Phil StookeWhite Label Space began as a 'brandless' (white label) team to be renamed later for a sponsor, before it joined GLXP in 2009. Its international team had headquarters in the Netherlands. It suggested landing on a sunlit south polar peak but the precision needed for such a small target made this impractical. An unspecified safe mare site took its place. A December 2009 description put it between 50° W and 50° E and between 10° N and 10° S. Four mare regions were considered...
#moon #GLXP
... Oceanus Procellarum near Surveyor 1, northern Mare Nubium east of Fra Mauro, Mare Vaporum and southern Mare Tranquillitatis. A preferred landing site outside these areas was chosen near the crater Delambre in the highlands south of Apollo 11, in a smooth highland plains area at 3° S, 19° E. The rim of Delambre to the west and hills to the east would appear on the horizon. This map shows White Label Space areas of interest and some from another team we will see later.
#maps #moon #GLXP
#maps #moon #GLXP
There's more to say about this team, but it's bedtime. See you tomorrow!
Here is a map of the Delambre site for White Label Space (WLS) in the highlands south of Apollo 11.
In September 2010 a Japanese group in WLS started work on the project. In 2013 the European side of the team folded and the team continued in Japan under co-founder Takeshi Hakamada. The company changed its name to ispace Inc. and the GLXP team took the name of its second rover prototype, Hakuto (White Rabbit), referring to a legend of a rabbit in the Moon.
#moon #GLXP
Hakuto's rover, first named Moonraker, could carry a small rover (Tetris) for extra data and views of Moonraker. The 2 rovers could be tethered so Tetris could descend into pit at the Astrobotic site (Hakuto had no lander of its own). A 2015 paper described the landing near the Lacus Mortis pit and that site remained an ispace target even after the association with Astrobotic ended. ispace did build a lander later but moved away from Lacus Mortis.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
The ispace rover might also fly with Team Indus (we will see them later) to a site in Mare Imbrium. Acierno (2017) described a site in Mare Imbrium at 35.25° N, 29.23° W and illustrated two possible paths for the rover (now called Sorato), each roughly 500 m long. This map shows them in the actual location. Another description suggested that the rover would approach the lander several times during its circuit, following a path resembling petals of a flower.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
ispace continued after the GLXP and has already flown 2 lunar missions, both of which crashed. But they have more coming including a NASA CLPS mission with Draper Lab.
Now we move to a team which did not survive. They had a great idea but couldn't raise the money. This is Selenokhod, a Russian team which called itself Googlokhod before it registered. It would land near Apollo 12 or possibly Lunokhod 2. Their rover was also called Selenokhod, to distinguish it from Lunokhod.
#moon #GLXP
Selenokhod worked with some Soviet-era space veterans, notably Lunokhod driver Vyacheslav Dovgan, and planned a rover which walked on ski-like feet like the tiny Prop-M rovers carried to Mars on the Mars 2, 3 and 6 landers. An updated rover design by Smirnov Design was illustrated in video simulations. You have to see this. I would have given them a prize just for this video:
Selenokhod-2011.03.30
Selenokhod had no lander, and in a 2012 concept the walking rover would be carried to the Moon on the Luna-Glob lander, which was expected to fly in about 2015 but 'might be delayed until after the GLXP deadline'. It was - it flew in 2023. The use of a government asset like this would have contravened GLXP rules. The team withdrew in 2013 to 'use its technology in terrestrial applications'. I don't know if they did.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
Our next 2009 team is Part Time Scientists, a German team with a rover called Asimov 1. In 2010 they said they would land between the Apollo 12 and Apollo 14 sites (or that the choice was between those sites), but in 2012 the Apollo 17 site was chosen. The lander was named Jules Verne, later changed to Autonomous Landing and Navigation Module (ALINA). The rover name changed in 2015 when Audi was announced as a sponsor and the rover name became Audi Lunar Quattro.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
As the team became less ‘part-time’ they contracted their name to PTScientists. They booked a launch with Spaceflight, Inc., a Seattle broker of secondary launch services using spare space and mass on existing rockets to meet the GLXP deadline for arranging a launch before the end of 2016. Spaceflight did not have a specific launch opportunity at that time, and the GLXP did not accept the arrangement as a firm launch booking so the team was not able to continue.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
PTScientists continued work on a mission outside the GLXP. In 2019 they were part of a consortium including Arianespace which won a contract from ESA to study polar landing missions. In July 2019 funding shortfalls forced PTScientists into bankruptcy, but in September they were acquired by another company, changed their name to Planetary Transportation Systems (PTS GmbH) and continued their work on that contract. More details here:
The last of our 2009 GLXP teams was C-Base Open Moon from Germany. 'Open' in the name signifies open source, a philosophy several teams adopted. Their rover would have been called C-rove. They invited the public to choose a landing site from among four candidates as seen here. They are shown on the White Label Space map a few posts ago. The competition was not promoted beyond their website and the team withdrew in July 2011 without choosing a landing site.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
We are working through the Catalogue of GLXP Teams, and now we come to teams joining in 2010. The first of them was the Barcelona Moon Team. It registered in April, and in August 2012 they announced they had booked a launch on a Chinese Long March rocket in June or July 2014, later delayed to 2015 and then to June 2016. In 2013 they described further lunar missions every 2 years after the first landing. They would fly Earth-orbiting missions in the years between lunar missions.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
The Barcelona Moon Team lander would carry SELENA (Sustainable Experiment on Lunar Exploitation using a Nanotechnology Approach) to detect lunar volatiles and/or demonstrate extracting oxygen from the regolith. The landing site would have been near the equator (so, to be honest, not many volatiles) according to a Grokipedia article (https://grokipedia.com/page/barcelona_moon_team). Barcelona Moon Team withdrew from the competition in 2015. I don't know much more about them.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
Our next GLXP team is Rocket City Space Pioneers (RCSP), which joined in September 2010. The 'Rocket City' was Huntsville, Alabama. The team included the University of Alabama in Huntsville and the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation. At the GLXP Team Summit held in the Isle of Man in October 2010, RCSP identified an illuminated area at the south pole as their landing site. The RCSP lander would release a small tethered rover with a range of at least 1000 m.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
In 2011 RCSP moved their landing site to Surveyor 7, and six months later Apollo 12 was identified as a potential site. Team member Spaceflight Services offered space on the RCSP flight for small spacecraft or instruments delivered to a geostationary Transfer orbit or low lunar orbit. In March 2012 the lander was named Spirit of Alabama following a competition among school classes. RCSP was taken over by Moon Express in 2013.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
Moon Express was led by Robert Richards who had recently left Odyssey Moon. Alan Stern continued to advise MoonEx until he departed to concentrate efforts on his human lunar exploration company Golden Spike in 2012. Moon Express would be able to seek NASA funding under its Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data program, unlike non-US teams (e.g. Odyssey Moon). Its lander, based on the NASA Ames Common Bus spacecraft also used for LADEE, would be called MoonEx 1.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
Well-lit points at the south pole were suggested by Moon Express in 2011 as likely landing areas. Other customers might prefer different sites so this was not fixed in 2011. The hopper could operate through prolonged sunlight at one site and then jump to another sunlit location. Another option mentioned in 2011 was for the lander to deploy several small mini-hopper devices which could travel up to tens of km... a bit like Moonfall, in the news now.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
In November 2011 Moon Express described two mini-rovers named Arthur and Robert after Arthur C. Clarke and Robert A. Heinlein which could be deployed on the surface. Each two-wheeled rover would take images and video and collect scientific data. The International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) intended to fly a communication test package on MoonEx 1 and its observatory on MoonEx 2, and worked with Golden Spike on human missions to service its observatory.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
Late in 2012 Moon Express described targets for its first two missions. MoonEx 1 in 2015 would go to the southern highlands, south of 60 S to reduce thermal stress on the lander, possibly near Surveyor 7. MoonEx 2 would land at a polar site, probably Malapert Mountain, with radio and optical telescopes for ILOA. Moon Express would use a small rover to scout for resources. A third mission in about 2020 might be a sample return. Paul Spudis suggested Rima Bode as a target.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
We'll see that Bode site later. Meanwhile a small return vehicle was designed for the sample return mission. Analysis showed that the return vehicle could land on its own, so this ‘scout class’ lander would be used for the first mission. It would launch as a secondary payload on a commercial launcher, use an ion engine to reach the Moon and land before the end of 2015. The dates were delayed as the GLXP deadline retreated. A larger lander would be used later at the south pole.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
There is quite a lot to say about Moon Express because they were very open and often to be seen at meetings like LPSC. Bob Richards was a good communicator and like all entrepreneurs always boldly promoting the company, often beyond what was reasonably possible at the time. But funding was always hard to find and things became very precarious. A move from Silicon Valley to the environs of KSC didn't make much difference.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
Moon Express CEO Bob Richards said in a 2017 interview that the MX1 landing site would be equatorial. At the LEAG meeting in October 2017 Paul Spudis and Richards said that the first Moon Express mission would be an orbiter carrying an instrument for mapping water across the Moon, and the first lander would go to a pyroclastic deposit at Rima Bode (near the equator). Later the ILOA telescope would go to one of two sites on peaks near the south pole. Spudis died in 2018.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
Paul Spudis and Bob Richards, at that 2017 LEAG meeting, identified a specific site at Rima Bode. This map shows (A) several sites mentioned by Moon Express at different times, and (B,C,D) a zoom in on the location they were interested in. Bode was of interest to Apollo, to many studies since, and is now a good candidate for an early Chinese crew landing. The volcanic ash deposit may have resource potential.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
Moon Express ran out of money and laid off most staff. It had a brief apparent revival of fortunes when it was accepted as a potential CLPS mission provider. I don't know if they competed for any of the early missions but they certainly didn't get one and by 2020 they were effectively out of business. Last time I looked NASA was still listing them as a potential CLPS company but I don't think they really exist any more.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
Two new teams joined the GLXP late in 2010. They were LUNARecon and Puli Space. LUNARecon was a restructured version of the previous team Lunatrex, headed again by Pete Bitar and featuring a rover called Sidewinder. It withdrew even before being officially listed on the GLXP website. Puli Space, from Hungary, had a more lasting presence. They presented a list of nine potential landing sites at the 42nd LPSC in March 2011. Puli is a small dog breed from Hungary.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
Puli Space worked on a rover with interesting wheels (https://pulispace.com/). Each wheel consisted of five radial legs widening into a 'foot'. When this seemed out of reach they decided to fly a time capsule payload on Astrobotic's first mission (https://www.astrobotic.com/team-puli-space-is-the-third-google-lunar-xprize-team-to-reserve-a-ride-to-the-moon-with-astrobotic/)
These things didn't happen, but Puli survived the end of the GLXP and developed an instrument for detecting water in polar craters. One was mounted on the hopping vehicle...
#moon #GLXP
... carried on the Intuitive Machines Mission 2 lander in 2025. Another was on the same mission's rover. The lander fell on its side so only brief test telemetry was obtained - but Puli did get to the Moon. They have another chance soon on Astrolab's FLIP rover, and ESA has contracted to buy data from them.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
The end of 2010 was the last time teams could join the GLXP, but several remaining teams filed the paperwork late enough in 2010 that they were only announced in February 2011. First was an Israeli team, SpaceIL, the last two letters being the internet country code for Israel. SpaceIL launched its Beresheet lander on 22 February 2019, after the competition had ended. It was the first GLXP team to launch, and its mission ended with a crash on 11 April 2019. Let's take a look.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
SpaceIL's initial plan was for a small lander to go to a site selected by high school students as a national science project in 2012. Late in 2012 SpaceIL took over Odyssey Moon. The lander was first called Sparrow, but other suggested names were Hatikvah (‘hope’) and Ramon (for Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, who died in the Columbia shuttle accident on 1 February 2003). The team was supported by wealthy investors, solving one big problem for all teams.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
In November 2014 the team described a science goal for the mission. It would use a magnetometer to measure the lunar magnetic field during descent and on the surface before and after it hopped to a second location. This suggested that the site would be at or near one of the well-mapped magnetic anomalies, but a specific site was not described until 2015 - it was Reiner Gamma where a bright albedo 'swirl' coincides with a large magnetic anomaly. This would soon change.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
A new site selection plan for SpaceIL appeared in 2017 (https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2017/pdf/1914.pdf). Global maps of topography, rocks, albedo and roughness were used to find safe landing sites 15 km across (the landing ellipse would be 15 km long and its orientation was not yet known). The laser altimeter worked best in areas of intermediate albedo, excluding darker mare sites and fresh crater ejecta as at Tycho. Low latitudes including Reiner Gamma and regions within 20° of the limb were excluded.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
Safe sites were compared with maps of magnetic anomalies to find suitable locations, which were certified with high resolution images. Three targets were identified near Berzelius, Nonius and Wöhler. A specific Berzelius site was shown 50 km NW of the crater at 37.8° N, 53.3° E, just south of Berzelius W. Sites at Nonius and Wöhler are shown at the centres of large circles from Grossman et al. and may not be the precise intended locations.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
Other magnetic anomaly sites were available but these three (shown on this map) may have been preferred by this Israeli team for the Jewish heritage of the crater namesakes. In 2018 a new site was chosen in Mare Serenitatis. Team science advisor Oded Aharonson selected a site with a strong magnetic field. Further study of the problem ruled out the highland sites suggested earlier and mandated a mare site if its albedo was acceptable. A white box on the map shows the region.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
SpaceIL's new site is mapped here. The large circle is based on an image on the mission website in 2018. Aharonson et al. (2019) identified three 30 km circles provisionally named Posidonius 1, 2 and 3 after the large crater east of the landing area (https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2019/pdf/2290.pdf). The relationship between the magnetic field and the nearby wrinkle ridges would be studied as the lander descended. The lander name Beresheet (= Genesis) was chosen in a public poll.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
Beresheet launched on 22 February 2019 and arrived at the Moon on 4 April, taking a slow low-energy trajectory. It attempted a landing on 11 April but crashed. This set of maps zooms us in to the impact site. Magnetometer data collected during the orbit phase and descent were affected by interference from the spacecraft itself and could not be used. X Prize awarded them a $1 million prize for the attempt.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
One payload was a digital time capsule with cultural, historic and educational items reflecting Israeli culture and history. Another digital archive called The Lunar Library Genesis Mission was provided by the Arch Mission Foundation. It contained image and digital data including the English version of the digital encyclopedia Wikipedia, 25000 digitized books from Project Gutenberg and other archives, linguistic data for 5000 languages and a key to its use.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
This 'library' was intended to survive for zillions of years as an archive of human knowledge and culture. It also carried samples of human DNA and a cargo of dormant, dehydrated tardigrades, small aquatic creatures known to have survived exposure to the space environment in Earth orbit. They were inserted in the Archive, unannounced and unregulated, posing a challenge to the national oversight of space activities required by the Outer Space Treaty.
#moon #GLXP
#moon #GLXP
65dBnoise@PhilStooke
Apparently those Israelis think they are "the chosen" people of God, unbound from any moral or political obligation to the rest of humanity. Also apparently, Yahweh didn't agree…
Apparently those Israelis think they are "the chosen" people of God, unbound from any moral or political obligation to the rest of humanity. Also apparently, Yahweh didn't agree…