Dear friends and followers,
Barcelona Moon Team is completing its fourth year in the GLXP competition. In this competition every year is important but this one is exceptional. During this year we have been completing the mission design and hardware has been built both in the lander and rover systems. Rover is already roaming in our white rooms waiting for the completion of the lander module that will bring its brother flight model to the Moon surface.
In September this year we signed an ammendment with China Great Wall Industry Corporation to shift the launch of our Long March 2C to June 2015 to accommodate the new schedules for the assembly of the propulsion system, which is provided by the Academy of Aerospace Liquid Propulsion in Xiâ€
an.
This is the responsible institute for the propulsion system of Changâ€e-3, the Chinese spacecraft that, as you all know, landed on the Moon on December 13th and released the rover Yutu, with their names given after the legendary goddess of the Moon and her rabbit. This is without doubt a major success of Chinese space technology, after the last mission that softy landed on the Moon 37 years ago.
Fortunately, the new Master Team Agreement, (hopefully) final version 4.1 of the competition rules, removed the clause that was reducing the prices if a governmental mission was landing first on the Moon. A private mission is still very hard to fund. For that reason, the MTA 4.1 also included new Terrestrial Milestone Prizes (landing, mobility, vision) in all of which Barcelona Moon Team applied last November. Hopefully we will be within the teams competing for those, as well.
Finally, during 2013, Barcelona Moon Team started to offer its payload to commercial customers interested in purchasing kilograms on the Moon surface at a very low cost of 1,35 Million of Euros per kilogram. Five of the 20 kilograms available for commercial purposes are already blocked under a reservation.
We are enthusiastic with this new year landing in a few days, 2014! There are still issues to solve and sponsors to convince to make this dream a reality but we are confident in our possibilities and hard work.
All the wishes from the Barcelona Moon Team on this new year! Keep tuned!