TransOrbital, a member of the Artemis Project, will soon carry out its’ first launch, an engineering mockup of their lunar probe. The vehicle is scheduled for launch into low earth orbit (LEO) tomorrow, Dec 20th, on a Russian Dnepr former-ICBM.
TransOrbital hopes to launch the first commercial lunar probe in late 2003.
From all of us at Samizdata: “Good luck and clear jets TO!”
More information is available here
This is GREAT news! All space enthusiasts should be watching this closely because the true future of space exploration is in the private, for-profit arena. When working and/or traveling in space becomes profitable, it will grow exponentially.
Honeymoon ON THE MOON, anyone?
Not least for another reason: once space is open to the individual, the governments will no longer own all the real estate – there will once again be that great force for freedom: an open frontier.