The first team has registered for the X-Prize for private Moon missions that was announced back in September. Odyssey Moon, based in the semi-independent Isle of Man off the UK coast, thinks it is in with a chance of taking the $20 million first prize.
Odyssey’s chairman Ramin Khadem told AFP, “People have not really thought through the potential the moon represents. The Moon is the eighth continent and we need to exploit it in a responsible way. We want to win the Google prize and, if we do, that will be gravy. But either way we are going to the Moon.”
The man behind Odyssey, Robert Richards, added: “Our business plans have been in development for a series of missions to the Moon during the International Lunar Decade in support of science, exploration and commerce. … . Future generations will view the Google Lunar X PRIZE as the turning point of the 21st century, when humanity realized the Moon’s critical role for prosperity and survival in space and on Earth” (press release pdf).
The exploitation side of things is clearly motivating a lot of this, given $20 million is unlikely to cover your costs if you go to the Moon. Gregg Maryniak, executive director of the XPrize Foundation, has likened the Moon to a “natural storehouse of resources that we can use to enhance life on Earth and explore our universe” according to the SF Chronicle. The paper notes though that some participants are aware that divvying up the Moon could be controversial.
“We are ill-prepared in many ways for a responsible return to the Moon,” Richards is quoted as saying. Check out Nature’s I’d buy you the Moon item for more on this topic.
So far the details of their plan that have been released are pretty much limited to, “Odyssey Moon’s inaugural mission will involve a unique small robotic lander designed to deliver scientific, exploration and commercial payloads to the surface of the Moon.” A model lander was apparently demonstrated at the press conference for Odyssey’s announcement though (BBC).
Wired’s take on this is headlined ‘Google Lunar X-Prize Gets First Official Entrant’, but its link from Google is perhaps more appropriate: “Moon 2.0 Blasts Off With First Shot of Hot Air”
Image: Edwin Aldrin walks on lunar surface near leg of Lunar Module / NASA