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Comment by greenhouse_gas | Hacker News Reader

Just curious (not a competitor :), what business model is there in placing micro-sats on the moon?

Considering that there's little time left, your payload (and business model) has severe constraints. Unless you have something pre-developed and nearly ready to launch (e.g. at a university), aim for something simple. That leaves you mostly with media attention (sponsors), technology demos (e.g. for third parties), paraphernalia/vanity items that wealthy individuals or communities pay for (no remains or religious artifacts please). But please be inventive.

$980k (€800k) [1] for the first kg to the lunar surface, for lunar orbit it's less (ask me in private, it's not published). Expect $50k-500k to develop the payload (depends on what it is and who builds it). There are several open source CubeSat designs and kits that give you an idea.

So whether you have a simple payload/business model or a more sophisticated one (more suitable for a later launch probably), contact me better sooner rather than later. Many details need to be cleared early on.

[1] http://ptscientists.com/products/payload/

Sorry if I wasn't clear but I don't have anywhere close to that kind of money to place something anywhere near the moon.

I was just being curious as to who would.

I mean, it depends on your definition of "near". For some of them, you just need a long enough ladder.

>>(no remains or religious artifacts please)

I can imagine some rich people would find it pretty cool to have an urn of their ashes left on the moon.

I think this is probably one of the most viable business models for a "CubeSat" sized payload. If I had a rocket to the moon, that is the first thing I would offer: "mix your human dust with moon dust"

Figures above suggest somewhere in the million dollar mark for a kilo of payload. There are ashes into diamond services, and ballpark figures would be 5 one carat diamonds to a gram or 2500 for half a kilo.

A million dollars split between 2500 is just $400 each.

Obviously very rough figures but it nothing screams outrageous to me. I'd be surprised if you couldn't fill 2500 of those orders.

I love it!

Only problem I see is that 0.5 carat cremation diamond is $6000 US, and it would be a "waste" of the ashes since they only use a few ounces (~150g) and a human cremated is roughly 5kg.

BUT, if a person is fine with only sending a portion of their loved one to the moon for the super "low price" of $20k, it would only take 75 to break even, but there is room for a WHOLE lot more.

Space burials [1] are a thing. When I investigated this, I found that in Germany the cremation industry is against separating remains, i.e. don't bury a part on Earth and another on the Moon. I'm not aware whether a legal background exists, but at least some might consider it as morally dirty (though I doubt people would really complain over here, but in other cultures people might react stronger). So it depends on your country (culture, jurisdiction) whether it's a viable business case.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_burial

I believe they are asking about the business use cases for putting things on the moon.

A constellation of cube sats orbiting the moon would provide a nice synthetic arepture radio antenna that would be shielded from earth noise. It's a lot more economical than a giant dish on the moon itself.

Not in the industry, but I'd guess in the short term there are two options:

- scientific orgs (NASA, universities, etc); I get they'd love to pay for access to lunar surface. Maybe even some imaging from the dark side of the Moon?

- prospecting companies like Deep Space Industries or Planetary Resources.

I know what people mean when they say "dark side of the moon" but it always bothers me. There is no "dark side" to the moon. The picture that got stuck in my head was seeing the moon transit the earth: http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2015/08/21/4296866.ht...

Beautiful picture.

Its the side of the Moon that's dark when it faces the earth?

When people say "dark side of the moon" they are almost exclusively speaking about the side that faces away from Earth.

The moon is tidally locked: rotates at the same speed that it resolves around the Earth. Therefore the same side always faces the Earth, modulo liberation.

Isn't it the dark side of the moon, since spacecraft passing behind the moon go 'dark'; out of radio contact since the moon blocks radio signals?

On the other hand: it's the side of the moon that never receives earthshine. So it's dark in that sense.

I hadn't thought about that sense of the phrase. That makes total sense.

Which is a great reason to get a dumb little cubesat comms relay into lunar orbit...

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