[amsat-bb] Re: Moon can cost less than HEO/GEO

[Joe]

I agree on the Lunar X Prize,
http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/
There are 19 teams so far in the chase,

why do we not contact every one of them with the proposal?

there is 30 million purse there a waiting.

we could even say  give us the ride and they can keep the prize

Joe WB9SBD

Armando Mercado wrote:

>Greetings,
>
>First of all, I appreciate the efforts of the dedicated few of
>AMSAT that actually go out and make things happen.
>You don't hear "Thank you" often enough.
>
>
>
>Being this early in the idea phase, there are a lot of
>questions and unknowns.  What frequencies to use and
>what the link requirements will be can all be worked out.
>
>The bigger question for me is if the moon is a good platform
>for an amateur transponder.  No doubt it is technically doable.
>If the decision is based only on launch availability--It's the moon
>or nothing at all--then to the moon we go.  But let's all
>understand what we are getting into.
>
>To the best of my knowledge, NASA does not now have an
>unmanned lunar lander mission that has been approved, although
>there is a lander planned in the greater scheme of things. Perhaps
>someone could direct me to some current information.
>
>The last I knew, the plan called for a lander referred to as RLEP-2.
>It was going to be a lander/rover powered by RTG's with a 1 year
>mission to explore Shackleton crater near the moon's south pole.
>The cost was going to be in the $400-$750 million range.  The launch
>vehicle was going to have excess capacity so it was proposed that
>3-4 mini satellites be deployed in lunar orbit to do remote sensing
>AND provide a communication link for the lander.
>
>So, if this is the mission we are talking about putting our transponder
>on, it sounds like we won't hear it on earth once the rover drives
>into the crater.  Putting our transponder on one of the mini satellites
>sounds like a better plan.
>
>Again, I had difficulty finding current information on NASA's unmanned
>lunar lander plans.  The last I read anything about RLEP-2 was that it
>was in serious trouble because of cost and was going to be sharply
>cut back.
>
>If our NASA host spacecraft will take care of all the housekeeping
>and provided free power, then a low cost transponder sounds like
>something we can do (although AMSAT-NA currently does not have
>a satellite lab--we may need to contract out the transponder work).
>We just need to understand we will not have control of the on/off
>switch (the repeater on the ISS or the Planetary Society's
>microphone on the Mars Phoenix lander for example).
>
>The days of getting a free launch is over, and it is too bad the Intelsat
>ride share idea did not pan out for us.  As I have said before, I am
>not opposed to a transponder on the moon, I just have a lot of
>unanswered questions.
>
>Thanks again to the dedicated few at AMSAT that make things happen.
>
>Armando, N8IGJ
>
>
>
>
>  
>
>>Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2009 18:14:59 -0700 (PDT)
>>From: MM <ka1rrw at yahoo.com>
>>Subject: [amsat-bb]  Moon can cost less than HEO/GEO
>>To: amsat-bb at amsat.org
>>Message-ID: <228402.31352.qm at web56404.mail.re3.yahoo.com>
>>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
>>    
>>
>
>
> >High orbit launch prices
>
>  
>
>>I can?t afford that and I do not know anyone at Huges, so I am looking into 
>>the piggyback options.  Let some other company pay the big bucks for the 
>>flight >and navigation and just tag along for the ride.
>>    
>>
>
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