Saturday, December 13, 2014

You've got Moonmail!

           Astrobiotic hopes to fund the development of its lunar landing by offering to take items - with prices ranging from $460 to $26,000.
           The firm, which has dubbed the service MoonMail, says it can even offer to give over entire missions for larger items that need more shipping space.
           With MoonMail, people from around the world can send a memento on Astrobotic's lunar lander,' Astrobotic CEO John Thornton said.
           'They'll make history by participating in the first commercial Moon landing.''With the starting price at $460, this exciting new offering from Astrobotic is an opportunity to commemorate major life events - graduations, weddings, birthdays, a loved one's memory - with a lasting symbol on the Moon,' it says.
             Astrobotic is a Nasa contractor, and is also an official partner with NASA on the Lunar Catalyst program.With its partner, Carnegie Mellon University, Astrobotic is pursuing the Google Lunar XPRIZE and is scheduled to launch the first mission within the next two years. 
              The collected mementos will be placed inside the Moon Pod that will be attached to Astrobotic's lunar lander, which will remain on the Moon.. 
                Astrobotic’s first mission will land near a pit in the Moon’s Lacus Mortis region and demonstrate unprecedented landing precision - if it goes according to plan.
                Astrobotic’s landing technology registers high-quality, real-time camera images taken during the lander’s descent with terrain maps derived from orbital imagery to achieve safe landing at a precise destination. 
               This capability enables Astrobotic’s Griffin lander to fly directly over the pit, capturing close-up views of the floor and walls that cannot be seen from orbit or the ground, and then to land within 100m of the pit. 

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