Lander mission to search for water on the Moon?

Some have argued the hardest of the Google lunar X-prize would be just getting the funding
to complete the mission.
Just saw this mentioned on Habitablezone.com:

A Wet Moon Is Hot Once Again.
By Keith Cowing on November 15, 2009 8:01 AM 16 Comments
"Keith's 14 Nov note: Word has it that NASA JSC has a stealth "Project
M" underway whereby it would place a lander on the Moon in 1,000 days
- once approved.
"Meanwhile, word has it that NASA is now looking to match Google's $30
million pledge to the Google Lunar X Prize - and that Google may up
their ante as well. Conversations are being held directly between X
Prize and the 9th floor. IPP is not in the loop. Stay tuned."
http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/2009/ ... -is-h.html

Raising the prize amount to $60 million would go a long way to
developing interest for a team to make the attempt. At this amount you
might have teams also have one or more landers to land specifically in
those locations shown to have high water amounts.


Bob Clark

Additional prize money could certainly help, depending the conditions attached and how it's paid out. A series of milestone prizes would be best, IMO. But it's all speculation until something's announced.

If they increase it properly: $100 MUSD for the first litre of drinkable water produced on the moon? Get it back to earth and you could probably sell it for a few MUSD as well.

An increase of the prize money for GLXP may not help much. The rules as they now stand are confused, unclear, in need of overhaul.

In doing so, I would hope it does not create a bias toward any particular method of doing business, for example, requiring large landed mass etc. would bias toward present launch means which is expensive, not widely available.

Also, there should be careful attention to the regulatory environments of the various countries so some countries are closed out. A US entry probably has to be national because of export restrictions, while other countries can have collaborations of more than one nationality.

The rules should be designed to encourage innovation, rather than having financial resources to "buy" launch means.

As one (Microlaunchers) committed to developing a vertically integrated launch/spacecraft system, perhaps there should be a set of prizes for entries which develops the launch, landing means as well as the rover, photography (the easiest part).

In previous post I said:

"Also, there should be careful attention to the regulatory environments of the various countries so some countries are closed out."

I meant "...so some countries are not closed out" I would not make as a typist...

But to expand on basis of the comment--the rules ought to encourage innovation, and very small size or cost. For an idea of a good, clear set of rules, see the N Prize [ http://www.n-prize.com/ ]. Beautiful in its simplicity.

The question of whether it can actually be done is immaterial. Trying for it is what counts.