Can Open Source go to the moon?

In 2007, Fred Bourgeois announced that he would contend for the Lunar X prize by building a spacecraft and sending it to the moon by 2012.¹ But this space race came with a twist: in the style of Linus Torvalds, he put the project online and made it accessible to anyone who wanted to participate. An open-source space race would certainly prove that mankind can achieve whatever he wants to. But as the details of Team FredNet show, mankind isn't immune to every setback.

First, no amount of technical ingenuity can take the place of the project's greatest need: money. In a 2008 interview with NPR, Bourgeois said that the cost of a launch is as much as $10 million.² The cost of a single launch is significant, but if the launch fails, the fundraising would start all over again.

A project needs planning, resources, and money to succeed. Without grants and tremendous third-party sponsorship, the project won't go far. This is where the drawbacks of open-source emerge: asking people to donate the money for a project of this size is a long shot. Open source works great for development and design, but it doesn't always bring in the money.

Second of all, Team FredNet doesn't offer a goal to justify the project. After forty years of government-funded space missions, what would set this apart? What would motivate us to support this team out of all the other teams contending for the prize? Most importantly, what would they do with the money if they won? Bourgeois gave the answer in his announcement:

"Ultimately, we're going to build a city on the Moon.  I'm not sure if you can do that with only $20 to $30 million but it is a good start.  I would hope to use that money to establish a foundation to pursue the longer term goal, incrementally of course.  We're building a lot of the methods, systems and processes that we're going to need for further projects just by doing this one, but probably even more importantly we are building a community of people with expertise in actually doing a space project.  The goal of the foundation will be to utilize that expertise to accomplish the next goal, and the next."³

But what are those goals? If going to the moon is the means to an end, then what's the end? They say that they want to help "save the earth,"⁴ but they never say what that means or how they'll do it. It's a waste to spend money on projects that don't solve the problems facing our world.

An open-source space race is a great concept, but how you do it makes the difference. Team FredNet has gone in with gusto and vision, but their goals don't justify the project. Moon missions have already been done, and the only major difference between NASA and Team FredNet is that FredNet is doing it open-source. Furthermore, any good project has to fill a need; the team hasn't indicated that they want to fill a need, but instead want to go for a prize and a place in the history books.

Team FredNet's website encourages people to join the project and "become a part of history."⁵ If and when they get their rover to the moon, I won't be a bit surprised. I'll even applaud them. But based on their long-range goals and reasons for the project, I won't donate, and I won't encourage others to donate. Getting the public involved in science and space exploration is a great concept, but if they're doing it just to further their goals, then there are simply better projects and causes to support.

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Works Cited:

1, 3. "First Press Release."
2. "Open-source Crowd Shoots for the Moon."
4. "Interview with Fred Bourgeois, 2007/09/28."
5. "Team FREDNET."