Starship Asterisk*

Crowdfunded Moon mission is serious about science

Celebrity-backed lander aims to drill the lunar south pole within a decade.

Elizabeth Gibney
19 November 2014

With government budgets for space exploration under strain, a UK consortium has embarked on a project to raise money for a robotic Moon mission by offering the public the chance to stash their memories and even a hair sample on the Moon.
The aim of Lunar Mission One is to put a lander on the Moon's south pole within the next decade. The robotic probe would to drill 20–100 metres into the surface, seeking insights about the origins of the Earth and the Moon, and paving the way for establishing a lunar base.

To fund the US$1-billion enterprise, parent company Lunar Missions plans to turn the borehole into a time capsule and personal repository for paying customers. Its backers started soliciting contributions on 19 November, and had collected almost £90,000 (about $140,000) within the first 12 hours from its launch.

...Sceptics doubt that there is enough interest to raise that much cash. But David Iron, who founded Lunar Missions and works on financing space projects at the consulting firm CGI, believes there is no harm in finding out.

... Lunar Mission One has gathered support from a range of UK partners, including RAL Space, part of the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, based near Oxford; University College London; and the Open University in Milton Keynes. The high-profile announcement also comes with the endorsement of dozens of UK scientists — including TV celebrity Brian Cox of the University of Manchester — and of two former UK science ministers, Ian Taylor and David Willetts. Iron says that he hopes to involve international partners later.

“This looks like something real, if they can raise the money,” says Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He contrasts the clout of science expertise in the line-up, which includes Ian Crawford, planetary scientist at Birkbeck University of London and the ESA Rosetta mission's Monica Grady, with most of the teams competing for the Google Lunar XPRIZE, whose aims are "light on the science side" ...

Moon on a stick
A crowdfunded lunar mission might seem like a long shot — but there is no harm in trying.

26 November 2014

... The mission itself would cost around US$1 billion. For starters, it needs $1 million by 17 December. As Nature went to press, it has more than half of that. ...

So how seriously should we take the new Moon shot? Certainly the institutions involved are solid enough. University College London and RAL Space, part of the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council and a partner in more than 200 space missions, have assessed the feasibility of the mission...
Perhaps wary of pouring cold water on an aspirational and ambitious plan, sceptics have been surprisingly hard to find. The effort is plainly ambitious. But, the message seems to be, where is the harm in trying? If Lunar Mission One misses its funding target, the programme simply stops...

MargaritaMc wrote:An editorial in today's Nature

Moon on a stick
A crowdfunded lunar mission might seem like a long shot — but there is no harm in trying.

26 November 2014

... The mission itself would cost around US$1 billion. For starters, it needs $1 million by 17 December. As Nature went to press, it has more than half of that. ...

So how seriously should we take the new Moon shot? Certainly the institutions involved are solid enough. University College London and RAL Space, part of the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council and a partner in more than 200 space missions, have assessed the feasibility of the mission...
Perhaps wary of pouring cold water on an aspirational and ambitious plan, sceptics have been surprisingly hard to find. The effort is plainly ambitious. But, the message seems to be, where is the harm in trying? If Lunar Mission One misses its funding target, the programme simply stops...

BDanielMayfield wrote: What happens to all the collected funds if the target is missed?

This project will only be funded if at least £600,000 is pledged by Wed, Dec 17 2014 11:59 PM WET.

Lunar Mission One fundraising site
Just now:
6,760 backers
£615,967 pledged of £600,000
27 hours to go

NBC:Lunar Mission One Hits First Kickstarter Goal for Moon Shot

Lunar Mission One's crowdfunding campaign has met its initial £600,000 ($945,000) target for a privately funded robotic mission to the moon, which means it has 0.1 percent of the money it says it will eventually need.

Update for 1:53 p.m. ET Dec. 16: British physicist Stephen Hawking, one of Lunar Mission One's backers, had this to say about the campaign:

"Congratulations to Lunar Mission One and all its backers. Today they have achieved what are the first steps towards a lasting legacy for space exploration. Lunar Mission One is bringing space exploration to the people, and I have no doubt that young people and adults alike will be inspired by the ambition and passion of all those involved in the project. As a truly scientific endeavour, I wish it nothing but success over the coming years."