the X prize foundation have plans on going to the moon. In an effort to push the limits of space travel Google and Northrup Grumman have teamed up for this 2nd X prize contest.  The contest will feature private companies striving for a grand prize of $20 million USD.

Teams will be expected to soft land on the moon and transmit HD video of the surrounding terrain.  Additionally bonus prizes will be awarded to teams that can discover NASA artifacts or even frozen ice at the lunar poles.

The first X prize contest aimed at creating reusable spacecraft in order make space travel cheaper.  The Lunar challenge however has a much larger scope.  The contest hopes to bring attention and interest to space travel by spurring excitement with real time video and boost support for moon colonization.

Interestingly enough the contest started around the same time that China announced its plans to land on the moon by around 2018.  Whether this is the attempt of another space race has yet to be determined.  NASA also announced their plans to go back to the moon by 2016.  Although it would seem all 3 entities are competing NASA and China don’t view the X prize contest as a competitor. However this could be the start of Corporate Space Conglomerates taking hold of space and vying for more power while nations keep their interests planet side

Virgin Galactic an amazing branch off of Richard Bransons Virgin group brand seeks to send civilians on tourist flights into outer space.  Virgin Galactic is one among many companies making a push to take advantage of the final frontier as a major business.


I’ll never forget Richard Bransons entertaining and inspiring book Screw it, Lets do it. This book refueled my passion for space and business.  I realized hey, maybe at least some of these sci fi movies could come to life.  Along with telling stories about Bransons life, the book outlined that space travel was now possible.

Virgin Galactic owes its push into space from the Xprize cup winners Scaled Composites for creating Spaceship One.  Spaceship One is going to be the ship that Virgin Galactic will use to send people into space.

Companies such as Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites aren’t the only ones stepping up the game.  California based SpaceX is driving forward in their rocket propelled Falcon spaceship in order to resupply the space station. With all these companies in the game maybe we truly have entered the era of Solar System colinization or…. Solarization.