The GLXP and it seems many who follow it can be divided into two camps regarding funding:

Camp A seems to think that the PRIZE money cannot be won by spending any less than some significant multiple of the PRIZE money to win it.

Camp B thinks that it won't cost anywhere near the PRIZE money, and therefore should be possible to be done on the cheap, out of one's garage, so to speak.

And then there are those of us who, well, may be a bit "maverick" about it...

We have run the numbers. Without inventing anything, LunaTrex will integrate space-proven technologies together, in a small but effective package, that will win the prize by 2012, maybe even 2011 if we can raise the needed funds sooner.

How?

Okay, first you have to look at the weight. I have set a weight limit on the mission of 200 kg. This is very possible, using our electric propulsion technique. It will take months to get to the Moon, but it will save a lot of weight. Additionally, we are researching techniques to minimize landing fuel, possibly designing a "hard landing" system which again, saves weight.

Secondly, you have to look at the expensive components, and find ways to minimize the costs. We will use only proven space technology, but we will try to get this technology at bargain basement prices, in exchange for partial sponsorship, hopefully paying less for each item, such as the spacecraft bus, propulsion system, lander, camera, and comm system.

Most importantly, you have to minimize the cost of the launch, which is why we are looking at secondary or even tertiary payloads. With the electric propulsion system, we can live with a variety of orbits to get started - anywhere from LEO or GTO to TLI, and hitch a ride with the best priced launch we can find - preferably out of Florida to win the extra $2 million.

We think that for 200kg to a high LEO, we can buy the ride for around $5-6 million, and if we can get it sponsored at a discount, all the better.

The rover is a non-issue. Okay, it's not a non-issue, but we can space-proof about anything that can win the PRIZE parameters, as long as we have the right comms and cameras. I've instructed the engineers that the rover has to fit inside a shoebox, and weigh under 5 kg. This is doable.

Also, we plan on leasing/positioning as much on the ground as possible, to minimize the load carried by the craft. The better the dish network, the less powerful the comm transmitter has to be.

It all adds up, including salaries for the core team, as well as travel expenses, and everything, to somewhere under $16 million. If we can get it sponsored down a bit, great.

Thus, if we successfully complete the mission from Florida, we stand to win a net of about $6 million, or roughly a 35% ROI over about a 3 year investment - and that's just for the PRIZE money, not considering the long-term business capabilities that emerge from that success.

Plus, we'll keep our electric-propulsion-driven orbiter around the Moon for at least a year, allowing more science, data, imagery, and other potentially profitably applications to continue cash-flow thereafter.

I've run a defense business (XADS - Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems) against all odds, and my XADS team made it profitable and continued its growth in a highly competitive environment, doing things that only the "big guys" are supposed to be able to do. We've been successful where others have failed. We've already proven we can do the "unlikely", delivering production-ready systems at below budgets that the big defense primes would burn up in a paper study.

This GLXP mission is no different. Find the best people in the industry to do the job. Break down the mission into its constituent pieces. Innovate creative, but proven, approaches to meet each mission element. Select reputable and proven vendors. Negotiate and trade for the best price possible on each component. Integrate the mission. Launch it. Run the mission well on the ground. Win the PRIZE. Repeat.

So I say that no, you can't do this out of your garage. And I also say that, if you want to spend $60 - $150 million or whatever, sure you can do the mission that way. However, it's not making space all that accessible to anyone if you just do a mission the same way a big corporation would do it. Where is the innovation? Where is the point to prove? Hedge-fund managers can raise money - is that the only point of this Competition? Buy your way to the Moon?

Space is not easy. It is hard. It is not going to be a walk in the park. But LunaTrex will do this mission, and will do it for less than the PRIZE money, and will do it first, with help from Providence and the absence of Murphy...

Candor complete...

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