[DEADLINE EXTENDED to 31 Jan 2023] Announcement – 2nd PromoMoon Initiative for Moon Village Generation in honor of Dr. Alexander Degtyarev

We are pleased to announce the start of the 2nd PromoMoon Initiative for Moon Village Generation in honor of Dr. Alexander Degtyarev. Yuzhnoye State Design Office and Moon Village Association invite everyone, from enthusiasts to professionals, to take part in this initiative.

Deadline extended to 31 January 2023!

To apply, please follow the link:

About the Initiative

The Moon Village Association and the leading Ukrainian space engineering company Yuzhnoye State Design Office are organizing the 2nd PromoMoon Initiative for Moon Village Generation in honor of Dr. Alexander Degtyarev.

If you have novel ideas, solutions, concepts, and projects for lunar-related technologies, and you want to contribute to human permanent presence on the Moon, you are welcome to participate in the 2nd PromoMoon Initiative.

The international team of leading space experts will select the best technical concepts and the winners will get support for their research through free-of-charge expert B2B mentorship and Q&A sessions. The best application(s) will be also provided with an opportunity to present their idea during the IAC-2023 Moon-related technical sessions.

The Initiative inspires Moon Village Generation to develop ideas for future sustainable lunar activities and provides an opportunity to advance their engineering maturity level.

Who can apply?

  • Individuals
  • Teams of students
  • Teams of young professionals
  • Startups
  • Spinoffs
  • SMEs
  • Others

Application Categories

  1. Transportation TO and FROM the Moon:
  1. space launch systems
  2. spacecraft 
  3. launch/landing pads
  4. other
  5. Transportation ON the Moon:
  1. rovers 
  2. hoppers 
  3. landers
  4. other
  1. Power systems for the Moon infrastructure (production, storage, distribution)
  2. Infrastructure, construction, and ISRU on the Moon:
  1. habitats
  2. life support systems
  3. ISRU
  4. other
  5. Other

The 1st PromoMoon Initiative Retrospective

In late 2021, the 1st PromoMoon Initiative for Moon Village Generation in honor of Dr. Alexander Degtyarev was organized and successfully held by Yuzhnoye State Design Office and Moon Village Association.

15 teams from 10 countries took part in this year’s competition – 4 startups, 5 teams of young engineers and scientists, and 6 student teams.

On May 26th, 2022, the Top-10 projects that made it to the next round of selection were announced.

On June 22nd, 2022, as a result of a careful selection by the team of international experts, three finalists were chosen as the winners of the Initiative: 

  • startup Orbit Recycling (Germany) with the project “Lunar building materials produced based on recycled space debris”
  • startup Spira Inc. (USA) with the project “Technology to efficiently generate food and O2 and remove CO2 during space missions”
  • student team VEPS (Germany) with the project “Volatile extraction technology on planetary surfaces”

On June 28th, 2022, online mentorship sessions with the winner teams and the PromoMoon expert team were successfully held.

On July 15th, 2022, the Initiative’s award and closing ceremony took place, which was being broadcast live on the MVA’s YouTube channel.

Oleg Ventskovskyy, Director of the Brussels-based European Representation of Yuzhnoye State Design Office, was the moderator of the event.

In the ceremony took part:

● Giuseppe Reibaldi – MVA President, Senior Space Policy Adviser, Executive Secretary of the “The Hague Space Resources Governance Working Group”, Director of Human Spaceflight at the International Academy of Astronautics

● John C. Mankins – MVA Vice President, President of Artemis Innovation Management Solutions LLC and of Mankins Space Technology, Member of the Boards for the National Space Society and SPACE Canada

● Maksym Degtiarov – General Designer – First Deputy General Director of Yuzhnoye State Design Office, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, MVA Advisory Council Member, IAA Academician

● Prof. Dr. Bernd J. Hoefer – Chairman & CEO of A9C Capital W.L.L.

● Bernadette Detera, MVA Global Network Officer

And, of course, the representatives of winner teams: Frank Koch, Elliot Roth, Kunal Kulkarni.

Prof. Johann-Dietrich Wörner, MVA Advisory Council Member, former ESA Director General, supported the event and congratulated the teams with a video address.

A special thanks to Christophe Bonnal, CNES Senior Expert, who took part in evaluation of projects and provision of comments, but unfortunately could not participate in the closing ceremony.

In their closing remarks, all participants emphasized the importance of the PromoMoon Initiative for identifying bold solutions and new players in the field of lunar exploration. It was decided to hold this event annually.

To apply, please follow the link:

Moon Village Association

The Moon Village Association (MVA) has been recently created as non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Vienna. Its goal is the creation of a permanent global informal forum for stakeholders like governments, industry, academia and the public interested in the development of the Moon Village. The MVA fosters cooperation for existing or planned global moon exploration programs, be they public or private initiatives. It comprises of more than 600 participants to MVA activities from more than 50 countries and 33 Institutional members around the globe, representing a diverse array of technical, scientific, cultural and interdisciplinary fields. MVA partners with non-space organizations to promote international discussions and formulation of plans to foster the implementation of the Moon Village and is creating international, national and regional networks to engage civil society around the world.

Yuzhnoye State Design Office

Yuzhnoye State Design Office is the leading Ukrainian as well as one of the most well-known and recognized scientific and design companies in the field of space technology development. This recognition is based on the exceptional experience in space technologies development gained during almost 70 years of the company`s activity. Yuzhnoye SDO has robust capabilities based on the unique experience in the development of rocket and space technologies, which contributes to the status of Ukraine as a country with rich technological and scientific potential. Efforts of Yuzhnoye SDO team and partner organizations have resulted in development of nine types of space launch vehicles atop of which more than 1100 spacecraft were orbited as a result of almost 500 launches. Yuzhnoye SDO possesses scientific, engineering, and production capabilities to implement full cycle of creation and operation of rocket-space systems and equipment. The important advantage of Yuzhnoye is an impressive school of engineering and design specialists.

Bibliographic Reference

Dr. Alexander Degtyarev served as General Designer-General Director of Yuzhnoye State Design Office, the world-known Ukrainian leading aerospace company. His main interest was in aerospace engineering he had succeeded in. Due to his extensive, more than 40 years’ experience in engineering, designing and development testing of launch vehicle systems, he managed to resolve a number of topical challenges in aerospace industry. Dr. Degtyarev’s scientific achievements found their application in the well-known international space projects such as Sea Launch, Land Launch, Dnipro, Cyclone, Antares, Vega. Due to the large-scale projects led by A. Degtyarev, Yuzhnoye SDO made a major contribution to broadening international cooperation in space exploration for peaceful purposes, developing space science and enriching the Ukrainian economy. Interplanetary missions and establishment of human habitations on the Moon and Mars were not only cherished dreams of Dr. Alexander Degtyarev, but also a way forward for the technologies development by the company that he successfully ran. Consistently, Yuzhnoye SDO has developed Lunar Research & Industrial Base Concept and initiated a number of related studies even before it has globally become the mainstream. Yuzhnoye SDO was among those companies who joined MVA as an institutional member right after the organizations establishment.

Dr. Alexander Degtyarev, being MVA Advisory Council Member, was a consistent supporter of MVA`s activities.