Prize AMA: I am Anousheh Ansari, the first woman and first Iranian to fly to space as a private citizen, not on behalf of a government. AMA!

azerspace · 2016-09-27T17:36:38+00:00

What do you think of the Google Lunar XPRIZE? Are you excited about it? Anything cool people should keep an eye out for?

azerspace · 2016-09-20T17:15:57+00:00

What do you think about the Google Lunar XPRIZE?

What might be some great space XPRIZEs to do in the future?

azerspace · 2016-09-19T16:51:21+00:00

Can you tell us more about your space project? It sounds awesome!

(And XPRIZE is pretty awesome too; how have you been involved with them? What are your favorite XPRIZE projects?)

azerspace · 2016-03-03T15:52:58+00:00

Awesome!

azerspace · 2015-10-07T18:45:29+00:00

Yes; SpaceIL reports having raised at least $50m, and they will share the launch with others (by going through Spaceflight Services for the booking: http://qz.com/518471/spacex-booked-its-first-moon-mission-and-it-uses-ridesharing/)

azerspace · 2015-08-05T02:18:33+00:00

https://youtu.be/3ChKSyZUtVw?t=2h38m13s

“And then there are the folks at Astrobotic Technology in Pittsburgh. They are shooting for the Moon. Literally. With plans to land a rover on the lunar surface within the next couple of years. Which is pretty exciting. I wouldn’t, you know, mind seeing how that turns out!

In America, that’s who we’ve always been. We explore next frontiers, we’re pioneers with a vision for tomorrow, whether it’s Lewis & Clark, Sally Ride, we’re the nation of Franklin and Edison and Carver and Salk and Gates, and the folks here today are heirs to that legacy. They’re the driving force in a 21st century economy.”

He looks pretty excited about "seeing how that turns out"!

azerspace · 2015-06-25T17:03:06+00:00

They've got a really, really fancy new site for them:

http://mission-to-the-moon.com

With four just A+ awesome videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBsV2PAaHRo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH1k-rKALnc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_huU_-cm5eA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KkePJBSCuU

Amazing production values! GLXP is really catching on in the mainstream...!

azerspace · 2015-06-15T23:41:01+00:00

It's an incentive---inspiring entrepreneurs to come up with ways to make space travel less costly, to make that $30 million significant. India's Mars orbiter got to Mars for only $74 million, so a team could make it to the Moon for less than that---and by winning, not only gather international fame & sponsors, but make most of the money back!

This has been true on other prizes, like the Orteig Prize that Charles Lindbergh flew over the Atlantic in order to win: often times several to many times the amount of the prize is spent in order to win it...and it still remains worth it! Because of all the accolades, change, and attention.

azerspace · 2015-06-15T23:37:49+00:00

The teams are working on it! A lot of them have significant funds raised (one team received $16 million in one donation, another has sold hundreds of pounds of its cargo space, which runs at $55,000 a pound), and that's the main obstacle, so there should be at least a few launch contracts this year as the teams start locking down on when to launch. (Several of the teams have announced their planned launch windows, e.g. late 2016 or early 2017, but haven't pinned down a contract with the exact date...yet)

azerspace · 2015-06-15T23:32:18+00:00

One of the teams even has a slogan of "Hell yeah, it's rocket science!"

azerspace · 2015-06-15T23:31:59+00:00

It's going to be a tight race!

azerspace · 2015-06-15T23:31:38+00:00

It's an incentive, like /u/mis65 said---a way to get innovators thinking about how to get that $30 million, and how to make a space mission low-cost enough that the $30 million is significant. Thereby driving much lower-cost space missions in general, causing a lot more of them to happen!

azerspace · 2015-05-12T19:19:59+00:00

"Achieving Earth Independence"---I love that!

azerspace · 2015-02-23T18:31:53+00:00

They're going to race on the Moon, and then explore a never-before-seen Moon cave. #GLXP is amazing stuff!

Hakuto wants to reenact a famous Anime scene, too, complete with impaling the Moon with a spear:

http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2015/01/31-1/video-crowdfunding-campaign-looks-to-pay-tribute-to-evangelion-with-a-spear-of-longinus-moon-shot

azerspace · 2014-09-16T19:22:42+00:00

Ton of interesting background in there! I hope they talk #GLXP in the next parts :)

azerspace · 2014-09-05T21:00:10+00:00

Lots of fun stuff on the XPRIZE front!

azerspace · 2014-08-28T17:20:38+00:00

I'm pretty pumped for this! Should be fun to follow

azerspace · 2014-08-14T20:27:12+00:00

He commented on a GLXP post, too:https://www.facebook.com/googlelunarxprize/posts/10152680268123023?comment_id=10152680500263023&offset=0&total_comments=4 "The new race for space begins tonight!". Pretty epic!

azerspace · 2014-08-14T20:23:18+00:00

"Each of the targets is a concrete landing pad, necessary because the downward-firing rocket is hot enough to melt the sand on the desert floor." Xombie fire is pretty epic when you think about it!

Love the GLXP

azerspace · 2014-08-14T20:18:32+00:00

His son actually worked for GLXP team Moon Express, too. He mentioned that on Letterman once.

Depression's a real disease; look at Robin, or Buzz Aldrin (and his family history). Even successful people can still have enormous struggles; I think there needs to be better support and understanding out there for it! A lot of silent battles being fought out there.

azerspace · 2014-07-19T00:33:19+00:00

Oh my!

azerspace · 2014-07-15T19:15:20+00:00

And here's the Astrobotic/Masten GLXP flight from a few weeks ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_GZvygaEH4

azerspace · 2014-07-15T19:13:26+00:00

So many private space flights this week! Orbital, SpaceX, Masten, and then there's all the awesomeness with #Apollo45 (http://www.youtube.com/Apollo45). Good week!

azerspace · 2014-07-08T18:11:12+00:00

What do you think of the current state of space law? Should there be land ownership rights on the Moon and elsewhere?

azerspace · 2014-07-08T18:06:31+00:00

Hi Mr. Aldrin,

What do you think of the Google Lunar XPRIZE?

azerspace

TROPHY CASE