Return to the Moon
As the world’s first multi-national enterprise dedicated to commercial lunar exploration and development, Odyssey Moon plans to meet near term and long term global market needs for low cost, reliable and frequent lunar access currently unaddressed by large government space programs. By creating alternative commercial lunar delivery products and services that provide rapid mission schedules and standardized systems, our goal is to provide value added commercial lunar missions for our government, academic and commercial customers. World-class technologies will be selected and developed into standardized, scalable turn-key solutions that will supply unprecedented value to diverse international customers seeking reliable and cost effective products and services for lunar activities.
Odyssey Moon’s “M-1” is a commercial robotic lander mission to the equatorial region of the Moon in support of science, exploration and commerce. The mission is planned for launch in late 2012 utilizing the Odyssey Lunar Lander system, developed from NASA’s innovative Common Spacecraft Bus (CSB) platform. This “Commercial Mission of Opportunity” has a mixed manifest of scientific and commercial payloads with ~15 kg of payload capacity available to the international lunar and business communities for commercial, scientific or technology demonstration payloads. We have minimized individual payload costs through sharing of spacecraft resources and common spacecraft elements.
As an official Google Lunar X PRIZE mission, M-1 is the first of a series of mission opportunities designed to enable low cost, rapid, and frequent access to the Moon for government, academic and commercial customers.Our Customers
- Paragon Space Development Corporation
- Luna Resort AB
- International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) and Space Age Publishing
- International Space School Educational Trust (ISSET)
- The Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO)
- Celestis, Inc.
Odyssey Moon and Paragon Space Development Corp. entered into a Letter of Intent on September 29, 2009 following a March 30, 2009 announcement to send a biological greenhouse called “Lunar Oasis” to the Moon. Paragon is a full-service aerospace engineering and technology development firm and a major supplier of environmental control and life support system and subsystem design for the aerospace industry. The goal is to grow the first plant on the Moon.
On September 15, 2009, the Company entered into a letter of intent with Luna Resort AB, a Swedish corporation. The project was developed by Mikael Genberg, a Swedish artist, who wants to place an inflatable traditional Swedish style cottage on the Moon. In addition to its artistic and symbolic value, the payload would contain technical and scientific research projects. The project has been supported industrially and financially by Swedish technology and space companies and private investors in Sweden.
ILOA is a Hawaii-based non-profit organization dedicated to expanding human astronomical knowledge through observatories stationed on the Moon. Space Age Publishing Company publishes Lunar Enterprise Daily and Space Calendar weekly. On July 24, 2009, the Company and ILOA executed a Memorandum of Understanding announcing a joint venture agreement for ILOA to send a scientific instrument to the Moon aboard M-1. ILOA placed a deposit to reserve capacity.
Odyssey Moon has a partnership with the International Space School Education Trust (ISSET) to put a British science instrument on the Moon. ISSET is a registered UK charity whose mission is the utilization of space exploration to increase student and teacher motivation. The Company signed a Letter of Intent and is negotiating contracts with ISSET for the purchase of capacity as well a broader relationship to market payloads to educational institutions.
On June 4, 2009, Odyssey Moon signed an amended Letter of Intent with the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) to fly a scientific instrument aboard M-1. TNO is an independent non-profit scientific research organization with 2008 consolidated turnover of €600 million. TNO had designed a miniaturized scientific instrument based on an instrument previously selected as part of the ESA ExoMars rover.
Celestis Inc. is an affiliate of Space Services Inc., a Houston-based aerospace company with a long history in private space missions. Celestis Inc. is a pioneer and leader in memorial spaceflight and has specialized in sending cremated remains into the Earth's orbit for over ten years. In August of 2008, Odyssey Moon and Celestis signed a Lunar Delivery Services Agreement setting forth the terms including, price, mechanics of delivery and payment.
Recent discovery of water on the Moon paves the way to explore our 8th Continent - the size of the Americas, largely unexplored, full of resources & opportunity.