16 GLXP Teams Have <6 Months To Confirm Launch, Extend Competition
One Firm Launch Provider Contract, Designating Launch Window / Date, Required By 31 Dec 2015 To Continue US$20M Moon Challenge; Rideshare Contract Between Astrobotic & Hakuto Confirmed For TBD SpaceX Launch Mid-2016, Team Indus Looking Toward ISRO For Subsidized Launch, Synergy Moon Counting On Interorbital Neptune Rocket, SpaceMETA Has MoU With Alcantor Cyclone Space, Barcelona Moon Working With China Great Wall Industry, Penn State Lunar Lion Launch Reservation Fee Given To Spaceflight Inc / Sherpa Craft
Credit: GLXP, SpaceX, GLXP Teams
Future Design Of Miniature Laser Ablation Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometer For Use In Moon Missions To Date Lunar Rocks And Surface; Instruments Placed On Lunar Lander / Rover Can Analyze Samples In Situ Without Complicated Preparations & Could Be Used On Proposed Moon Age & Regolith Explorer (MARE) NASA Mission; Team Led By Dr. F. Scott Anderson Of Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) Demonstrated Success Of Device On Duluth Gabbro Rock Sample Analogous To Rocks Found On Lunar Near Side
Preparations For Crewed Moon Missions / Lunar Base In Near Term (~5-7 Years) Possible With Innovative Cost Reducing Strategies Using Partnership Methods & Competing Commercial Service Providers; Benefits Of Lunar Structures / Commercial Mining To Export Propellant To Lunar Orbit As Economic Development For Extended Space Travel & Deep Space Exploration
Cooperation With NASA For Lunar CATALYST Program Providing Confidence In Astrobotic Technology Inc Ability For Precise Future Lunar Landings; Astrobotic Software Tested With NASA Core Flight Software, Modeling & Simulation Technology; GLXP Contender Moon Launch On SpaceX Falcon 9 May Experience Delays, Astrobotic Awaiting Further Details From The Investigation; NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Reiterates Spaceflight Challenges & Success Of Previous Six SpaceX Launches
Research Continues For Moon South Pole Shackleton Crater Terraforming For Future Robotic & Human Habitat / Exploration; Crater ~209 Square Kilometers With Peaks Over 4,267 Meters In Which Water Potential Has Been Identified; Technological Trans-Former Will Operate In Darkness / Low Temperatures, Reflect Sunlight & Convert Into Energy For Rover / Astronauts; NIAC Also Awarding Funds For PERISCOPE Orbiter To Shine Laser Pulses Into Crater / Caves & Gather Data
Team Synergy Moon 
LunarCube Technologies & Opportunities To Be Examined At LCW 5 In San Jose CA 6-9 October; Topics To Include: Cislunar Communications, LunarCube Science & Payloads, & NASA’s Cube Quest Challenge (CQC) To Promote New Technology Developments For Lunar Orbit & Deep Space Communication; CQC CubeSat To Fly To Moon In 2018 As Secondary Payload On Orion Spacecraft & Space Launch Systems (SLS) EM-1; Winning Team(s) To Share Prize Of US$5M NASA’s First In-Space Competition With Largest Prize
China Satellite Launch And Tracking Control (CLTC) 35-Meter Diameter Antenna Being Hosted In Neuquén Province, Argentina, Due To Its Diametric Opposition From China; Designed To Track CNSA China Lunar Exploration Program & Future Missions To Mars; Cooperation Likely To Support Deep Space Missions, Chang’e 3-5 Lunar Lander / Rover & Future China Space Stations; Bilateral Agreements Made By Presidents Christina Fernández de Kirchner & Xi Jinping