ORLANDO, Fla. -- Exosphere launched their indiegogo.com campaign to fund an open hardware space shuttle. Their shuttle is being designed to become the first privately owned spacecraft available to the general public. The initial funding goal is $100,000.00. The company will also seek the help of the crowd during the design and engineering phase of the project. There are a lot of challenges ahead for a new company with such a large goal.
Months of planning went into building social media contacts and working out the basic design. The team eventually came to an agreement on six perks. They are offering a bracelet that says “#OpenSpace Project”, a mission patch, a gold plated coin minted for the project, a thank you plaque, a VIP pass to testing and launch events, and a speech or presentation on the space industry by the founder.
The Exosphere project seeks to design a modular shuttle in an open hardware environment for use and ownership by the general public. This will be the first crowdfunded space shuttle intended specifically for this purpose. Up to this point, launch vehicle design has been geared toward corporate, tourist, or government use. Private owners will still be required to adhere to the same regulations as corporate entities.
The initial funding goal for the project is $100,000.00, but there are stretch goals. The initial goal will provide two years of funding for a physical location along with legal requirements. The first stretch goal is $1,000,000.00 and will provide the capital to hire several full-time scientists and engineers. The second stretch goal is $10,000,000.00 and is enough to complete a full size shuttle.
The company will seek help from the crowd for the design and engineering of the project. By breaking the parts into modular segments small teams will be able to easily work on individual pieces. This will provide the project with a large voluntary workforce that is passionate about the space industry.
With grand aspirations come grand complications. Exosphere faces a myriad of government regulation and must adhere to strict procedures to ensure technical information does not get disseminated to the wrong people. They are also one of the pioneers in a completely modular shuttle design. Even with all the obstacles that face the team after successful funding, the spirits are high in the group.
“We are offering the general public the ability to make their dreams of spaceflight a reality. In the past they couldn’t help guide the space program, but now they can.” Zechariah Blanchard, the founder of Exosphere, said.
The Indiegogo campaign video:
http://youtu.be/0XTBjx78h_8
ABOUT EXOSPHERE
Exosphere is located in Orlando, Florida and was founded in 2013. The company mission is to develop space technologies in an open source environment for all to use. http://www.exosphereinc.com
