In the unmortgaged indication yet that the future of outer space exploration lies as much in the secret sector as government agencies , NASA announced it ’s offering $ 30.1 million for the first commercial-grade group to land a probe on the Moon .
Specifically , NASA says it will buy data from whoever can successfully design a lunar scouter and actually get it to the Moon . This essentially double Google ’s Lunar X dirty money , which offers 30 million to the first successful commercial-grade moonshot . This is a huge blessing to the 21 different developers gunning for the Google prize , because many had already incorporate data point purchases from organizations like NASA into their business organisation model , and the chance of a 60.1 million dollar payday should provide sizable incentive for one of the companies to come through .
In a press dismissal , the space agency explained just what it ’s look for :
[ NASA ] challenges industry to demonstrate dry land - to - lunar surface flight system capability and test engineering science . Data provided to NASA should include info related to landing place using a human mission profile ; identification of hazards during landing ; precision landing ; and imaging and foresightful - continuance surface surgery .
[ NASA ] asks for info about the design and manifestation of an oddment - to - remainder lunar landing place commission . This includes information associated with hardware design , development and testing ; primer operations and consolidation ; launch ; trajectory correction play ; lunar braking , burn and landing place ; and heighten capability .
This is potentially a big profits - win for NASA , as it can help suffer the advancement of distance travel while still only drop a fraction of the money it would take to beam one of its own probes to the Moon . Like the Lunar X pillage , there is a time limit on the prize – society only have until 2012 to pull together the full 60.1 million , after which both the Google and NASA sides of the plunder shrink . After that , NASA say it will offer up up to 15 million for datum until 2014 , and if nobody has claim the money by then , the offer expires .
Also , for any enterprising readers feeling like making a late entry , be warn – the deadline for proposals is September 8 . Better get to work ! Check out the television below for a prevue of your contest :
[ NASAviaCosmic Log ]
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