Business & Perspectives

Posted by percy

A world-wide move towards conquering the moon’s surface once again is gathering pace and Germany is part of this move. Previous such initiatives have failed largely due to the lack of interest of the general population. However, Open Moon’s education programme intends to change this by calling upon the wider community to engage in the project and prepare society as a whole for space. We do not believe that space should be for the privileged rich few, or those working in the space industry. We believe space should be for all of us.

And Open Moon is more:

Open Moon is a think tank and a test laboratory for tomorrow’s technological development.
At Open Moon we are combining great potential, companies, corporate networks, affiliated business groups and open innovation to solve the complex technical requirements of this competition. Our minds are open to all possibilities and, therefore, our ambition does not stop here. The effect of our co-operation will be to find new technical solutions, products and business ideas we cannot even imagine today. We will use our existing knowledge to design and test the rules of tomorrow’s innovation management.

Open Moon is the place to be, to be a part of taking this competition to the next level. Everyone who is involved is participating in the worldwide marketing of the GLXP. Declaring our sponsors and sharers is an important part of the competition rules. You will not find a more efficient global spot for your skills. You are welcome.

Dr. Ricarda Schallnus (Co-Head of Open Moon)

One Satellite per Man

You believe this can’t work? Well, in the late seventies there was a certain Bill Gates, who announced that “every business and household must have a computer (and must run Microsoft software)”. In those days everybody outside Microsoft (and maybe the one or the other even inside) believed that this is not only insane, but even makes no sense at all. What is a computer good for in every company? And even more: what for could it be used in a household? Maybe for some of us this question still wasn’t answered in a sufficient way, but I believe most of us don’t believe this is still a question at all. What we can see today is an overwhelming success of this vision, with impacts for our societies hardly to overestimate.

But what for could it be good to have an own satellite?

Today satellites are omnipresent in our daily life. It starts in the morning, when we listen to the whether forecast on the radio while having breakfast (weather satellites), goes on over the day, when we make a call at home with our cell phone (communication satellite) and ends in the evening, when we occasionally have to pick up something with the car at the other end of the city (GPS), at a place we’ve never been before.

But if all those means are already there? If I only have to switch on my cell phone or my radio or my navigation system, and there it is, why should I own those satellites myself?

Maybe you are right. But maybe you’d change your opinion, if you find out that some companies (and governments) tend to listen to your conversations, just to find out what they could sell next to you. Or just imagine you could call your best friend somewhere a few thousand miles away, without being afraid of dropping dead when you at the end of the month get the invoice for that call. And now just try to imagine, what it would be like if a whole bunch, a swarm of little satellites, every single one owned by another private person, would share its capabilities of global communication, observation and whatever else, and on this way build up a whole, worldwide accessible and usable net.

You just think you heard about something similar before? Of course you did. We got something like that down here on earth already. It’s called the internet.

But this time it wouldn’t be controlled by governments and companies, but by free citizens, who decide themselves how and when and where (!) their net is used. With this net for example you could make some of the dark spots in the world a little bit brighter, bringing modern means of information and communication into the least corner and give all the people in the world the possibility to participate in the processes considering their interests, economically and politically (or just leave them alone, if they don’t want so).

And all this just by controlling a little satellite travelling around the world in a low orbit.

OK, so just for a moment, let’s suppose you’re considering it. You think the idea of having an own little satellite isn’t so odd, but how to pay for the little gem? Doesn’t a satellite’s launch cost a fortune, not to mention the costs for a satellite itself? This is the point. This is the reason why the Open Moon Group is taking part in this contest, which main aim is the advancement of private space exploration. One kilo of payload costs around US$ 10.000 at the moment. That’s the reason why there isn’t any significant market for so called nano- and pico-satellites who already doesn’t cost more than a small family car. The technical key point is not the satellite, it’s the transportation into space. A rocket is pretty old technology compared to computers and satellites, but this technology is still more less in the hands of large space agencies and companies, and those big players still tend to produce rockets for really immense payloads, which by far outruns the budget of a common private user.

The capitol aim of the Open Moon Group is to show that there is another way. We want to stimulate both, the private side, the individuals, to get aware of the impact and the capabilities of private ownership in technologically critical means, and on the other side the industry, mainly the small and medium enterprises, to make them clear, what economic perspectives they have if they join this endeavour. Transportation prices have to drop significantly. This can be achieved by both, technological advancement and economic demand. We’re on our way to prove this.

Neven Dološ (Head of Open Moon)

For more informations on our Sponsoring and Support Programm please contact us at info@openmoon.info or call Neven Dološ (Business Relationships and Head of Open Moon) at: ++49 30 0163 7340 792

Permalink | März 26th, 2009

6 Responses to “Business & Perspectives”

  1. niun Says:
    April 4th, 2009 at %H:%M

    Hi, gibt es schon einen Plan, was mit dem Preisgeld geschehen soll, falls denn was gewonnen wird?

  2. neven Says:
    April 4th, 2009 at %H:%M

    wir sind in unseren statuten der förderung der privaten raumfahrt verpflichtet. dabei steht nicht der nutzen einzelner rechteinhaber oder eigentümer im vordergrund, sondern der nutzen der community, die diesen flug ermöglicht haben wird. die c-base open moon group setzt alle ihr zur verfügung gestellten mittel für die erreichung der in den statuten festgelegten ziele ein, sei dies durch erwerb von technischem material oder in form von schaffung logistischer strukturen oder weiterer mittel. Die c-base open moon group würde mit dem sieg des google lunar x prizes nicht automatisch ihren sinn verlieren, sondern die durch den sieg errungenen mittel weiterhin zur erreichung dieser ziele einsetzen. eine möglichkeit, die community und deren vordringen in den weltraum weiterhin zu förden, wäre z. b. der bau und die finanzierung eines weltraumbahnhofes. letztenendes wird jedoch die community selbst entscheiden, welche nächsten schritte zu unternehmen sind, während die c-base open moon gruppe hierfür den organisatorischen und repräsentativen rahmen für das gesamte unterfangen bereit hält.

  3. niun Says:
    April 4th, 2009 at %H:%M

    Ich glaube, dass sich dieses Statement – vielleicht in einem noch konkreteren Bezug auf mögliche Preisgelder – sehr gut in direkt in dem Text zum Moonmiles Sponsoring und in Pressemitteilungen machen würde.

  4. neven Says:
    April 4th, 2009 at %H:%M

    wir arbeiten an einer formulierung einer charta, in der diese aspekte noch einaml in aller deutlichkeit ausformuliert und festgelegt werden. die open moon gruppe wächst immer noch, und wir sind für alle vorschläge offen und dankbar!

  5. huhu Says:
    Oktober 6th, 2009 at %H:%M

    Bitte veröffenlicht diese Charta, auch wenn es nur ein Entwurf ist, auf openmoon.

    Möchte doch auch meinen Senf dazugeben :-)
    huhu

  6. neven Says:
    Oktober 7th, 2009 at %H:%M

    …next thursday there’ll be our official team-meeting in the c-base (starting at 8 pm). you’re heavily invited tp participate. there we can finish this charta, which we had to rework several times.

    thanx a lot!

    neven

    ps: please use english for blog entries! we have to change to english to be understandable for a wider community (and because we commited ourselves to do so by entring the competition)

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