To the moon with "private trader"

In recent years, various initiatives related to private business in the space area have begun to appear. Some projects (for example, Falcon) are heard. Some - no. Large private sponsors are trying to maintain this movement by conducting competitions. The head of the Russian project "Selelenok" Nikolai Dzisi-Vovarovsky answers the questions of the Trv-hunger.

- What is this series of competitions X Prize? What is the main goal of the organizers of the X Prize?

- The X Prize fund holds many competitions in various fields - astronautics, automotive industry, medicine, etc. The goal is to stimulate the appearance of breakthrough technologies, i.e. new, cheap, accessible to wide sections of the population.

- What were inspired by the organizers of the X Prize? Are there any other examples of such competitions?

-The organizers were inspired by the example of Raymond Ortega, who in 1919 established a prize of 25 thousand dollars to the one who will be the first to fly by a plane from Paris to New York without landing. The prize was won in 1925 by Charles Lindberg, both he and other participants spent much more funds on the construction of aircraft than the prize pool. However, this race stimulated the development of aviation, since the technologies for creating aircraft capable of long flights, then formed the basis of civilian airliners. Thus, the prize of Orte-gi in fact led to the creation of modern aviation.

-That is, summarizing, the most important thing is that after the competitions, business models are earned, allowing private business to carry out inexpensive, effective commercial space programs or offer appropriate technical solutions?

- Here the union "or" does not fit. In this particular case, a business model is in many ways a technical solution. Without cheap ways to get to the moon, a commercial firm will be difficult to go into a plus. This is formulated in the rules of the competition.

- What goals are the participants set for themselves? After all, the costs of participation are large, and the winner will only be one, and he probably will not pay off the costs of the prize money?

- The goals are different. For example, the Frednet team has repeatedly stated that she wants to check whether the Open Source ideology can be used in the astronautics. Others just want to win a competition (for the sake of interest, prestige, love for new technologies, etc.). Someone hopes that even in the event of the end of the competition, valuable know-how will remain in his hands, which can be used in other areas. For some companies, this is a PR project from which they expect fame, not profit.

Our team sets two main goals:

1) win the competition (here is sports interest and patriotism);

2) to build a profitable business in the industry, the prospects of which are still seen by only a few.

- What is the fate of the participants of the X Prize competitions?

- Take, for example, the Ansari X Prize contest. Of the 26 participating teams 5, they are currently active. Of these, 2 (including the winner) managed to turn the production of suborbital ships for space tourism into a profitable business: they have contracts, experienced ships are successfully tested, etc. Apparently, one company initially considered participation in the competition as a hobby, some side activity for the soul and the creation of the image. Two more companies simplified the design of their missiles, found small investors for these simpler projects, but have not yet reached the stage of flight tests.

Of the remaining 21 teams about 18, nothing is heard at all, and 3 are in a “sleeping” mode -they act in the media, have ready -made “paper” projects and are ready to engage in “iron” work immediately after the funding is in.

-Is it possible to compare such contests with some other activity? For example, with Formula 1 races, where budgets are also large, is there a sports component, etc.?

-“Formula 1” is primarily different in that every year the participants are the same goal (to drive circles faster), and the X Prize contests each time have a different purpose.

Therefore, some analogies are not immediately remembered. However, such competitions themselves are a special phenomenon. There are many similar competitions to stimulate breakthrough ideas, established by both private individuals and corporations, and the state-a prize for the first rocket that can reach the orbit of the Earth, and its value will not exceed 2 thousand pounds (n-prize); prize to the creator of the first aircraft on muscular traction; "Calls of the century" under the patronage of NASA and others.

Gilbert’s problems come from close analogues to mind in mathematics, although Gilbert did not establish cash prizes for their decision.

- In the presentation of the Selelenokhod project, you appeal to patriotic motivation. How important is this for your project, and what is the case with other participants?

- The patriotic component is a guarantee that not only its participants and investors will worry about the project, but also state bodies and people for whom victory is important

"Your" team. However, the competition has several international teams.

- How expensive are the projects of the lunar competition?

-Among the participating teams, the minimum estimate of the estimate is $ 5 million, and the maximum is 100 million.

- In the cost of the lunar project, the component associated with the launch is very large. How much is more expensive than creating the device itself?

The ratio of the cost of starting to the general budget of the project is about 1: 3-1: 5. Starting is relatively cheap, because for the lunar mission you have to develop a landing module from scratch, which is quite expensive.

- Is it expensive to provide contact with the device, control it on the moon?

- We need to proceed from about 200 thousand dollars per week (mainly the cost of renting long -distance antennas). True, if you create your own specialized communication system, it can turn out to be relatively low -power and cheap. In this case, with a favorable combination of circumstances, the costs of maintaining communication will strive for zero.

- As I understand it, the main task is to fly and land. Is there a place in the project for the scientific component? Do you plan to put scientific devices on the Selena-Rage?

- We plan to sell free space for devices. For "science" in the lunoode, about 5 kg is reserved. I think there will be no end to those who wish. We have already received several proposals, although we are still only at the stage of preliminary study.

-What is the maximum task for you and the minimum task in the project?

- The minimum is to win the competition, and the maximum is to build a long -term space business after winning.

I asked questions
Sergey Popov

Photos are provided by the Team of the Selelenokhod project

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Technical conditions of the Google Lunar X Prize contest

In order to win the first prize, the participating team must carry out a successful soft landing of their mobile robot on the surface of the moon until the end of 2012. After planting, the robot-rope must pass at least 500 m and send two packages with a total of at least 1 GB to the ground.

Also, the robot should carry the load provided by the organizers of the competition, which is 1% of the mass of the apparatus (but not more than 500 g and at least 200 g).

Photos of the landing module are needed, as well as the type of landing module at a certain distance. All photos should be of high quality enough so that the details are clearly distinguishable, and all logos on the lunar rover body are also distinguishable.

To win the second prize ($ 5 million), the team must fulfill the same conditions, but the second in time.

Additional prizes

The team can apply for additional prizes (a total amount of $ 5 million) if its device:

- move not to 500 m, but 5 km;

- will survive the moonlit night;

- will find water on the moon;

- It will transmit images of artifacts to the Earth - spacecraft that were shattered during the space race (“Apollo”, “Lunopoline”, etc.), and other evidence of the study of the moon by man (traces of astronauts, the ruts of the “Luno Road”, etc.).

The prize fund of the competition of the size of $ 30 million includes the first prize in the amount of $ 20 million, the second prize of $ 5 million. USA and bonuses in the amount of $ 5 million. For more details, see www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/intl/rus