Astrobotic Technology Expeditions Will Build Lunar Data Library

At a meeting Friday of worldwide Moon exploration experts, Astrobotic Technology Inc. unveiled its plans for a series of robotic expeditions to build a lunar data library.

"Astrobotic will robotically explore the Moon’s high-interest areas on a commercial basis, collecting information required to design future outposts and to answer scientific questions about the Moon and Earth," said company president David Gump. "Our data library also will point the way to utilizing lunar energy and mineral resources to lower the cost of exploration and eventually supply markets on Earth."

The company today released a White Paper on its data library at the annual combined meeting of the International Lunar Exploration Working Group, the Space Resources Roundtable and the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group. It invites the world’s space agencies, aerospace corporations, university researchers and industrial firms to outline which data packages are highest priority for them.

In addition to building a lunar data library, the company will deliver payloads, perform on-the-Moon services and generate interactive, high-definition media content for television, the Web, science centers and theme parks.

Astrobotic's first planned lunar expedition is the Tranquility Trek Mission in May 2010 to the historic Apollo 11 site. As it collects valuable information to build the Astrobotic lunar data library, it also aims to win the Google Lunar X Prize, a $20 million reward for the first commercial robotic Moon expedition that beams high-definition television to Earth on a 500-meter traverse.

The company claims the mission also will be the first robotic expedition to demonstrate a precise landing within meters of its intended coordinates. Subsequent missions organized and financed by Astrobotic, will explore and collect valuable data on the Moon's poles, where national space programs plan to exploit the polar regions' resources.

The second and third missions are aimed for crater rims at the poles because NASA and other agencies plan to establish permanent outposts there. The lunar poles offer persistent sunlight for electrical power and moderate temperatures, plus potentially water ice in the permanently dark deep craters. The company expects that by 2013 it will send a robot into one of the deep polar craters to confirm if water ice can be mined to support future crews and refuel future spacecraft.

Additional missions will collect seismic data to chart the Moon's interior, and a prototype Moondozer will test lunar construction technology.

Astrobotic was formed in Fall 2007, and says it has secured lunar contracts from NASA and two commercial firms. Prototype rovers are now being field-tested at Carnegie Mellon University by Dr. William "Red" Whittaker, the firm's Chairman. Prototype landing platforms have been constructed by Raytheon Co., using the company's proven digital terrain matching technologies to achieve precision landings on the Moon. Mission planning and camera expertise is provided by the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at The University of Arizona.

FMI: www.astrobotictech.com