Posted on 09/12/2002 10:44:56 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
In a small step for commercial space exploration, San Diego's TransOrbital Inc. said it has become the first private company to win approvals from the U.S. government for a mission to the moon.
"Right now, realistically, we're the only ones going to the moon," Dennis Laurie, TransOrbital's chief executive, said yesterday.
TransOrbital said it has received approvals and licensing from the State Department and from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, required for its unmanned "Trailblazer" lunar mission.
Its plans call for launching a memorabilia-laden satellite into lunar orbit. The spacecraft would transmit high-resolution images of the Earth and moon until its orbit degenerated in a controlled crash onto the moon.
"We're trying to position ourselves as one of the first delivery systems to the moon," Laurie said. The company's scientific advisers include a former navigation team chief for NASA's Voyager mission and experts in micro-satellites, space imaging and planetary cartography.
Other experts were doubtful, however, that TransOrbital can achieve its ambitious plans.
"The real issue is money," said Robert Zubrin, president of Pioneer Astronautics, a NASA contractor in Lakewood, Colo., who is a longtime advocate of a mission to Mars. "While it is a certain accomplishment to get approvals, the fundamental issue is raising the money to do a space venture of this character."
Laurie acknowledged, "We don't have everything we need, but we have everything on schedule." The company has not disclosed how much money has been raised, saying only that its funding takes the form of angel investments, loans and sales related to the TrailBlazer mission itself.
TransOrbital said it has arranged to use a Russian Dnepr rocket, a modified SS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile, to carry its unmanned spacecraft to the moon. The small company plans to launch its mission from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the former Soviet republic of Kazakstan, at an estimated cost of $20 million.
As expensive as that may seem, mounting a similar space venture from the United States probably would cost about $50 million, said Michael Wiskerchen, an academic administrator at UCSD who oversees the California Space Institute.
While a number of companies have proposed commercial space ventures, including San Diego-based SpaceDev, Wiskerchen said the business plans usually fall short when it comes to making money.
For its part, TransOrbital promises "to do for the moon what Jacques Cousteau did for marine exploration."
The small company intends to earn a profit by offering high-resolution TV images of the Earth and moon for use in Hollywood movies, video games and advertising. TransOrbital says its spacecraft also would carry personal artifacts to the moon, including computer disks, cremated remains, photographs and business cards, at a reported cost of $2,500 per gram.
Because TransOrbital's venture depends so heavily on Russian cooperation, Laurie said it was necessary to obtain technology-transfer approvals from the State Department before it could ship its spacecraft to Baikonur.
Such reviews have become increasingly restrictive under International Traffic in Arms Regulations, said Wiskerchen, who is familiar with TransOrbital's plans. That's because U.S. officials are worried about Iraq and other countries' access to weapons of mass destruction.
To obtain high-resolution imagery of the Earth and the moon, TransOrbital required a remote-sensing permit from NOAA, which ensures that such ventures act in accordance with international treaties regarding imaging.
Zubrin doubts it can be done.
"There is nothing about this mission that looks to me to be technically impossible or even improbable," Zubrin said. "But it looks expensive."
It's also high-risk.
To give you an idea of how hard this is, Zubrin said about one out of every three U.S. probes to Mars has failed. The Russians have launched 14 spacecraft to Mars – and they all failed.
"Amateurs have never sent anything beyond low-earth orbit," said Zubrin, who pegs TransOrbital's chances of success at 50-50.
If you're an investor, Zubrin said, the risks of sinking money into a commercial venture are too high, the term is too long and the payout is too low.
"If you have a play like this, you're going to want to show a 20-to-one return," Zubrin said. "You'd be better off betting on a dot-com."
Nevertheless, Laurie said many people support the venture because they yearn to be in space – even if it's only by sending their ashes or their business card.
"I think the hardest part is to take a look at the planning that needs to go into the program and then getting the customers into the program," Laurie said. "You need the customers to provide you with the cargo to the moon. You need those customers to provide you with advertising."
Bruce Bigelow: (619) 293-1314;
If it is it would be exciting though. Maybe they could hire Shelia Jackson Lee as a spokesmen.
I agree that private is the way to go in the end but why in world would anyone want to send a business card to the moon?
The ULTIMATE secure backup. ~grin~
It appears the Russians are providing a launch vehicle for the spacecraft. I'd rather see this done in the USA.
So lets just go ahead and give the rest of our technology secrets to the Russians, why not......
....besides <putting on tin foil hat> 
Maybe we don't really have any "going to the moon" technology to give away. Maybe we didn't make it there. Selling transportation of ashes and cards to the moon could be the scam of the century. How would anyone ever know they got there?
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