US company TransOrbital is seeking potential customers for the first commercial spaceflight to the moon.
Called 2001 Trailblazer, the craft is planned to be launched by a Russian Strela booster. It would return high resolution, digitally enhanced images of the lunar surface for use as internet content.
The images are expected to be good enough to allow viewers to see the tyre tracks of Apollo lunar rovers on the surface.
The San Diego-based company will also offer the first advertising opportunities in lunar orbit. Video images of the moon featuring corporate logos will be displayed on a mini spacecraft which will be launched from the Trailblazer.
The craft will produce an atlas of the entire lunar surface, "the final de-orbit video, to the moment of impact", high-resolution aerial photography of sites on the moon, low altitude, high-speed video for science fiction film footage and the first deep space e-mail service.
Source: Flight International
