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Private Company First to Take on Lunar X Challenge

Posted by Zonk on from the to-the-moon-google dept.

explosivejared writes "A private company by the name of Odyssey Moon has become the first team to complete registration for Google's Lunar X Challenge. They will likely be competing with several heavyweights in the field, as Carnegie Mellon University, along with many others, has already expressed an interest in the competition."

5 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. Dilbert by eulernet · · Score: 4, Funny

    Currently, Dilbert contains material related comics.
    For example:
    http://www.comics.com/comics/dilbert/archive/images/dilbert2007152781206.gif

    Coincidence ?

  2. Productivity... by Slashidiot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm eagerly waiting for this to develope. It's all stuff that has been done by a government agency, but a private company is certainly bound to be more efficient and productive, lowering the costs of lunar travel. This is serious fuel for a new space war, when prices go down, and it ends up becoming something normal for the people. Let the free market do its thing.

    It is following the exact path of civil aviation. I have high hopes of it developing in the same way.

    Sorry, a bit of daydreaming is good for me... let the SciFi lover in me have a bit of fun.

    --
    Tis women makes us love, Tis Love that makes us sad, Tis sadness makes us drink, And drinking makes us mad.
    1. Re:Productivity... by Loke+the+Dog · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No, its not following the path of aviation. See, aviation competed with trains and boats, and eventually won. The space industry isn't competing with any other industry. While there are many reasons to go from London to New York, there are few reasons to go from some pacific island to the moon, other than research or publicity.

      Now, as long as there are no reasons to go into space, the Free Market is getting nowhere here. All these projects you see are funded on charity. People with too much money pay to do something mostly to keep the industry alive.

      Space exploration is actually following the path of polar exploration. Many people got both private and government funding to go to the poles, and some of the succeeded. But very few things except for science came of it, and that was the government funded kind of science.

      Sure, some fishermen had semi permanent settlements on the the south pole, but they have mostly been replaced by scientists now. It's possible we'll see mining or oil drilling on the poles, but this hasn't happened yet, partly for legal reasons but also actually for practical reasons. There is some tourism too, but its pretty insignificant, and it will be the same for space. Once the hype fades, interest will drop. After all, a private island in the pacific is nicer than orbit around space.

      Don't get me wrong, I think this is exciting too, but don't get too optimistic. Comparing it to aviation doesn't make sense at all. There is no brave new world here, just barren wastelands. Obviously, one day it will become profitable to bring platinum and other really expensive metals back to earth, and at that point the free market will take over, but I'd say that's atleast 100 years away. Deep sea mining will happen long before that, for example.

    2. Re:Productivity... by ultranova · · Score: 4, Informative

      While there are many reasons to go from London to New York, there are few reasons to go from some pacific island to the moon, other than research or publicity.

      Actually, the fastest way from London to New York (or any other point on Earth) is a ballistic arc. And the ballistic arcs for any significant distances - meaning you'd consider using an airplane - go through space.

      A ballistic arc from London to New York isn't far from LEO as far as speed and altitude goes. From New York to Tokyo would be even closer. And the hard, dangerous and expensive parts of space travel are precisely entering orbit and entering atmosphere.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  3. Missing the point. by untree · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You don't need to recoup all the winner's costs. You just need to give the company a bit of a reward to help them get back out of the red more quickly.

    Take the $10M prize, as an example. It is estimated that the winning team spent around $25M to win that $10M. But they now have a contract with Virgin Galactic to build many more vehicles, because they have the know-how and a workable basic design.

    The goal is to stimulate, not to reimburse all costs.