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Moonshot - short films about Google Lunar XPRIZE


RainDreamer

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Details on the contest:

http://lunar.xprize.org/

 

Currently there are 16 teams all over the world attempting this contest by Google, for the grand prize of $20 million (+$5 million if they managed to have scientific/technological achievement). In order to win, the team must:

1. Sucessfully place a robot on the moon

2. Travel 500m there.

3. Sending HD video and image back to earth.

And another condition is that the team must prove that 90% of their mission cost are funded by private sources. 

The teams has until the end of 2016 to announce a verified launch contact to stay in the competition, and must finish their mission by the end of 2017.

 

Let's hope this will make people want to fund for space trip again.

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Right now, two teams (SpaceIL and Moon Express) have a verified launch contract within the deadline. This is good, because it means that the competition can now proceed to its conclusion. Considering the technical challenges involved, and the need to then also secure launch services to a destination nobody outside of China currently flies to, this wasn't guaranteed to happen, so the foundation is pretty thrilled.

At least one more team (Astrobotics) is expected to sign a lunch contract this year, and their big lander has multiple smaller teams piggybacking on top. They'll hold a "rover race" to the 500 meter goal, which should be pretty entertaining to watch live... :)

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12 minutes ago, Majorjim said:
10 hours ago, DerekL1963 said:

It won't.  People simply aren't interested.

Let's just hope enough are to make it possible.

They aren't and the Google X-prize won't change that any more than the Ansari X-prize did.

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Just now, DerekL1963 said:

They aren't and the Google X-prize won't change that any more than the Ansari X-prize did.

Well the Ansari X prize did do something, it created Virgin Galactic, and in a few years, people with a quarter of a million dollars )Maybe less when they really get going, perhaps 100 grand) will get to go to space, so it may take awhile, but something will definitely come out of it.

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1 hour ago, Spaceception said:
1 hour ago, DerekL1963 said:

They aren't and the Google X-prize won't change that any more than the Ansari X-prize did.

Well the Ansari X prize did do something, it created Virgin Galactic, and in a few years, people with a quarter of a million dollars )Maybe less when they really get going, perhaps 100 grand) will get to go to space, so it may take awhile, but something will definitely come out of it.

While you weasel and try and change the subject and put words in my mouth, the brutal ugly truth remains - it did not noticeably change public perceptions or measurably or noticeably change the level of public interest.  

And no matter how often Majorjim repeats the Space Enthusiasts Articles Of Faith, the truth remains the truth.

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3 hours ago, Majorjim said:

Let's just hope enough are to make it possible.

Most optimistically, it'll create a new industry of private companies selling data about the solar system to space agencies to get more science out of less money overall.

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15 hours ago, DerekL1963 said:

While you weasel and try and change the subject and put words in my mouth, the brutal ugly truth remains - it did not noticeably change public perceptions or measurably or noticeably change the level of public interest.  

And no matter how often Majorjim repeats the Space Enthusiasts Articles Of Faith, the truth remains the truth.

LOL, 'truth'..

 How can you look at this in any way other than positivity? Where's the beef mate?

Edited by Majorjim
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4 hours ago, Majorjim said:

LOL, 'truth'..

 How can you look at this in any way other than positivity?

Laugh all you want, that doesn't change reality.   And where do I not look at the Google-X prize positively?   (Not only have I not discussed the contest itself, addressing the truth is neither positive nor negative except to those who wish to deny it.  That's not 'positivity', that's delusion.)

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57 minutes ago, Majorjim said:

How do you know this so surely?

The last one (Ansari X Prize) didn't, and this isn't really the point of Prizes like these. X-Prizes are usually to kickstart new industries, or improve lives via better technology.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Prize_Foundation#2010.E2.80.932011_Wendy_Schmidt_Oil_Cleanup_XCHALLENGE

Publicity effects exists, but it's going to be short lived, like all one-time events.

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12 hours ago, Majorjim said:
On 3/18/2016 at 0:43 PM, DerekL1963 said:

it did not noticeably change public perceptions or measurably or noticeably change the level of public interest.  

How do you know this so surely?

But noticing the complete lack of an noticeable change.   Nobody outside of the Usual Suspects is calling for an increase in NASA budget.  By noticing no increased coverage of NASA in the news.  Etc... etc... etc...

I don't live in the space fandom echo chamber, which means I see the real world.

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If any of the teams outside the "First World" could manage to actually fly, I think that those could actually really spark interest in their home countries. In the US, EU, etc, I don't see it as being particularly interesting to most people (we have an SUV sized robot on Mars driving around, and I'd wager 99% of people walking around don't even know it exists). If the Indian team managed to land on the moon, everyone in India would likely know about it.

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7 hours ago, tater said:

If any of the teams outside the "First World" could manage to actually fly, I think that those could actually really spark interest in their home countries. In the US, EU, etc, I don't see it as being particularly interesting to most people (we have an SUV sized robot on Mars driving around, and I'd wager 99% of people walking around don't even know it exists). If the Indian team managed to land on the moon, everyone in India would likely know about it.

So? Only the first few mission or so is followed closely, after that, people stop caring.

India had a bout of pride from its moon missions, but again, it's going to be (very) temporary, too temporary to allow for something like an Indian in Space via an increase in budget. It's not happening.

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I didn't say anything about budget, I only mentioned public interest. I suppose in a populous country like India, a bump in public interest, particularly the type of project that involved students could at least have the positive goal of getting some kids to decide to head to aerospace instead of computer engineering. I'm not saying it would have a profound impact, but it might have some impact, and certainly more than in the West where things like this are sort of assumed by anyone who thinks about them.

Regardless, public opinion would;t drive funding anyway, jobs/pork in particular districts drives funding.

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12 minutes ago, tater said:

I didn't say anything about budget, I only mentioned public interest. I suppose in a populous country like India, a bump in public interest, particularly the type of project that involved students could at least have the positive goal of getting some kids to decide to head to aerospace instead of computer engineering. I'm not saying it would have a profound impact, but it might have some impact, and certainly more than in the West where things like this are sort of assumed by anyone who thinks about them.

Regardless, public opinion would;t drive funding anyway, jobs/pork in particular districts drives funding.

Public interest is just as temporary.

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4 minutes ago, fredinno said:

Public interest is just as temporary.

Sort of. General public interest is, and won't result in anything at all, because the public has little influence on government spending, anyway. If some of those who become interested go into space science/engineering, then that impact is not temporary---or is exactly as temporary as any career is. The next von Braun might be Indian for all we know, and his first excitement about space could be seeing the Indus team fly their robot to the moon.

Again, this would be a tiny chance, so it's certainly not a cost-effective way to pursue that goal, I'm just saying that this project costs the participants exactly nothing except their time (they secure funds from industry, etc), and has a real payoff for the winner, and nebulous, possible plusses for some people that might be inspired by it. I'm not supporting OP's notion that it will encourage more funding for space, because as I said, public interest has exactly nothing to do with it, anyway, won't happen.

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On 3/18/2016 at 1:00 PM, Spaceception said:

Well the Ansari X prize did do something, it created Virgin Galactic, and in a few years, people with a quarter of a million dollars )Maybe less when they really get going, perhaps 100 grand) will get to go to space, so it may take awhile, but something will definitely come out of it.

11.5 years and counting for something that Virgin Galactic claimed would take 3. Meanwhile, most-all of the other competitors have quietly vanished. As for those that haven't, consider that XCOR is in much the same endless development with no launch service.

 

On 3/18/2016 at 4:24 PM, fredinno said:

Most optimistically, it'll create a new industry of private companies selling data about the solar system to space agencies to get more science out of less money overall.

Between the X-Prize's post-winnings fizzle, the similar fizzle by Armadillo Aerospace, and the way the GLXP deadlines have been repeatedly delayed so someone can actually claim it* (5 years so far, and government lander-related penalties conveniently vanished just before Chang'e 3/Yutu's launch), I no longer trust the competition/prize model for increasing space access.

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