Robots aren鈥檛 the only ones heading to the moon. The first private company offering regular trips to the lunar surface plans to start flights in 2020, shuttling people two at a time on exploratory missions. However, with an expected price tag of $1.4 billion per flight, or around $750 million per person, the trek would likely be out of reach for all but the wealthiest moonwalkers.
Today鈥檚 announcement, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC backs up recent rumours that Alan Stern, a former administrator of NASA鈥檚 Science Mission Directorate, had founded a company called in Colorado to run commercial moon trips.
Named for the final spike driven into the first US transcontinental railroad line, Golden Spike plans to market to governments, corporations and individuals to routinely send people to the moon for scientific purposes, to mine for resources or simply for prestige.
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鈥淲hy the moon? Because it鈥檚 close, because it鈥檚 enormous, and because we think that there鈥檚 going to be a strong market for it,鈥� says Stern. No tickets have yet been sold. But preliminary talks with space agencies in Asia and Europe are underway, he adds. 鈥淲e see our main market as selling expeditions to foreign space agencies.鈥�
In 2010 President Barack Obama scrapped NASA鈥檚 Constellation program for sending astronauts to the moon. Shortly afterwards, Stern convened a secret meeting of heavy-hitters in the space industry in Telluride, Colorado, to discuss the possibility of a private lunar mission. A four-month feasibility study led to the company鈥檚 quiet founding later that year.
Beyond robots
Golden Spike now has several experienced directors and advisors, including Gerry Griffin, former director of NASA鈥檚 Johnson Spaceflight Center, and Wayne Hale, former chief of NASA鈥檚 space shuttle programme. It also boasts some colourful characters: Newt Gingrich, a former US presidential candidate who previously championed a lunar colony, and Mike Okuda, a set designer for the Star Trek franchise, are also on the advisory panel.
鈥淥ne thing you can say about Stern is that he knows the game,鈥� says , CEO of Astrobotic Technology, one of many teams competing to put a robot on the moon and win the $20-million Google Lunar X Prize. 鈥淎s NASA鈥檚 former science director, he had a favoured insider鈥檚 perspective. He knows people.鈥�
Although several of the firm鈥檚 directors have NASA experience, Golden Spike will be a purely private enterprise that will not seek government funding, Stern says. The plan is to purchase a rocket and a crew capsule from one or more of the other private space enterprises that have sprung up in recent years, such as SpaceX or Blue Origin.
Golden Spike has signed contracts to begin development of a lunar lander and space suits. Its first lunar mission is expected to cost the company between $7 and $8 billion. To help cover expenses, the company plans to merchandise each mission, for instance, by selling the naming rights for their spacecraft.
Meanwhile, Space Adventures of Arlington, Virginia says it is on track to send people on flights that would circle the moon starting in 2016 or 2017. The price for each flight is $300 million, or $150 million per seat. There are two seats available for the maiden voyage, and one has already been sold, spokesperson Stacey Tearne told 快猫短视频.
Fred Bourgeois, head of , another Lunar X Prize team, worries that the idea of sending people to the moon on private ships is premature. 鈥淲e need to prove some things with robotic systems first, so we don鈥檛 put lives at risk,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 would not get on a private mission to the moon today, even though I would love to go.鈥�
But Stern says he鈥檚 confident that robots will get to the moon鈥檚 surface long before the first Golden Spike flights at the end of the decade. Human beings, he says, will then be needed for activities beyond the capabilities of a robot 鈥� from doing field geology to maintaining mining equipment. Says Stern: 鈥淲e need to start now in order to be ready for the next phase.鈥�
