If you were unable to attend, for any reason, there's still plenty of useful and important work still to be done. You will
be updated on Sunday's meeting and TeamSTELLAR will be contacting you soon to discuss where you
might be comfortable in getting your Team to the Moon, and the possibilities beyond, so don't feel left out!

If you were among those who attended, thank you. You've already playing an important role in shaping the success of this unique and exciting program. If you could not attend, under the direction of Richard Dell, Jeff Krukin, Alan Rich, Jason Clark and Joel Raupe, gave those who did attend the opportunity to immediately "self organize."

At the beginning of the meeting, those in who had the opportunity to attend, Sunday, we given a general outline of natural divisions of responsibility, and divided into two large groups, those with more highly technical planning and those who will be collaborating online and among one another to achieve the no-less important administrative, marketing and financial planning. Over the next days and weeks, are already dividing in even more specialized areas, assigned to work on time sensitive "deliverables.

There will, of course, be a great deal of overlap among those with wider ranges of skills who will undoubtedly find themselves working on very many other individual tasks, as members of "Cohorts," or task groups, responsible for general and specialized tasks. TeamStellar executive director Richard Dell said both primary divisions we off to an excellent start.

"The meeting exceeded my expectations," Dell said. "Our efforts so far, as detailed as they have been, with input from some very talented core team members has taken a quantum leap into what may be a historic first. It's seems to be precisely the grassroots effort, involving a strong and growing talent base,"

Without direct solicitation, private organizations such as large law firms and name brand pioneers partners have also already had a direct and important role as many of their talented people received cooperation in their welcome contributions, many originating in the academic community and nearby Research Triangle Park.

Those who put themselves forward as potential volunteers with this project, using the Online Volunteer  form, both before and after Sunday's meeting, but were unable to attend for a wide variety of reasons will not be left out of this state in the project's development.

If you are a potential volunteer, or were unable to attend and haven't yet taken a moment to submit their primary interests and contact information are encouraged to utilize that form right now, available online HERE, and remember to check their Email regularly as the accomplishments of much of what TeamSTELLAR must do in coming days will take place in online "collaboration."

Welcome once again to TeamSTELLAR!

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INFORMATION NIGHT, August 19, 2008, hosted by North Carolina State University, was an outstanding success, eventually moving more than a hundred inspired to join TeamSTELLAR.

If you have only indicated your interest in joining TeamSTELLAR by direct Email, or
IF ARE YOU a PROSPECTIVE VOLUNTEER THAT WE'VE YET TO HEAR FROM? Click HERE

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BACK STORY on TeamSTELLAR: "SHOOTING FOR THE MOON"

Last fall Google and the X-Prize Foundation announced the Google Lunar X-Prize, a prestigious contest to place the first privately-funded vehicle on the Moon, travel at least 500 meters across the lunar surface and transmit images and data back to Earth. Qualifying teams must be at least 90 percent privately-funded and registered by December 31, 2010.

The first team to land on the lunar surface and complete mission requirements will be awarded $20 million, with bonus prized for secondary goals totaling $30 million. In October 2007 leaders of several specialist organizations met to form an Exploratory Committee and to examine the possibility of joining in the Google Lunar X-Prize competition.

Among them were Insight Technologies, the Advanced Vehicle Research Center (AVRC), the Advanced Aerospace Resource Center (AARC), the North Carolina Military Business Center (NCMBC) along with distinguished faculty and student volunteers at North Carolina State University (NCSU). The committee established TeamSTELLAR (for Space Technology for Exploration, Lunar Landing and Roving), organized management framework, prepared preliminary presentations and authored an overview of mission strategy and combined capabilities.

In May 2008, during the GLXP Summit, at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France, foundation directors placed TeamSTELLAR among fourteen teams from around the world qualified to compete for the challenge.

While the challenge is awesome, TeamSTELLAR assessed the opportunities for commercial and economic development, for education, sponsorship and workforce development, as far more significant, offering an unparalleled prospect for prestige and the advancement of ideas both old and new. TeamSTELLAR members determined the challenge will be successfully met with well-organized, well-funded and highly-qualified skill and determination.

It is a mission TeamSTELLAR is "unwilling to postpone."

The vision of TeamSTELLAR has already moved far beyond the X-Prize challenge and the commercial opportunities offered by the effort alone. The benefits of joining are extensive, but TeamSTELLAR core capabilities include, but are not limited to:

• Insight Technologies:
  • Autonomous ground vehicle control systems
  • Hardware/Software Integration skills
  • Sensor development and integration
  • Robotic platforms
  • Embedded software systems
  • Communications Software
  • Navigation and Routing software
  • Complex System Design skills
  • Real Time video analysis techniques
     
• NCSU Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering support staff:
  • Autonomous Mars and Lunar Rover expertise
  • Produce integrated, concurrent small satellite design
  • Fabrication and validation objectives for improvements in time to orbit
  • Lower�cost associated with maximum flexibility for design accommodation and performance.
  • Research and development of pico and nano-class satellites with the following subsystems: GNC, communications and C&DH, propulsion, power, and payload.
     
• Advanced Vehicle Research Center / Advanced Aerospace Resource Center:
  • Project Management
  • Commercialization and Education
  • New energy and propulsion technologies including, but not limited to:
    • Sodium Borohydride Fuel Cell
    • Inertial Electrostatic Containment Fusion propulsion

  All Corporate Intellectual Property Sponsors and Partners will participate in an IP sharing agreement to cover existing IP and derivative IP in the above and areas, establishing a foundation for a permanent commercial space entity even after the challenge is won. TeamSTELLAR will operate under the non-profit organization umbrella of the Advanced Aerospace Resource Center established with support from the Advanced Vehicle Research Center.