Lunar Mission One

In late 2014, Lunar Mission One raised over $1 million via Kickstarter.com to fund the development stage of this 10 year project. An exploratory robotic mission to the Moon, it will use innovative drilling technology to deliver extraordinary new insights into the origins of the Moon and the Earth.

Public money for these types of projects has been limited of late due to financial pressures resulting from the economic downturn. We are therefore crowdfunding – which includes sales of space in an innovative 21st century time capsule - to finance the mission, meaning anyone from around the world can get involved for as little as a few pounds.

The money this project generates will create a long term legacy – funding a global education programme and establishing a Trust to fund future space missions, changing the way we explore space – forever.

You can find out more about the project here

Initial funding of the mission’s development phase raised over $1 million via Kickstarter, gathering support from over 7,000 people in over 70 countries across the world. Our new website allows anyone in the world to get involved in the project in various ways – by purchasing a digital memory box voucher, contributing to the assembly of the public archive and set up of the Education programme, and by joining the Community Forum and Lunar Missions Club. We want anyone, anywhere to be able to support the project and become closely involved as it progresses.

You can find out more about how you can get involved here

The Mission plans to drill at least 20 metres deep – deeper than has ever been drilled on the moon before – though potentially as deep as 100 metres to investigate lunar rock that is up to 4.5 billion years old. By analysing rock that has been unaffected by cosmic radiation and meteor bombardment, we will be able to further our understanding of the origins and evolution of the Moon, the solar system and Earth.

You can find out more about the Science Case for the project here

Lunar Mission One currently has the support of a number of key organisations and institutions including The Satellite Applications Catapult, SSTL, Open University, Institute of Education and University College London.

You can find out more about the Lunar Mission One teams and those supporting the project here

The project has the support of a number of leading scientists, engineers and other academics. You can see the current list of supporting individuals in the endorsers section of this pack.

The public archive will contain a comprehensive record of both the history and civilisation of humankind and the biosphere of the Earth, which will be compiled by a number of different institutions across the globe. The public archive will be the first ever comprehensive record of its kind and will be an educational and research tool which will be available for everyone to access.

You can find out more about the public archive here

People will be able to choose what personal content they want to put in the private digital archive – from a simple message to pictures, photographs, music and videos. There will also be provision for people to send their DNA code to the Moon with a physical strand of hair, which could survive for a billion years.

You can find out more about the public archive here

Deep drilling and exploration of the Moon will give us a unique opportunity to explore the solar system history most likely to have affected Earth over the billions of years since the solar system was created. This will allow us to develop our scientific knowledge of how the Moon was created and determine whether significant events, such as the late heavy bombardment, may have affected our planet.

The mission will also explore the potential for a permanent manned base at the lunar South Pole. This would support the use of the Moon and its vicinity for scientific exploration of the remaining planets of the solar system, as a logistical staging post of the future.

The Moon is also the most visible of planetary bodies, apart from the Sun itself, and can engage the imaginations of most people.

You can find out more about the Science Case for the project here

Lunar Mission One will help fund the Lunar Missions Trust’s worldwide education programme, an initiative that will encourage millions of children across the world to learn about STEM subjects via online participation covering the space science, engineering and mechanics as well as biosciences and culture through access to, and participation in, the public archive. The Lunar Missions Trust has already started the planning stages with institutions in our Education Team such as the Open University and Institute of Education, as well as several pilot schools.

You can find out more about the educational prospects here

Our Kickstarter campaign in late 2014 raised over $1 million for the initial development stage of the project. This was not intended to raise all the money required for the mission – it is financing the initial project management and programme planning phase.

Going forward, there are three main stages to the fundraising process. Lunar Mission One’s programme is expected to last a decade.

1. It starts with a three year Setup Stage in which the main contracts for the mission and for sales & marketing are competitively negotiated and agreed. This stage is funded by early revenues from the project’s supporters, and backed by management sponsors.
2. That is followed by the main Development Stage over six years, accompanied by the main sales campaign, and itself ending with the mission launch. This stage is funded by the main sales with short term cashflow funding from industry.
3. The mission is likely to take four to six months, with the prospect of extended science measurements lasting a few years. This stage is funded by cash from the main sales campaign.

We’ve undertaken market research in the USA and the UK which demonstrated a strong interest in the mission and the digital memory boxes. Based on the findings, we are able to predict around 1% of the global population who can afford the product will purchase a digital memory box. This delivers a mid-point projected revenue of approximately $4.5billion.

You can find out more about Lunar Mission One’s business case here

Part of the next phase of the project will include further developing the ‘product’, including confirmation of the pricing.

For digital information the cost will start at only a few dollars (eg: for the equivalent of a text message).

We anticipate that the entry level cost for an anonymous deposit of a strand of hair only would be approximately $90.

If you would like to include digital information alongside your strand of hair then the cost will be defined by how much information you want to include. Text info will clearly be cheaper than multi-media eg: videos. We expect on average that for a strand of hair plus digital information most people will buy in at between $150 and $300.