Want to fund a mission to the moon?

[JanewayRulz!]

There's a kickstarter for such a feat called "Lunar Mission 1".

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...-mission-one-a-new-lunar-mission-for-everyone

3000 people have already pledged 45% of the goal in its first 2 days.

Can you really do this for less than a million dollars?

 

[Amaris]

Funding an unmanned probe sent to the Moon? I think so.

 

[Dukhat]

I'm still waiting for someone from the Lunar X-Prize to actually finish building their rover in time for December 2015.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Can I fund a campaign to send a particular person to the moon?

Perhaps the ALICE project?

 

[Silvercrest]

Good idea; we have an established technique for sending them.
To wit: "Bang! Zoom!"

 

[JanewayRulz!]

They have hit 51% of their goal with 25 days to go.

Gizmag is all for it.

http://www.gizmag.com/lunar-mission-one-moon-exploration/34829/

I like the idea of surplus money funding other projects,

http://www.space.com/27807-private-moon-mission-lunar-one.html

10-?'s and 10-A's.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...-questions-and-answers-about-the-project.html

 

[Stoo]

Can you really do this for less than a million dollars?

Nope, nowhere near. This is just to fund the initial planning phase.

 

[JanewayRulz!]

Can you really do this for less than a million dollars?

Nope, nowhere near. This is just to fund the initial planning phase.

Yeah, this article talks about the real cost being close to 5 BILLION.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/27/lunar-mission-one-kickstarter/

Not sure where they are going to get that kind of money if they can't close the deal in the initial funding this month.

14 days to go and they've only met 71% of their goal. The momentum has certainly dropped off from their torrid first 48 hours. I now wonder if they'll succeed at their monetary goal, much less their astronomic one.

 

[Lakenheath 72]

LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Extraction Explorer), a NASA probe launched in 2013 had a mission cost of $280 million.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Atmosphere_and_Dust_Environment_Explorer

If the mission cost for Lunar 1 is $5 billion, there is something seriously wrong and should be a warning sign for anyone thinking of investing money into this project.

 

[Dukhat]

LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Extraction Explorer), a NASA probe launched in 2013 had a mission cost of $280 million.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Atmosphere_and_Dust_Environment_Explorer

If the mission cost for Lunar 1 is $5 billion, there is something seriously wrong and should be a warning sign for anyone thinking of investing money into this project.

LADEE was just an orbiter, not a lander capable of drilling to possibly 100 meters below the lunar surface.

Still, yes, 5 billion dollars seems ridiculously high. With that kind of money, I would think someone would be able to actually go to the moon himself and drill into it.

 

[Stoo]

The LM1 guys have claimed they can raise about $5 billion through selling what they call Digital Memory Boxes - basically a bit of memory space on the probe to leave a message or a photo. They're also selling the option to have a strand of hair included aboard.

That sounds rather optimistic to me, but it's also not the same thing as saying the mission will cost $5 billion.

[edit]I've seen a couple of news sites state the total cost will be £500 million, which sounds plausible.