Comments on: Private Space Company Will Send Its Rover to the Moon in 2013

By: Matt B. British

Matt B. British — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:15:56 +0000

To answer your question Matt: “Why not just say “half a kilometer” instead of “roughly 1,640 feet”?”

This US based article about US based companies is catering to US based readers. Most US based readers would not relate to a half a kilometer measurement.

By: rt

rt — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 18:51:34 +0000

@TerryS

Of course they haven’t been to the moon yet – no one besides the US and Soviet governments have ever been to the surface of the moon. A private company getting there is totally unprecedented and really awesome.

Where do ‘smoke and mirrors’ come from? It’s just saying what the company does, and they’re getting it done by getting a rocket first.

By: Matt B.

Matt B. — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 17:11:18 +0000

Why not just say “half a kilometer” instead of “roughly 1,640 feet”?

By: TerryS.

TerryS. — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 13:16:57 +0000

Have you seen Astrobotic’s web site? On their Activities page comes this quote:

“Astrobotic Technology sells data, delivers payloads, and performs services on the Moon for space agencies, aerospace contractors, media entities and corporate marketers.”

Huh? They haven’t been to the moon yet!

They also claim that they WILL win the Lunar X Prize. And they will “serve corparate marketers and media outlets with exclusive sponsorable space exploration events.” Again, Huh?

All smoke and mirrors at this point…

By: Robbie

Robbie — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 11:39:06 +0000

@matt

What does Google know about space flight? Does it have any skills or means of evaluating different proposals for missions?

Setting up a prize means Google doesn’t have to do the extremely difficult task of organising a space mission for which it has no expertise and more importantly no means of identifying expertise.

By: jld

jld — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 05:32:40 +0000

@matt
Some PR lessons:
- Giving a prize is much cheaper than doing the real job and brings as much media exposure (or may be more)
- No risk of bad press from a failure.
Do you know where Google revenue comes from?

By: matt

matt — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 02:41:20 +0000

The problem I have with Google and its prizes that it thinks are great, is why doesnt it set up facilities to do it itself.

Where is Googles investment into space travel…where its needed rather than a results prize. Where is Googles investment in each countries infrastructure than its investment in returns from other peoples work.