TransOrbital signs launch contract for commercial lunar mission
Posted: Thu, Nov 28, 2002, 12:28 PM ET (1728 GMT)
TransOrbital, a California company developing the first commercial lunar mission, announced this week that it has signed a launch contract with Russian company Kosmotras. The contract, valued at $20 million, covers both the launch of a test payload on a Dnepr rocket — a converted SS-18 ICBM — next month as well as the launch of the TrailBlazer spacecraft next October, also on a Dnepr. TrailBlazer will carry a high-resolution camera to photograph the lunar surface, as well as cargo ranging from business cards to cremated remains. The spacecraft will eventually crash on the lunar surface after completing the imaging part of its mission. Total cost of TrailBlazer is estimated to be $40 million, according to the Los Angeles Times.
TransOrbital, a California company developing the first commercial lunar mission, announced this week that it has signed a launch contract with Russian company Kosmotras. The contract, valued at $20 million, covers both the launch of a test payload on a Dnepr rocket — a converted SS-18 ICBM — next month as well as the launch of the TrailBlazer spacecraft next October, also on a Dnepr. TrailBlazer will carry a high-resolution camera to photograph the lunar surface, as well as cargo ranging from business cards to cremated remains. The spacecraft will eventually crash on the lunar surface after completing the imaging part of its mission. Total cost of TrailBlazer is estimated to be $40 million, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Sunday, February 15
constellr snaps up €37M to expand its thermal satellite imaging
Constellr — 12:45 pm ET (1745 GMT) Pale Blue Commences Operations at “Tsukuba Production Engineering Base” for Mass Production of Propulsion Systems
Pale Blue — 12:44 pm ET (1744 GMT) AAC Clyde Space expands maritime data capacity with additional Sedna satellites
AAC Clyde Space — 12:44 pm ET (1744 GMT) Hypersonica successfully tests Europe’s sovereign hypersonic missile prototype
Hypersonica — 12:42 pm ET (1742 GMT) Airbus complements its radar space-based portfolio with the Synspective SAR constellation
Airbus Group — 12:42 pm ET (1742 GMT) |
