Interorbital Talk to The Space Fellowship about the Google Lunar X-Prize, progress and landing rovers on the Moon

I recently spoke with Randa Milliron CEO of Interorbital about their progress. I thought it would be interesting to see what they thought about the new Google Lunar X-Prize as well as their other progress at the moment.

Two orbital launch vehicles are currently under development at IOS: the unmanned Sea Star TSAAHTO, and the manned/unmanned Neptune TSAAHTO. Each utilizes the innovative and efficient Two-Stage-And-A-Half-To-Orbit (TSAAHTO) configuration. The six-passenger Neptune TSAAHTO will serve as the primary carrier in Interorbital Systems’ orbital tourism operations and Lunar exploration ventures.

SEA STAR MSLV TSAAHTO Flight Demonstrator modular tankage construction nears completion. See Photo:

I asked Randa what was thought about the new Google Lunar X-Prize and the return was “The Google prize is nice, but it really should have another zero at the end of it, or at least be $100,000,000. If we look at the X Prize and its relatively easy requirements, and the $10 million prize that was offered for that, should we not expect real spaceflight to have a bigger payoff?”

For more information on the Google Lunar X-Prize please visit http://www.googlelunarxprize.org

There has been a lot of talk lately about the Moon; I recently did a couple articles on some of the key issues surrounding the moon found at both: http://spacefellowship.com/News/?p=3110 http://spacefellowship.com/News/?p=3138

Randa tells me that they are working hard on a lunar mission at Interorbital. “We’ve been working on a lunar mission since we founded Trans Lunar Research and Interorbital Systems in 1996. Our lunar mission team has expanded to include Lutz Kayser, founder of the world’s first commercial space company, OTRAG.

I also thought it would be interesting to see how the funding of the organisation was being held as this seems to be perhaps the largest issue surrounding a lot of companies failing to reach goals. Starchaser Industries http://www.starchaser.co.uk were awarded a contract by ESA recently. Interorbital also seem to be doing ok as I am told “We are currently experiencing quite a substantial wave of European support for our orbital tourism, satellite launch, and lunar mission programs. By the way, a modified SEA STAR will be able to land a small rover on the Moon.

Landing a rover on the moon is part of the new Google Lunar X-Prize and news like this will no doubt be of great interest to any team trying to land on the Moon, be it by 2012 or after. More news on Interorbital will be available soon.

The Space Fellowship would like to thank Interorbital for their openness to talk about their projects and thanks them for their time and quick responses.
Interorbital Systems (IOS), established in 1996, develops and manufactures low-cost, state-of-the-art manned and unmanned orbital launch vehicles for commercial, governmental, and military applications. IOS rockets are designed to be launched from land or sea. Interorbital Systems is licensed by the AST (Office of Commercial Space Transportation) to launch from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California.

Visit Interorbital at http://www.interorbital.com/

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