The spacecraft platform will drill down to a depth of at least 20 metres – about 10 times further than drilled before – though potentially as deep as 100 metres. This will enable us to access and analyse lunar rock that is 4.5 billion years old. By studying this ancient lunar rock we hope to shine some light on the following: What are the origins of the Moon? How did the late heavy bombardment of the inner solar system shape the history of our planet? Might the Moon be suitable for a permanently manned base for space exploration?In addition to the science, contributors can leave something behind on the moon as well. Contributions at certain levels will provide the donor with a "Digital Memory Box" where they can upload message, photos, videos, and more. This information will be buried into the Moon's surface.
The current Kickstarter campaign is designed to raise about £600,000 (or about $900,000) to support continued planning for the mission. Later on the sales of memory boxes to the general public should generate additional revenues to fund the rest of the mission.
Lunar Mission One, like Mars One, is another way to stimulate public interest in space projects and give them a sense of investment. It reminds me of The Planetary Society's efforts to put members names on as many Mars missions and other missions as possible, which have included: OSIRIS-REx, MAVEN, Hayabusa 2, IKAROS, Akatsuki, Glory, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Kaguya (SELENE), Phoenix, Dawn, New Horizons, Deep Impact. Cosmos 1, Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, Hayabusa (MUSES-C), Stardust - Cassini-Huygens, Mars Pathfinder, and Mars '96. An impressive list.
I wish the project team luck and will make my own Kickstarter contribution shortly.
Update: Lunar Mission One's funding drive was a success. So what is the next step. According to the mission site, now it is time to do some fine-tuning of the mission:
In January, Lunar Missions Ltd will assemble the initial project team to plan the fine details of the next six months – which will be project managed by RAL Space. This is an incredibly complex programme involving at least four core project teams: Mission, Education, Science and Marketing.
