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Odyssey Moon made its public debut on 6 December at the Space Investment Summit in San Jose, California. The company used the summit to announce that it has entered Google’s contest for a privately funded robotic lunar explorer. It is the first company to declare its interest in the project.

The Google Lunar X Prize will be worth $30 million to the first team capable of putting a robot on the moon.

The contest is being run by the X Prise Foundation. Its Ansari X Prize recently spurred the development of privately funded rocket ships capable of putting people into sub-orbital arcs.

The Odyssey Moon’s mission design involves a small robotic lander designed to deliver scientific, exploration or commercial payloads to the surface of the Moon.

Odyssey Moon is a private commercial lunar enterprise headquartered in the Isle of Man with long term plans for commercial lunar development.

The robot uses a laser built by Optech in Canada to explore the topography of its immediate environment. The system was recently tested in the Haughton Crater in the Canadian Arctic.

The move is further evidence of the sophistication with which laser aided devices can now guide robot explorers.

ASM Newsletter is distributed by e-mail every two weeks. It reports on events in the spatial industry in Asia and events outside the region which will impact on Asia.