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2001 TrailBlazer Commercial Moonshot to Return Lunar Video
Los Angeles October 25, 1999 - TransOrbital, Inc. has announced a private venture to photograph the moon from lunar orbit. The photos will be very high resolution, using a telescope with a video imager. "We expect to be able to see the tire tracks from the Apollo-era rovers." says Gregory Nemitz, vice-president of TransOrbital. TransOrbital's TrailBlazer mission is slated to be the next spacecraft to orbit the moon, following the crash of the Lunar Prospector. Current plans include a launch date in December 2000. A recent start-up, TransOrbital was founded on the Internet, an offshoot of the Artemis Project. International in scope, TransOrbital has offices in Virginia, California, Maryland, Indiana, Mississippi, Canada, Ireland, The Netherlands, and New Zealand. The company's founders have effectively used Internet connectivity to bring their talents together to develop several spacecraft, lunar missions, and the company itself. "TransOrbital's Lunar TrailBlazer Project aims to be the first purely commercial space mission to enter lunar orbit," said Nemitz. During its two-fold mission TrailBlazer will return images of Earthrise as seen from lunar orbit, before turning its gaze to the lunar surface where it will return closeup images of the moon from low altitude, for aerial photography customers and sponsors seeking publicity. "TrailBlazer is being designed as an extremely low-cost operation with the spacecraft's prime instrument little more than a telescope and a visible light video camera," Nemitz. There is some extra capacity to carry one or two additional small scientific instruments or sub-payloads. TrailBlazer will have an intended lifetime of up to 30 days on lunar orbit, with plans for 60-90 days of extended operations. As a mission finale, TrailBlazer will impact on the surface of the moon after an exciting, low-flying barnstorming pass over interesting features. At its closest point during the mapping phase, TrailBlazer will be only 100 km (~62 mi.) from the surface of the moon. The spacecraft will return photography of the lunar surface and of the Earth, from many different points in its orbit. The operators will also use the spacecraft to return dramatic video of the Earthrise, as seen from lunar orbit. Sponsors will have an excellent opportunity to have their message promoted with this high-visibility event. In keeping with its entrepreneurial spirit, TransOrbital is offering a limited number of product placement and corporate advertising opportunities associated with the TrailBlazer mission. There will be opportunities for low cost, high profile advertising content featuring extraordinary imagery from lunar orbit, with video of the Moon up close, and the Earth floating nearby. We also plan to photograph corporate logos or trademark images during the mission in a way that associates them with the cutting edge of the Space Frontier. For further information, please contact TransOrbital plans for the Lunar TrailBlazer Project to be the beginning of a series of commercial spacecraft "firsts" in lunar orbit and on the lunar surface. Come with us and join the adventure! TransOrbital plans for the Lunar TrailBlazer Project to be the beginning of a series of their commercial spacecraft "firsts" in lunar orbit and on the lunar surface.
Germany Declines Taiwan Satellite Deal
Taipei (AFP) October 25, 1999 - Taiwan is to award French company Matra-Marconi Space a satellite contract after the German government refused to issue the required export license, a report said Monday.
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