The The Rocket City Space Pioneers (RCSP) is one of 29 teams from 17 different countries [1] officially registered and remaining in the competition for the Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP, sometimes referred to as Moon 2.0). The RCSP, drawn from Alabama businesses, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations, announced its entry into the competition on 7 September 2010.[2]
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The Rocket City Space Pioneers' stated primary mission is to capture the GLXP $20 million Grand Prize, as well as the $4 million Apollo Heritage Bonus Prize. As the RCSP program progresses, it will consider attempting other challenges.
The RCSP is developing a low-cost lunar lander/rover system for conducting commercial and scientific missions on the Moon. This system is intended to be capable of making a soft landing on the Moon and deploying a robotic rover. It will be launched from the Earth by a medium-lift launch vehicle as part of a larger payload, then taken to a lunar orbit by a “tug” rocket-propulsion unit, and finally dropped to the Moon’s surface.[3]
A Falcon 9 two-stage rocket, built by SpaceX, will be launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to place several metric tons of payload into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). This payload will consist of a primary payload, multiple rideshare payloads, and a tug (an ESPA ring[4] with an added propulsion module). At the GTO, the primary payload will then be deployed, along with three secondary payloads. The tug, containing the remaining three payloads, will separate from the Falcon 9 second stage and perform a Trans Lunar Injection burn. As the tug nears the Moon, it will make a final braking burn, inserting it with its payloads in a Low Lunar Orbit (LLO)
Once in LLO, the tug will deploy the remaining three payloads, including the RCSP lander. The lander/rover will have its own small retrorocket, and, after being jettisoned from the tug, will conduct a braking maneuver to land softly on the lunar surface. Once on the surface, the lander will deploy a small rover for the required exploration.
As initially planned by the RCSP team, the rover will be capable of driving at least 1 km (0.6 mi) when it reaches the lunar surface; this is twice the required roving distance. The rover will be approximately 30 x 30 x 15 cm (12 x 12 x 6 in.) in size and less than 10 kg (22 lb) in mass. It will be tethered to the lander, with all external control and communications through this multi-circuit tether. The rover will carry two or more high-definition video cameras and possibly other sensors. The lander will contain the system for communicating with the control center on the Earth, possibly being relayed through the orbiting tug.
The specific landing site and exploration traverse is to be determined. To win the Apollo Heritage Bonus Prize, a video image of hardware remains from the Apollo program or other man-made objects on the Moon must be captured. Thus, this will influence the landing-site selection. However, objections have been raised concerning possible disturbance to such sites.[5]
The RCSP is based in and named after Huntsville, Alabama (widely known as "The Rocket City"). Huntsville has been a leader in rocket development and space exploration since the arrival of Wernher von Braun and his team in 1950.[6]
Members of the RSCP come from businesses, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations having operations in the Huntsville community. The following is a list of those organizations.
The RCSP is led by Tim Pickens, chief propulsion engineer and commercial space advisor at Dynetics. An inventor, innovator, and educator, Pickens was previously the founder and CEO of Orion Propulsion and, earlier, was the lead propulsion engineer on SpaceShipOne, the winner of the $10 million Ansari X Prize.[16]