The Google Lunar X PRIZE is a $30 million international competition to safely land a robot on the surface of the Moon, travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send images and data back to the Earth. Teams must be at least 90% privately funded and must be registered to compete by December 31, 2010. The first team to land on the Moon and complete the mission objectives will be awarded $20 million; the full first prize is available until December 31, 2012. After that date, the first prize will drop to $15 million. The second team to do so will be awarded $5 million. Another $5 million will awarded in bonus prizes. The final deadline for winning the prize is December 31, 2014.

Google Lunar X PRIZE teams come from all walks of life with varied sets of experiences and ideas. Each has a unique plan for getting to the lunar surface. Get to know all of our competitors by following their blogs, watching the latest videos, or participating on their forums, and cheer them on to the Moon!

Website: http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/teams

Beautifully done image of Pluto being kicked out of the family of planets in our solar system.

View Full Size Image 

Created by Mathias Pedersen from North Jutland, Denmark. Check out his website at http://www.mathiaspedersen.com/

Foreign exchange specialist Travelex today unveiled a unit of currency that has been created for use in space. It is the first currency of its kind in the universe and has been developed in partnership with a team of scientists from the National Space Centre and the University of Leicester.

With Virgin Galactic making its maiden voyage in 2009 and with the signing in April this year of the Global Exploration Initiative, an agreement between the US and the UK to work together on future planetary explorations to the Moon and beyond, Space Tourism is soon to become commonplace. (more…)

Boeing has been working on sonic & supersonic jets for sometime now. The current focus is on Sonic Cruiser, a jet that will save 20% off long-distance flights with the same fuel efficiency. That means flights from NYC to LAX in just five hours instead of six.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes is focusing its new product development efforts on a design that allows faster, higher travel. The Sonic Cruiser will travel at speeds between Mach 0.95 and Mach 0.98. Cruise altitude will be in the mid-40,000 foot (above 13,000 meters) level. Initial range of the airplane will likely be between 6,000 and 7,500 nautical miles. The new jet is in the early phases of development and may change as Boeing works with its customers to understand their requirements.

The ExoMars rover will grind samples of Martian soil to fine powder and deliver them to a suite of analytical instruments, including Urey, that will search for signs of life. Each sample will be a spoonful of material dug from underground by a robotic drill.

NASA-funded researchers are refining a tool that could not only check for the faintest traces of life’s molecular building blocks on Mars, but could also determine whether they have been produced by anything alive. (more…)

On October 4, 2004, SpaceShipOne rocketed into history, becoming the first private manned spacecraft to exceed an altitude of 328,000 feet twice within the span of a 14 day period, thus claiming the ten million dollar Ansari X-Prize.

A second record shattered (more…)

Source: The Space Review

The 2nd Space Exploration Conference held December 2006 in Houston outlined several reasons for a human return to the Moon. Remarkably, some complain that the reason for going to the Moon is still unclear. Possibly the sheer scope of the envisioned surface activities diffuses its impact. Almost 200 activities were described for the Moon, grouped under six major “themes” (as the agency calls them), including settlement, global cooperation, science, and preparation for Mars. This diffusion is both deliberate and unavoidable. (more…)

Forty years ago Saturday, three NASA astronauts died while testing an experimental spacecraft that would one day ferry explorers to the surface of the Moon.

But on Jan. 27, 1967, Apollo 1 commander Gus Grissom and astronauts Ed White and Roger Chaffee were not in space [image]. The three men were tucked inside their spacecraft atop a NASA launch pad in Florida, working through a training exercise, when an accidental fire swept through the vehicle. (more…)

Editorial PARIS — The Chinese government confirmed Jan. 23 that it had sent a missile to destroy one of its own satellites but insisted the test should not be viewed as a hostile act.

In a press briefing in Beijing, Liu Jianchao, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, reiterated that China “has never participated and will never participate in any arms race in outer space,” Liu said, according to excerpts of his remarks provided by China’s Xinhua News Agency. “This test was not directed at any country and does not pose a threat to any country.” (more…)

“Think Aerospace” was created to celebrate and recognize all of the incredibly exciting developments in aviation and aerospace technologies. This field combines all of human knowledge, experience & ingenuity into one area. It is a sum total of all technologies that have so far been developed - rocket science certainly, but every other science too: physics, engineering, mechanics, electronics, biology, material science, computing, optics, robotics, networking, mathematics, etc.

So much more is required than just the hard sciences. Without the most sophisticated and cutting-edge thoughts in economics, finance, sociology, political science, business management, entrepreneurship and law, aerospace would never have gotten this far. To reach the stars, it will need so much more.

Some think of it as the next frontier for human exploration. I think of it as the new, new world with untold riches and opportunities awaiting us.

Reach for the stars - inspire and be inspired!

Vik Kachoria