Space exploration aficionados, already a bit worn after all the activity this year, have just been delivered another piece of news. The mysterious Golden Spike Company went public today with the announcement of plans to offer human expeditions to the Moon's surface.

What we learned about Golden Spike

There were no vehicles announced, no disclosure of customers or investors, no mission plans or detailed slideshows. The prices quoted, while a bargain compared to what's currently being spent on space exploration, were still impossible for anyone except nations and the richest individuals to afford. The new company itself would not be credible if not for the list of companies and luminaries involved, which is lengthy.

The new Golden Spike Company is formed of serious and experienced individuals, most of them historically successful in spaceflight. They have done extensive technical and market studies to prove that it is feasible to offer lunar expeditions to exceptionally well-off individuals and medium-sized countries that are interested in contracting for a space program that is far more capable than it otherwise would be on a mid-sized country's budget.

Who's involved

The organizations involved in some capacity include, not in any particular order:

Space Florida, the State of Florida's special spaceport district

Zero Point Frontiers, an aerospace consulting company

Armadillo Aerospace, a reusable launch vehicle company

Masten Space Systems, a reusable launch vehicle company

The Southwest Research Institute, a non-profit engineering and sciences company

United Launch Alliance, a launch company

Moon Express, a lunar exploration company

Northrop Grumman, an aerospace company

International Lunar Observatory Association, a non-profit lunar exploration organization

Paragon Space Development, an aerospace company

Other agreements are being crafted with additional companies, so this list is not all-inclusive. SpaceX is notably absent from the list, but the SpaceX Falcon Heavy was mentioned in a Golden Spike Company paper available on the company's website.

The board of directors includes:

Chairman Gerry Griffin, Flight Director for three Apollo missions

CEO Alan Stern, former NASA Associate Administrator

Treasurer Cindy Conrad, NASA HQ and commercial space alumnus

Esther Dyson, venture capitalist

Jim French, propulsion and space systems expert

Board Secretary Doug Griffith, space lawyer

David Lackner, spacecraft systems engineer

Michel Loucks, orbital mechanics and mission design expert

Taber McCallum, life support systems expert

Max Vozoff, former manager of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft development

That's just the board. The list of consultants, advisors, kibitzers, and general hangers-on is just huge. It includes former diplomat Bill Richardson, whose foot is well into the doorways of many European and Asian countries, and his presence by itself gives Golden Spike a leg up.

Where the company originated

As narrated by Golden Spike Chairman Gerry Griffin, a more or less secret meeting took place in 2010 took place in Telluride, Colorado to determine whether it was feasible to offer commercial human expeditions to the Moon. Present at that meeting were Wayne Hale, Jeff Ashby, Dr. Bill McKinnon, Peter Banks, and Astrid Dyson. A study shown to the attendees indicated that commercial human expeditions were, indeed, technically feasible, and that customers around the world would buy seats and products from such a company. A decision was made to form such a company.

The new entity, Golden Spike Company, was registered last year to Alan Stern in the state of Colorado. Alan Stern is currently also the chief scientist at Moon Express, a company competing for the Google Lunar X Prize. He resigned as Associate Administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate a few years ago, citing his disagreement with numerous cost overruns on politically-protected projects at the agency, and he has been involved in many public and private space projects. Stern became Golden Spike's CEO.

Why today?

Today is the anniversary of the launch of Apollo 17, the last manned mission to the Moon. The Golden Spike folks are heavily into symbolism, which is probably why they waited until today to make their announcement.

"Golden Spike" refers to the completion of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory on May 10, 1869. (Lest anyone make a gold rush for Promontory, it should be known that the Golden Spike was almost immediately withdrawn and placed in the Stanford Museum in Stanford, California.)

As a metaphor, the Golden Spike came to symbolize a new era in transportation. For the first time, people could ride quickly by rail all the way across the United States, and so could freight. More transcontinental railroads were built as the land between the west and east coasts grew in population. The presence of the railroad served as the enabler for a plethora of commercial and private development. The Golden Spike Company has based their sales pitch on that metaphor.

Can it work?

All of the pieces of a non-government lunar transportation system have been in place for a while now, and two other companies—Space Adventures and Excalibur Almaz—have already announced their own vacations to lunar orbit. As Alan Stern pointed out today, all that was really lacking was a lander and spacesuits. Although Stern did not reveal much, he did say that contracts have been issued for both of those items. Paragon, Masten, Moon Express, and Armadillo Aerospace have all worked on space suits or vertical launch systems at least partially suitable for manned lunar landers.

In closing, Alan Stern made two important points. One was that a medium-sized robotic expedition costs about $1.5B, and that's what Golden Spike feels is a feasible cost for an expedition that would allow them a healthy profit. He also stated that the "long pole in the tent" is really the marketing and sales aspect, because "that's the rate-limiting step for the engineers."

In other words, Golden Spike needs customers, and that's nothing new at all.