4 A decade on, it looks like we won’t see unmanned systems on the Moon any time soon. None of the five finalists in the $30m Lunar X Prize competition, which started in 2007, are able to launch in time, even after multiple extensions. As a result, it is closing without a single launch. This has been a financial issue rather than one of technology. Raising millions of dollars for a launch has proved a challenge too far for the teams, leaving some great unmanned technology stuck here on Earth. Even combining projects in a single launch wasn’t enough to reduce the financial risk. That’s not to say we won’t ever see unmanned systems going to the Moon. One team, Moon Express, gave up on the competition but is still developing unmanned systems to explore our nearest neighbour for commercial mining. Their development will benefit from the current boom in low-cost, lightweight sensors. Also, the demand for self-driving cars and trucks is pushing the reduction in weight and power consumption thanks to volume manufacturing. In an interesting reversal, new sensors for the consumer market, as shown in our CES report on page 14 and our Lidar focus on page 68, will end up driving technologies for space systems rather than the other way around. With self-driving taxi services rolling out in the USA this year, and tests of self-driving cars on public roads now being carried out in almost every part of the world, these sensors are becoming an integral part of the automotive supply chain, and are proving a key contribution to all kinds of unmanned systems. Nick Flaherty | Technology Editor Space to innovate February/March 2018 | Unmanned Systems Technology Intro | February/March 2018 Editorial Director Ian Bamsey Assistant Editor Guy Richards Technology Editor Nick Flaherty Contributors Peter Donaldson, Rory Jackson Bianca Villiers, Andrew White Technical Consultants Charlie McCartan Paul Weighell Ian Williams-Wynn Dr Donough Wilson Design Andrew Metcalfe
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