Precursor Missions in the Business Plan

Although our business plan is attractive even without it, it has been suggested that we do some smaller projects to convince potential investors that we know what we're doing. If our current discussions with existing space companies go as well as they should, no one will doubt the project has the required technical expertise on board.

However, we are considering some smaller missions on the path to the moon. First, there are scenarios for operating the lunar transfer vehicle as a manned free-flyer in Earth orbit, and even sending it on a trip around the Moon similar to the Apollo 8 adventure. We're also looking at landing some very small payloads on the Moon consisting of nothing more than a television camera with a transmitter or recorder.

Although the business plan doesn't require these missions, there are still compelling reasons to do them.

We might not need to convince investors, but we do need to convince our audience and continuously demonstrate that we are making progress toward the day when You, too, can fly to the Moon. We'll have to prove that expertise, and keep proving it throughout the life of the project.

Even more important, a couple decades have gone by since anything has landed on the Moon; and Clementine has been the only lunar orbiter. We need to prove to ourselves that we know how to do this. The small television probes are intended to be a pathfinder to serve that purpose. They'll also scout landing sites, and serve as navigational beacons for our manned spacecraft.