Psyche Launch Coverage Campaign

Finances

Total Raised: £6,813.27

Thanks to everyone's support, I surpassed the £7,000 target! (GoFundMe takes a cut out of the total - however I budgeted the fundraiser to account for this. For this particular fundraiser, they took an expected amount of approximately £220.)

Please note that the exact money raised on the GoFundMe will not exactly equal the money spent on the trip. Some items which require confidentiality I will obviously not be sharing for my own security.

I've ended up with £857.75 left over from the trip, which I'll be putting towards my new studio build and equipment.

Before Leaving

Insurance - £289.78

1st Train Refund Fee - £10.00

1st Flights Rebooking Fee - £36.60

2nd Flights Seat Selection - £178.00

Leaving Home

Outbound Train - £40.00

Outbound TFL Fare - £26.60

London-Heathrow → Orlando rtn Flights - £1,751.22

Onboard Internet Outbound - £20.99

Titusville

Hire Car Titusville - £235.07

Hire Car Extras Titusville - £438.52

Accommodation Titusville - £585.78

Launch Viewing Tickets - £278.54

KSC Parking - £16.00

American Space Museum Titusville - £16.00

Brownsville

Orlando → Brownsville rtn Flights - £989.37

Outbound United Checked Bags - £57.90

Inbound United Checked Bags - £57.70

United Seat Selections - £196.38

Accommodation Brownsville - £281.52

Hire Car Brownsville - £233.02

Orlando

Hire Car Orlando - £433.70

Hire Car Orlando Extras - £123.92

Accomodation Orlando - £291.00

Returning Home

Onboard Internet Inbound - £13.98

Inbound TFL Fare - £26.60

Inbound Train - £40.00

Equipment

Crap Walmart Tripod - £13.23

GBP → USD Transaction Fees

£7.65

£6.40

£11.92

£0.36

£0.79

£0.56

£0.56

£0.43

£0.79

£2.24

£0.79

£0.79

£0.18

£0.16

£0.05

£0.05

£0.11

£0.79

£0.79

£0.15

£0.27

Initial GoFundMe Statement

Note that this was made in 2022 - prior to me ending my time as News Host at TMRO and my introduction at NSF. This fundraiser has always been about sending me as an individual to report on Psyche, not me as a TMRO Space News host.

Hello! I’m Ryan from the space YouTube channel TMRO, one of the oldest and most experienced space shows on the internet. I’ve been in our TMRO Space News show since the start of 2020, primarily reporting on SpaceX, but also a range of other topics since I took up the reins of being the primary host last summer.


I'm aiming to get out to the Space Coast in Florida this August to report on the launch of Psyche, the first ever mission to a metal asteroid (also named Psyche), which scientists believe to be the core of a planet, which had its crust layers knocked off by a large asteroid. This theory is backed up by the fact that Psyche (the asteroid) orbits the Sun on its side. If you want to learn more about the mission, check out this interview with Lindy Elkins-Tanton, the Principal Investigator of the Psyche mission. https://youtu.be/yvIVZtRgJdI


I will be very transparent on the finance side for this trip, so you know exactly how your money is being spent.

Every purchase made using the funds raised will be published publicly. All the money raised is going to 3 main places: Transportation, Accommodation, and Equipment. The former two are obviously the most important, but if there is money left over from the contributions, it will be invested in upgrading the video and audio equipment to improve the quality of the coverage of this exciting and historic mission.


Rocket launches don’t always go to plan; that’s just in their nature, so if Psyche is scrubbed past my return date home whilst I am in Florida, then I obviously, very sadly, wouldn’t be able to bring you the coverage, but that would only be in a worst-case scenario if something detrimental goes wrong meaning that the launch can’t commence. Falcon Heavy does have a pretty good track record, though, so that is very unlikely to happen. If something happens to cause a delay before the trip, then all the purchases made that can be refunded will be, and the money will be put aside to a future trip to cover another launch. What that would be, I don’t know yet, but I promise the money raised will not be wasted, and it will go to coverage of an equally exciting mission in the future.


Everybody who contributes, no matter how large or little, will be credited in all of the content that they have made possible, similar to the way we thank our TMRO Citizens at the end of every show, with full screen slates of everybody's name.


Make sure to read over GoFundMe's Terms and Conditions, and if you want anymore information, don't hesitate to message me on Twitter (yes, it's Twitter), @dpoddolphinpro, or on Discord, DPodDolphin#6164.

Contributors