Planetary Resources Inc. announced it will mine asteroids and acquire new raw materials like water and precious metals from space. The astonishing claims are backed by billionaire investors like Larry Page, founder of Google, or Charles Simonyi, space tourist along with former astronauts, NASA veterans and space industry gurus. The company plans to launch its first spacecraft within 24 months and promises to mass produce satellites for prospecting and mining Near Earth Objects.

The latent disorder and defects of the Russian space program came abruptly in the limelight after the loss of the Phobos-Grunt probe. Though the first reactions stated that the failure of the Martian probe wouldn't affect the lunar program, the odds were against that. After a good six months, the redesigned program starts to take shape, with more careful missions and launch dates shifted to the right with a few years (again).

We have asked the above question from our supporters. Here are the first answers from our planned series that we received from two renowned Hungarians, an economist and a businessman.

Why the Puli?

I am Attila Chikán, and as a professor and leader of civilian and economic organizations, I feel personally responsible for the development of the country and I try to find grassroots movements that drive this development, lead the way and show us the power of collaboration. The Puli Space project promises that in many ways. On one hand, it's pure innovation, pushing the boundaries beyond even our wildest dreams: space travel and landing on the Moon. On the other hand, such a project has many more advantages: delivering an important message of the future through education: the importance of space sciences. And developments in technology could advance our lives in every aspect, from medicine to software development or engineering. For me, this project is about to dare to dream big and to do about it: many tell and know that the know-how is present in this small country. Here is the opportunity to prove it.

I wish with all of my heart good luck, many supporters and even more enthusiastic members for the Puli! To the Moon!

Attila Chikán

The Puli project is a Hungaricum.
Like the Makó onion.
It has many layers.

The middle is pure innovation, a whole quarry of technology improvements.

The layer above consists of the enthusiastic team who cares about and helps the project. They're building a dream unseen in this country in decades. Amateurs and professionals, experts and supporters working together.

The outer layer is the Hungarian society. One of the goals of the Puli could be to bring our nation together. Thanks to this dreamlike mission – Puli to the Moon! – which is unassailable, inspirational and clear. When was the last time for such noble cooperation?

I wish good luck for the Puli with all my heart, and unlimited enthusiasm for their supporters!

Dr. Sándor Kürti
CEO of KÜRT Zrt

Team Puli Space is the guest star of Hungarian National TV's weekly action series, "Hacktion". Although the team members are played by professional actors, an original lander mockup and a rover model also appears in the next three episodes. As the story goes, Haction portrays a fictional secret Hungarian institution specializing in cybercrime cases. The group employs talented hackers, who are now approached by the very professional looking Puli Space representatives, and propose an out-of-this-world challange to test the safety of their lunar rover's IT system.

Today's picture-perfect qualification flight of the new Vega rocket was a huge success for ESA but was a truly historic day for Hungary. Our first indigenous satellite, MaSat-1, designed and built at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, entered orbit today. This event represents the next highlight in a string of successful space activities, such as the spaceflight of Bertalan Farkas, successful cooperation in various programs, like the VEGA and Rosetta missions, or the Pille dosimeter that has served on three generations of space stations. We share the joy of today's successful launch with Poland and Romania who launched their first indigenous satellites on this flight too.

Puli Space Technologies has a gorgeous goal: we will simply conquer the Moon.

The long term mission of Puli Space Technologies is to develop the new techniques required to routinely send spacecraft to the Moon, to explore new frontiers and to provide quality services for forward-thinking investors interested in commercializing space.

But first we want to demonstrate our abilities by landing a self-made probe on the Moon by 2014 and thus complete the Google Lunar X PRIZE challenge. The Google Lunar X PRIZE aims to aid the next leap onto the Moon by awarding prizes from its 30 million dollar pool to the first private companies successful in reaching the lunar surface, simply dubbed "Moon 2.0".