Odyssey Moon Limited, a privately-held company based in the Isle of Man and boasting shareholders from many different countries, announced its plans to launch a robotic mission to the surface of the moon.
The Google Lunar X Prize offers US$30 million (A$34 million) prize to the first company that sends a robotic lander to the moon that is capable of carry out a series of exploration tasks.
Odyssey Moon is the brainchild of Dr Bob Richards, a founder of the International Space University
Richards said that the company’s goal is to lower the price of getting to the Moon by an order of magnitude. Exploration would encourage a “moonrush” to Earth’s sister world, which he describes as an eighth continent rich in energy and resources.
“Our business plans have been in development for a series of missions to the Moon during the International Lunar Decade in support of science, exploration and commerce,” Dr Richards said.
Odyssey Moon has pulled together a team with deep experience in space exploration, overseen by chairman Ramin Khadem, a well-known figure in the international satellite industry and a former chief financial officer of InMarSat.
Odyssey Moon has appointed as its prime contractor MDA of Canada, a company with vast space heritage in providing robotics on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station, and more recently for satellite servicing and planetary exploration.
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