Wed, Aug 18, 2010
Consortium Will Participate In The Innovative Lunar
Demonstrations Data (ILDD) Program
A consortium of industry and academia which came together with
a goal of winning the Google Lunar X PRIZE is offering lunar
mission data to NASA from its planned lunar robotic lander mission
via the recently announced NASA Innovative Lunar Demonstrations
Data (ILDD) program. The consortium, Next Giant Leap (NGL), is
planning a lunar mission it says will demonstrate new landing and
mobility technologies developed by their team partners. The ILDD
program challenges industry to demonstrate Earth-to-lunar surface
flight system capabilities and test technologies including
information related to landing using a human mission profile,
including identification of hazards during landing, precision
landing, imagery, and long-duration surface operations.
NASA issued the ILDD Broad Agency Announcement on August 6th
which will result in multiple small firm-fixed price
indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts with a total
value up to $30.1 million through 2012. “This NASA
announcement will allow for public private partnerships that will
maximize the results we’ll see from this new era of lunar
exploration.” said William Pomerantz, Senior Director for
Space Prizes at the X PRIZE Foundation. “From the start,
we’ve worked with NASA to ensure that the technologies and
systems that emerge from the Google Lunar X PRIZE will be
complementary to NASA’s own efforts, rather than competing
with them.”
During the mission, NGL plans to have its spacecraft send back
HD video and other data needed to complete the requirements for
capturing the Google Lunar X PRIZE. If it becomes the first
commercial mission to land on the Moon, NGL says it hopes will
engage the public in an unprecedented way and is offering unique
corporate branding opportunities for their mission sponsors.
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