Race on the Moon Planned for 2021 by Moon Mark
Entertainment and education company Moon Mark, which plans to sponsor the first-ever race on the Moon in 2021, has announced it will partner with Golden, CO-based Lunar Outpost to secure the two racers that will make history.
"We could not be more pleased to partner with Lunar Outpost. Their expertise in developing lunar rovers ensures that our racing teams will have the technical background to accomplish the mission."
Mary Hagy, Moon Mark's Founder and CEO.
Lunar Outpost will adapt its patented Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP), created for extraterrestrial scientific missions, for racing mobility.
After eight-weeks of qualifying challenges by high-schoolers from around the world, six teams of five members each will compete to become the final two that race on the Moon. Their adventures will be captured, produced and globally distributed by Moon Mark. The final two teams will complete the racer designs in Houston, Texas, before being loaded onto the lander that will transport them to the Moon.
"We could not be more pleased to partner with Lunar Outpost, the industry's leader in aerospace mobility," said Mary Hagy, Moon Mark's Founder and CEO. "Their expertise in developing lunar rovers ensures that our racing teams will have the technical background to accomplish the mission and leave a scientific legacy after the checkered flag waves."
"Moon Mark's mission of getting young people involved in aerospace and working toward utilizing space for the betterment of humanity is something that resonates with us," said Justin Cyrus, Co-Founder and CEO of Lunar Outpost. "We look forward to enabling racers on the Moon and being a part of the journey to bring space to the world."
The two racers will deploy on the Moon via the Nova-C lander by Houston-based Intuitive Machines, following a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch in late 2021.
Founded in 2018, Moon Mark's mission is to create and capture the adventures of young explorers from across the world who compete to make history by designing, building and racing vehicles on the Moon.
(Image provided with Moon Mark news release)