Lunar Dreams

Apparently SpaceDev says they can do Lunar Missions for about ~$10 billion. They break it up into segments

• launch to low Earth orbit (LEO)

• Geo Transfer Orbit (GTO)

• LEO and GTO to Lunar orbit

• Lunar orbit to landing,

• takeoff to Lunar orbit

• Lunar orbit to LEO

• return to Earth from LEO

Not really surprised by the cost savings. Governments are nothing if not expensive. Of course were is the $10 billion coming from? The way Griffin has been talking, he might be willing to buy seats from SpaceDev if they can get up there. Keep your fingers crossed true believers. (from a reader Jouth).

At the same time, I read an article this morning about Peter Diamandis (founder of the X-Prize) starting up a new company.

A company that Diamandis co-founded, which set up an office at Kennedy Space Center over the summer, plans to launch private suborbital flights by 2008. It plans to send private spacecraft to land on the moon by 2015, he said.

Hell that even beats China's rumored date of 2017. Todays news is good for my dreams. Hope the money starts flowing...