TeamIndus

Last updated

Axiom Research Labs (TeamIndus)
Company typeAerospace research
For-profit organisation
Industry Aerospace
FoundersRahul Narayan, Indranil Chakraborty, Sameer Joshi, Dilip Chabria, Julius Amrit, Sheelika Ravishankar
Headquarters Bangalore,
India
Number of locations
 Delhi, Bangalore
Website www.teamindus.in
and
medium.com/teamindus

TeamIndus (incorporated as Axiom Research Labs [1] ) is a private for-profit aerospace company headquartered in Bangalore, India. It consists of a team of professionals from various backgrounds in science, technology, finance, and media, that came together in 2010 with the aim of winning the Google Lunar X Prize competition announced in 2007. Although the competition ended in 2018 without a winner, TeamIndus is still working towards developing and launching their lunar rover mission sometime in 2020 after partnering[ vague ] with OrbitBeyond.

Contents

TeamIndus' lander was originally code-named HHK1, now called Z-01, and their rover is called ECA, an abbreviation for Ek Choti Si Asha (A Small Hope). [2]

Financing

Axiom Research Labs was established in 2010 with the aim to compete for the Google Lunar X Prize, and the following year it registered its team as TeamIndus. [1] One of its co-founders was Rahul Narayan, who said in 2016 that the overall cost of the venture was expected to be US$75 million. In 2013, TeamIndus moved from Delhi to Bangalore due to the strategic location of the city. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is based in Bangalore which has also excellent aerospace companies that could help the team with building the lander and rover. L&T was helping by reviewing designs, and Rajiv Mody, founder CEO of the engineering firm Sasken Technologies gave space in its Bangalore facility for the team to operate out of and several former ISRO scientists were providing advice. [3]

The single largest investor at that time was Nandan Nilekani, who became involved in 2014 when TeamIndus launched its first round of funding, raising US$35 million. A second fundraising round in 2016 obtained investment from people such as R. K. Damani, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Ashish Kacholia, Rajiv Mody, Subrata Mitra, Shekhar Kirani, and Sharad Sharma. [4]

The organisation was awarded in January 2015 an interim US$1 million prize by Google Lunar X Prize for their successful demonstration on Earth of a proposed lunar landing system. [5]

Mission

The Google Lunar X Prize competition ended in 2018 without a winner as no team met the 31 March 2018 launch deadline. Regardless, TeamIndus is still looking for funding in order to continue development and secure a launch vehicle for sometime in 2019. [6]

Previous competition

In 2011, Axiom Research Labs registered a competing team at the Google Lunar X Prize under the name TeamIndus. The Google Lunar X Prize was a competition announced in 2007 that was open to privately funded ventures aimed at inspiring the development of low-cost robotic lunar exploration. The competing craft were required to travel more than 500 metres (1,600 ft) on the lunar surface and transmit high-resolution video and images once there. [7] TeamIndus registered for the competition in 2011. [3] The launch deadline of the competition, which initially attracted entries from over 30 teams from 17 countries, was 31 March 2018. [8]

Google Lunar X Prize offered a main prize of US$20 million, a second prize of US$5 million and bonus prizes of US$5 million. Additional prizes totalling US$4.75 million were offered to those teams that met specific targets by 31 March 2018. [7] [9] The competition ended in 2018 without a winner as no team met the launch deadline. TeamIndus initially planned to attempt to win the endurance and distance bonus prizes by designing a lunar lander and two rovers. They planned for the two rovers to be deployed together, which had a combined total mass of approximately 15 kilograms (33 lb). [10] One rover was to compete for the main task, i.e. to travel more than 500 meters on the lunar surface and send feedback to Earth. The other rover would have competed for the US$5 million worth prize by completing additional tasks beyond baseline requirements to win the grand or the second place prize, such as endurance and range.

In 2016, a contract with ISRO for a launch in 2017 was scheduled, [11] using a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle operated by ISRO from the island of Sriharikota. [8] The launch contract was signed but not fully paid for. [3] The rocket was to be shared with Hakuto, a fellow competitor from Japan. [9] The planned mission duration was 30 Earth days.

The TeamIndus' lunar lander platform was code-named HHK1. The team planned a further modification of the HHK1 for other terrestrial and inter-stellar application after the Google Lunar X Prize competition had completed. For the competition, the HHK1 was to deploy the rovers and then operate as the main communication and control unit consisting of payload, propulsion, structural and other sub-systems. [12] The HHK-1 lander was designed to carry a payload of about 25 kg, [13] including their two small rovers. [14]

Short in time and money, TeamIndus was unable to launch before the deadline, [3] and the competition ended in 2018 without a winner. [15] [6]

Development

By April 2018, TeamIndus was working towards developing the hardware and launching the mission sometime in 2019, [15] [6] possibly in partnership with Synergy Moon. [16] By March 2018, the organisation had raised US$23 million, but were in need of additional US$35 million. [3]

The lander was initially code-named HHK1, and their single rover is called ECA, an abbreviation for Ek Choti Si Asha (A Small Hope). [2] The spacecraft has a liquid rocket engine with a thrust capability of 440 N for deceleration, and sixteen small 22 N thrusters for finer orbital maneuvers and attitude control (orientation). [17] Then the lander would perform a soft landing at a location yet to be determined. [18]

The spacecraft would carry "a suite of commercial and experimental payloads." [18] The HHK-1 lander may include a small ultraviolet telescope called Lunar Ultraviolet Cosmic Imager (LUCI) that was developed by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. [19] [20] [21] [22] In June 2016 a letter of intent was signed with the French space agency CNES to carry the Color CMOS Camera for Space Exploration (CASPEX) micro-camera on board the team's rover, [23] [24] and the signed agreement was announced on 9 January 2017, specifying that the French agency would contribute two CASPEX cameras for the ECA rover. [24] From 2016 to 2017, TeamIndus ran a competition called Lab2Moon which aimed to select scientific experiments that would be carried to the Moon. Space4Life, from Italy and Team ZΩI (team zoi) from Kolkata, India were chosen as winners in 2017. [25] [26] Space4Life would test the potential to use cyanobacteria as a shield against radiation, while Team ZΩI's experiment would conduct photosynthesis on the Moon. [26]

Status

In late 2018, Team Indus (Axiom Research Labs) signed a working agreement with OrbitBeyond [27] that bid and won a NASA CLPS award to land several commercial payloads on the Moon. The lander was renamed Z-01 and is planned to be launched on Q3 2020 [28] possibly on a Falcon 9 rocket [29] and land at Mare Imbrium (29.52º N 25.68º W). [12] On 29 July 2019, OrbitBeyond announced that it will retreat from the CPLS contract with NASA, meaning that the mission was canceled.

The ECA rover is used as the basis for a Ceres Robotics rover called Minikhod. [30]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lander (spacecraft)</span> Type of spacecraft

A lander is a spacecraft that descends towards, then comes to rest on the surface of an astronomical body other than Earth. In contrast to an impact probe, which makes a hard landing that damages or destroys the probe upon reaching the surface, a lander makes a soft landing after which the probe remains functional.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interorbital Systems</span>

Interorbital Systems (IOS) is an American space development company based in Mojave, California. It was established in 1996 by Roderick and Randa Milliron. As of October 2023, the company is in development stage for three orbital launch vehicles: NEPTUNE, TRITON, and TRITON HEAVY.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exploration of the Moon</span> Missions to the Moon

The physical exploration of the Moon began when Luna 2, a space probe launched by the Soviet Union, made a deliberate impact on the surface of the Moon on September 14, 1959. Prior to that the only available means of lunar exploration had been observations from Earth. The invention of the optical telescope brought about the first leap in the quality of lunar observations. Galileo Galilei is generally credited as the first person to use a telescope for astronomical purposes, having made his own telescope in 1609, the mountains and craters on the lunar surface were among his first observations using it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Lunar X Prize</span> Inducement prize space competition

The Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP) was a 2007–2018 inducement prize space competition organized by the X Prize Foundation, and sponsored by Google. The challenge called for privately funded teams to be the first to land a lunar rover on the Moon, travel 500 meters, and transmit back to Earth high-definition video and images.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astrobotic Technology</span> American space robotics company

Astrobotic Technology, Inc., commonly referred to as Astrobotic, is an American private company that is developing space robotics technology for lunar and planetary missions. It was founded in 2007 by Carnegie Mellon professor Red Whittaker and his associates with the goal of winning the Google Lunar X Prize. The company is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their first launch occurred on January 8, 2024, as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The launch carried the company's Peregrine lunar lander on board the first flight of the Vulcan Centaur rocket from Florida's Space Force Station LC-41. The mission was unable to reach the Moon for a soft or hard landing. On June 11, 2020, Astrobotic received a second contract for the CLPS program. NASA would pay Astrobotic US$199.5 million to take the VIPER rover to the Moon, targeting a landing in November 2024. In July 2024, NASA announced that VIPER had been cancelled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hakuto</span> Japanese aerospace team

Hakuto (ハクト) or formerly White Label Space (ホワイトレーベルスペース) was a team formed in early 2008 by a group of experienced space professionals inspired by the challenge of the Google Lunar X PRIZE to develop a robotic Moon exploration mission.

Planetary Transportation Systems (PTS), formerly known as PTScientists and Part-Time Scientists, is a Berlin-based aerospace company. They developed the robotic lunar lander "ALINA" and seek to land on the Moon with it. They became the first German team to officially enter the Google Lunar X-Prize competition on June 24, 2009, but failed to reach the finals in 2017 for lack of a launch contract. During the summer of 2019, the company filed for bankruptcy, and the ALINA project was put on hold. In July 2021, PTS was selected with ArianeGroup to build ESA's ASTRIS kick-stage.

Moon Express is an American privately held company formed in 2010 by a group of Silicon Valley and space entrepreneurs. It had the goal of winning the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize, and of ultimately mining the Moon for natural resources of economic value. The company was not able to make a launch attempt to reach the Moon by March 31, 2018, the deadline for the prize.

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SpaceMETA is a Brazilian Group founded in 2010 to explore aerospace opportunities motivated by Google Lunar XPrize Competition.

The (Japanese) Lunar Exploration Program is a program of robotic and human missions to the Moon undertaken by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and its division, the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). It is also one of the three major enterprises of the JAXA Space Exploration Center (JSPEC). The main goal of the program is "to elucidate the origin and evolution of the Moon and utilize the Moon in the future".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpaceIL</span> Israeli organization working on landing a spacecraft on the moon

SpaceIL is an Israeli organization, established in 2011, that competed in the Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP) contest to land a spacecraft on the Moon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chandrayaan programme</span> Indian Lunar exploration programme

The Chandrayaan programme also known as the Indian Lunar Exploration Programme is an ongoing series of outer space missions by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for the exploration of the Moon. The program incorporates a lunar orbiter, an impactor, a soft lander and a rover spacecraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Synergy Moon</span>

Synergy Moon is an international commercial enterprise dedicated to the development of space technologies and related services.

Lunar Ultraviolet Cosmic Imager (LUCI) is a small planned telescope that will be landed on the Moon to scan the sky in near UV wavelengths. It is a technology demonstrator developed by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, and it was planned to be one of several small payloads to be deployed by the commercial Z-01 lander developed by TeamIndus in partnership with OrbitBeyond. The mission was planned to be launched in 2020 as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS). On 29 July 2019 OrbitBeyond announced that it would drop out of the CLPS contract with NASA, meaning that the 2020 launch was canceled and it is unknown whether the mission will ever take place.

Team AngelicvM is a private company based in Chile that plans to deploy a small rover on the Moon. Their rover, called Unity, is one of various rovers that will be carried by the commercial Peregrine lander manufactured by Astrobotic Technology.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">OrbitBeyond</span> Lunar exploration company

Orbit Beyond, Inc., usually stylized as ORBITBeyond, is an aerospace company that builds technologies for lunar exploration. Its products include configurable delivery lunar landers with a payload capacity of up to 300 kg (660 lb), and rovers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chandrayaan-3</span> Indian lunar lander mission

Chandrayaan-3 is the third mission in the Chandrayaan programme, a series of lunar-exploration missions developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The mission consists of a Vikram lunar lander and a Pragyan lunar rover was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on 14 July 2023. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on 5 August, and India became the first country to touch down near the lunar south pole, at 69°S, the southernmost lunar landing on 23 August 2023 at 18:04 IST, ISRO became the first agency to land on the south pole of the moon in its first attempt and overall the fourth space agency to successfully land on the Moon, after USSR, NASA and the CNSA.

References

  1. 1 2 How Axiom Research Labs has emerged as India's first private aerospace company. Kunal Talgeri, Economic Times. 12 February 2017.
  2. 1 2 Startup Street: Indian Startup Gets Another Chance To Land Rover On Moon. Mahima Kapoor and Azman Usmani, Bloomberg. 8 April 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Aerospace startup Team Indus may crash land due to a paucity of funds. Hari Pulakkat, Economic Times. 13 March 2018.
  4. ↑ Madhumathi, D. S. (26 November 2016). "Bullish investors back Team Indus moon shot". The Hindu. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  5. ↑ Stevens, Tim (26 January 2015). "$5.25 million awarded to five Google Lunar XPrize teams with the right stuff". CNET. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 "Google cancels $30m competition to travel to the moon". BBC. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  7. 1 2 "Google Lunar XPRIZE Home Page". Google Lunar XPRIZE. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  8. 1 2 Stevens, Tim (1 April 2014). "Google Lunar XPrize competition enters milestone phase". CNET. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  9. 1 2 Stevens, Tim (24 January 2017). "Five Google Lunar XPrize teams confirm they're set for the moon". CNET. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  10. ↑ Raj, N. Gopal (10 April 2011). "Indian team in lunar rover competition". Hindu e-news. Chennai, India. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  11. ↑ "Indian space start-up's lunar dream gets ISRO support; aims for global prize!". Zee News. 31 October 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  12. 1 2 Orbit Beyond, Inc. Accessed: 29 October 2018.
  13. ↑ Chopra, Arushi (30 March 2017). "Augmented reality, 3D printing and a shot at the moon". Live Mint. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  14. ↑ "A startup team from Bengaluru preparing for an unmanned lunar mission". Economic Times. 3 January 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  15. 1 2 TeamIndus plans lunar probe launch in 2019, expanding India's private space ecosystem. Immanuel Jotham, International Business Times. 8 April 2018.
  16. ↑ Moonshot - Synergy Moon. Accessed 15 March 2018.
  17. ↑ A look at the TeamIndus spacecraft that will land on the Moon. TeamIndus Blog. 8 December 2017.
  18. 1 2 TeamIndus - Mission. TeamIndus Home Site. Accessed 31 May 2018.
  19. ↑ "Bangalore-based startup aims for the skies | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. 3 August 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  20. ↑ Safonova, M., Mathew, J., Mohan, R. et al. Astrophys. Space Sci. (2014) 353: 329. doi:10.1007/s10509-014-2056-y
  21. ↑ Mathew, J., Prakash, A., Sarpotdar, M. et al. Astrophys. Space Sci. (2017) 362: 37. doi:10.1007/s10509-017-3010-6
  22. ↑ "IIA, Team Indus take an X-Prize shot with LUCI - Bangalore Mirror -". Bangalore Mirror. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  23. ↑ "France-India space cooperation: CNES joins Indian team Indus mission, French technology to fly to the Moon in 2017" (Press release). CNES. 29 June 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  24. 1 2 Henry, Caleb (10 January 2017). "CNES supplying cameras to Indian X Prize team, talks reusability with ISRO". SpaceNews . Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  25. ↑ Goh, Deyana (16 March 2017). "TeamIndus Selects Lab2Moon Challenge Winners to Develop Payloads for its Rover". SpaceTech Asia. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  26. 1 2 Wade, Andrew (21 March 2017). "Lab2Moon competition winners revealed". The Engineer . Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  27. ↑ OrbitBeyond Teams with Team Indus, Honeybee Robotics for NASA Lunar Program Archived 1 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine . Doug Messier, Parabolic Arc. 29 November 2018.
  28. ↑ OrbitBeyond - Z-01 Accessed on 17 June 2019.
  29. ↑ Z-01 Lander. Gunter Dirk Krebs, Gunter's Space Page. Accessed on 17 June 2019.
  30. ↑ Ceres Robotics - Rovers Archived 6 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine . Ceres Robotics. Accessed on 6 December 2019.
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