Private Company to go to moon by 2020.

Rhys Essien

A new company set up by ex Nasa executives called Golden Spike.They will take 2 passengers on each mission and it will cost $750 million each.No problem to the likes of Roman Abramovich or Mark Zuckerberg.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20635597


Heres how they would do it.

http://www.space.com/18805-golden-spike-private-moon-landing-graphic.html

seamus

Problem is that your pool of passengers is quite limited - how many of them have the fitness of mind and body to manage the journey without dying or going postal? Also have to wonder how the company proposes to profit from it.

I imagine the company's primary income stream will actually be technology developed as a consequence of making these flights, rather than the flights themselves.

Rhys Essien

seamus wrote: »

Problem is that your pool of passengers is quite limited - how many of them have the fitness of mind and body to manage the journey without dying or going postal? Also have to wonder how the company proposes to profit from it.

I imagine the company's primary income stream will actually be technology developed as a consequence of making these flights, rather than the flights themselves.

Did that matter to the seven 'tourists' who have already been to the ISS.

They spent between 8 and 15 days in Space.

A return trip to the Moon would take ~8 days.

nokia69

this will happen

all they really need is a lander

everything else is ready to go or will be finished soon

ThatDrGuy

Space tourists went on extremely reliable and proven Soyuz technology. No one is going to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to be a test monkey. They would go broke in the trial phase. There is also a massive difference in being worth X and having liquid assets of X.

nokia69

ThatDrGuy wrote: »

Space tourists went on extremely reliable and proven Soyuz technology. No one is going to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to be a test monkey. They would go broke in the trial phase. There is also a massive difference in being worth X and having liquid assets of X.

jeff bezos, paul allen, elon musk

thats the kind of people who would pay hundreds of millions to walk on the moon

ThatDrGuy

nokia69 wrote: »

jeff bezos, paul allen, elon musk

thats the kind of people who would pay hundreds of millions to walk on the moon

Perhaps but would they pay hundreds of millions to smash into the lunar surface because the lander hadn't been tested ?

nokia69

ThatDrGuy wrote: »

Perhaps but would they pay hundreds of millions to smash into the lunar surface because the lander hadn't been tested ?

of course not

the lander would be tested as much as possibe on earth

ThatDrGuy

nokia69 wrote: »

of course not

the lander would be tested as much as possibe on earth

Lol.

Rubecula

I am too much of a sceptic to think this will happen by 2020

hytrogen

I make reference to what Red Bull stratos did a while back when saying feats like these are what make dreams reality...

nokia69

ThatDrGuy wrote: »

Lol.

thats what they did the last time

did it work then ?

ThatDrGuy

nokia69 wrote: »

thats what they did the last time

did it work then ?

Might want to read up on Apollo 1 ( fatal ) and 10 ( the test run ).
Though admittedly the first lunar test of the actual landing bit was on the moon ( safety standards of the 60's) and that largely succeeded thanks to Armstrong's fantastic skills. The next landers were more high tech and probably could be copied but not without incredible financial clout. But these guys were hardened test pilots not software engineers, its a whole different risk reward mentality.

The amount of capital they would need to get this off the ground would be several billion dollars. Just to ferry a few billionaires into space. This is a classic salary draw down scam - spend years in feasablity studies while the board siphons off massive amount of the investors cash. Then it folds, oh damn no refunds - like so many other private space companies ( seriously search them out, the amount is impressive )

nokia69

ThatDrGuy wrote: »

The amount of capital they would need to get this off the ground would be several billion dollars. Just to ferry a few billionaires into space. This is a classic salary draw down scam - spend years in feasablity studies while the board siphons off massive amount of the investors cash. Then it folds, oh damn no refunds - like so many other private space companies ( seriously search them out, the amount is impressive )

yes it could be a scam

but I still think we will see a private mission to the moon

once the falcon heavy lifts off the pad, and it will, the only other thing needed is a lander and there are people working on landers now

I read an interview a while ago with one of the investers in spaceX (not musk BTW) and he said he wanted to walk on the moon, he said he had no interest in Mars he just wanted to go to the moon

not all billionaires are space nerds but some of them are, and it only takes a handfull to have an interest in going to the moon

sit back and watch it happen

Kidchameleon

I could definitely see a moon orbit trip as being plausible (I cant understand why this isn't happening NOW), but a landing with EVA, not a chance.

AugustusMinimus

Rubecula wrote: »

I am too much of a sceptic to think this will happen by 2020

They'd be lucky to have this happen by 2030, don't mind 2020.

Cork boy 55

Capitalism lost the run of its self after its victory over the communism
I.e. the rise of massive inequality the super rich

I believe/hope we are now heading into age of more
reasonable green capitalism
which will seriously reduce the amount of super rich in the world

In 10-20 years they simply will not be people around with this sort of wealth

ThatDrGuy

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

Capitalism lost the run of its self after its victory over the communism
I.e. the rise of massive inequality the super rich

I believe/hope we are now heading into age of more
reasonable green capitalism
which will seriously reduce the amount of super rich in the world

In 10-20 years they simply will not be people around with this sort of wealth

Id love to believe that but based on what ? Tax rates for the rich are plummeting everywhere (check out the UK's latest tax "reforms"). Over the last 5 years 99% of the population have gotten poorer while the rest have gotten much richer. At the moment the richest 400 people in the USA have more combined wealth than the bottom 150 million put together.
This process will continue with no end in sight as the wealthiest acquire the assets of the crushed middle class for a song. What we are seeing is a new type of feudalism and privilege - two types of people 1: I want to walk on the moon 2: I want to eat.

hytrogen

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

Capitalism lost the run of its self after its victory over the communism
I.e. the rise of massive inequality the super rich

I believe/hope we are now heading into age of more
reasonable green capitalism
which will seriously reduce the amount of super rich in the world

In 10-20 years they simply will not be people around with this sort of wealth

Views best directed & voiced in the 'politics' and / or 'finance' threads perhaps. Consumerism is at fault there with the shallow greed of possession over progression in many sectors, not capitalism.
I believe OP may have started this thread in celebration of the prospects of (capitalists in) the private sector attaining the goals of revisiting the moon in the near future which is very exciting for the evolution of mankind

Capt'n Midnight

hytrogen wrote: »

I make reference to what Red Bull stratos did a while back when saying feats like these are what make dreams reality...

weather balloons are in use daily around the world so going up is easy

coming down was even easier , again using off the shelf technology


cba looking up if he got higher than almost any tourist can get in the back seat of a Mig