“The prospect for commercial delivery of NASA science and exploration instruments to the Moon is consistent with the precedents already set by the NASA COTS program supporting commercial supply for orbital operations,” said NASA Ames Research Center Director S. Pete Worden. “Extending commercial supplier concepts and relationships to advance NASA’s mandates for exploration and permanent operations on the Moon is a logical next step.”
Lunar Lander Prototype – Odyssey Moon’s “MoonOne” lunar lander will be adapted from a small spacecraft system under development at NASA Ames called the Common Spacecraft Bus, which uses an innovative modular design adaptable to a variety of mission configurations as either an orbiter or a lander. Under the partnering agreement, NASA will share technical data and provide engineering support to Odyssey Moon Ventures. NASA also will share data from the Hover Test Vehicle, an engineering prototype of the Common Spacecraft Bus developed at Ames to evaluate hardware and software systems through rapid prototyping and ground-based testing. Lunar Lander Prototype – The Odyssey Moon “M-1” lunar lander will be adapted from the Common Spacecraft Bus developed at the NASA Ames Research Center. Pictured above is the Hover Test Vehicle used for ground testing. (Photo courtesy NASA and OMV)
Earlier this year, veteran space executive Jay Honeycutt was announced as President of Odyssey Moon Ventures, responsible for all U.S. operations and programs. “I am extremely pleased and excited to be working on getting us back to the Moon in a sustainable way,” said Jay Honeycutt. “I believe the private sector has an important role to play in a permanent and affordable lunar program. We look forward to working with NASA as both partners and customers in this effort.” Honeycutt has over 40 years of space program experience, including Director of the NASA Kennedy Space Center and President of Lockheed Martin Space Operations.
Odyssey Moon Ventures will focus on the commercialization of the NASA technology to develop a series of robotic missions to the Moon during the International Lunar Decade. It’s initial “MoonOne” (M-1) lunar lander will utilize the innovative modular design of the Common Spacecraft Bus in its efforts to provide low cost, frequent and affordable access to the Moon for private, academic and government customers. “NASA Ames Research Center is developing a number of small lunar mission concepts supporting the U.S. Space Exploration Program,” said Worden. “We are interested in the prospect of utilizing additional payload capacity on Odyssey Moon Commercial Missions of Opportunity to advance our science and technology goals.” Odyssey Moon has already signed on two commercial organizations for the mission, and the company has since received proposals for payloads from customers worldwide. “We are thrilled with the response to our MoonOne Commercial Mission of Opportunity,” said Odyssey Moon Founder and CEO Dr. Robert (Bob) Richards. “The tremendous response from both the private sector and government agencies proves that a new value added paradigm is possible with private sector involvement in space exploration”.
About Odyssey Moon
Odyssey Moon Ventures LLC is a U.S. company with offices in Washington, DC and Cocoa Beach, Florida. The company intends to develop and commercialize innovative technologies to offer frequent, low cost and reliable access to the lunar surface for private and government customers. In addition to working with NASA on lander development, Odyssey Moon Ventures will be responsible for the U.S. launch operations and ground processing of spacecraft that will be used in future commercial spaceflights to the Moon.
Odyssey Moon Limited is a multi-national commercial lunar enterprise based in the Isle of Man that was first unveiled in December 2007 as the first official contender in the $30M Google Lunar X PRIZE competition. The company is an innovative partnership of aerospace, financial, science, education, legal and policy interests that have come together to offer unique commercial lunar business services and products for humanity’s permanent return to the Moon. Odyssey Moon’s prime contractor is MDA, an experienced company with substantial space heritage in providing robotics on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station, and more recently for satellite servicing and planetary exploration.
