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A pair of remote-controlled racing cars will land on the moon next year for the first ever race on the lunar surface – and will be driven by high school students.
Moon Mark, an entertainment and education company, sponsors the race which will see teams of students compete to design and lead one of the two runners.
The winning teams will then work with McLaren P1 designer Frank Stephenson to create a vehicle that will race through the Moon’s low-gravity environment.
They will be launched to the moon on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in October 2021 and will surface inside the first privately developed lunar lander.
The winning teams will then work with McLaren P1 designer Frank Stephenson to create a vehicle that will race through the Moon’s low gravity environment.
After eight weeks of qualifying by high schoolers from around the world, six five-member teams will compete to become the last two of that race to the moon.
These challenges included electronic games, drone racing, and a space marketing entrepreneurship contest until the final two teams were confirmed.
Their adventures will be captured, produced and distributed globally by Moon Mark so that people can follow their progress ahead of the October launch.
The two pilots will deploy to the Moon via Intuitive Machines’ Houston-based Nova-C lander, following the launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 in late 2021.
The final design has not been confirmed as it will be a collaboration between Moon Mark, Frank Stephenson and the winning teams of high school students
It’s a heavy load that goes to the lunar surface – each machine will weigh 5.5 pounds, and the lander to bring them to the surface will weigh another 6.6 pounds, for a total of 17.6 pounds.
Although the cost of the launch was not disclosed – other companies are quoting $ 544,000 per pound to send items to the moon – a cost of nearly $ 10 million.
The Nova-C lander is the “first lunar lander entirely developed by a private company” and is expected to land in Oceanus Procellarum.
The lander will head to the Moon next year to inspect the Schröter Valley, which is the size of a canyon, but will field the pair of racing cars at the same time.
The final two teams of students will complete the pilot’s projects in Houston, Texas, before being loaded onto the lander that will transport them to the moon.
Moon Mark is working with a number of private space companies, including Lunar Outpost who have experience developing lunar rover vehicles.
“We couldn’t be happier to partner with Lunar Outpost, the industry leader in aerospace mobility,” said Mary Hagy, founder and CEO of Moon Mark.
“Their experience in developing lunar rovers ensures that our racing teams will have the technical background to carry out the mission and leave a scientific legacy after the checkered flag waves.”
Lunar Outpost will adapt its patented Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP), created for extraterrestrial science missions, for racing mobility.
Moon Mark, an entertainment and education company, sponsors the race which will see teams of students compete to design and lead one of the two runners
“Moon Mark’s mission to engage young people in the aerospace industry and work to use space for the betterment of humanity is something that resonates with us,” said Justin Cyrus, co-founder and CEO of Lunar Outpost.
“We can’t wait to allow runners to the moon and be part of the journey to bring space into the world.”
Once on the lunar surface, competitors will race their rovers from a distance, navigating rough terrain, racing around a sphere of cameras that capture every aspect.
“We do not expect significant delays in communications as they affect the ride or driveability of vehicles,” said Todd Wallach, CTO of Moon Mark.
“We will have near real-time imaging, telemetry, command and control through our partnership with Intuitive Machines.
“Runners built by Lunar Outpost will connect with Lander Intuitive Machines via WiFi, and the Lander will send and receive telemetry, commands and controls to and from Earth to guide runners.”
The final track and layout on the Moon were not confirmed by the Moon Mark team, but were designed by Hermann Tilke, who has designed all the latest Formula One tracks around the world.
‘He’s planning this lunar circuit track. They know the lunar surface, it has been scanned to the point where it has enough information to develop this track, “explained Frank Stephenson, who has the final say on vehicle designs.
If the Nova-C lander successfully lands on the Moon, it will be the first private spacecraft to do so and one of the few projects to be successful.
So far only the United States, China and Russia have successfully made a soft landing on the lunar surface – others have tried, including India – but the missions have failed to land safely or were lost.
Assuming Nova-C lands safely, not only will this be the first race to the surface of the Moon, but it will also be the first private landing, potentially leading a new commercial race to the Moon.
The Moon is back in global news due to China sending a mission to bring back rock samples from the lunar surface – which will return in December, and the United States will send the first woman and next man to the surface by 2024.
NASA will land the first woman and next man on the moon in 2024 as part of the Artemis mission
Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo and goddess of the moon in Greek mythology.
NASA has chosen her to personify its path back to the moon, which will see astronauts return to the lunar surface by 2024, including the first woman and the next man.
Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will allow human exploration of the Moon and Mars.
Artemis 1 will be the first integrated flight test of NASA’s deep space exploration system: the Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and ground systems at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Artemis 1 will be an unmanned flight that will provide a foundation for human exploration of deep space and demonstrate our commitment and ability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond.
During this flight, the spacecraft will launch on the world’s most powerful rocket and fly farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown.
It will travel 280,000 miles (450,600 km) from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the Moon over the course of a mission of approximately three weeks.
Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will allow human exploration of the Moon and Mars. This graphic explains the various stages of the mission
Orion will stay in space longer than any astronaut ship has done without docking at a space station and will return home faster and warmer than ever.
With this first exploration mission, NASA is leading the next steps in human exploration in deep space where astronauts will build and begin testing the near-moon systems needed for missions to the lunar surface and exploration to other, more distant destinations. from Earth, including Mars.
They will take the crew on a different trajectory and test Orion’s critical systems with humans on board.
The SLS rocket will start from an initial configuration capable of sending more than 26 metric tons to the Moon, to a final configuration that can send at least 45 metric tons.
Together, Orion, SLS and Kennedy’s ground systems will be able to meet the most demanding needs of crew and deep space cargo missions.
Eventually NASA seeks to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon by 2028 as a result of the Artemis mission.
The space agency hopes that this colony will uncover new scientific discoveries, demonstrate new technological advances, and lay the foundation for private companies to build a lunar economy.
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