Just want to add that I prefer Ada over C++ despite it having less mind share, tools, and libraries because its productivity is so high. (Not saying that I dislike C++.)
And, speculating here, with the encroachment of AI into programming/software engineering, I assume that it's convenient to use languages that are declarative (e.g. Haskell) and/or designed for verification/formal methods (e.g. Ada/SPARK) to integrate AIs of various kinds.
It depends on the specific professor. There are stressful and relaxed ones. It trickles down from the professors to their assistants to their PhD students. Here's my ad-hoc list of bad signs. Avoid those.
Professors
* don't have time for feedback
* have no interest in their PhD students' work
* are known to steal results (and put their names on it)
* are ideologically/religiously driven and judge you and everybody else accordingly
* don't open their network to their PhD students
* jump from one hot/trendy topic to the next and burn their PhD students on it
* blame others/circumstances for anything bad
Faculty
* members pride themselves for devoting their lives to the cause
* members do long work days, have little sleep
* has little budget it spends on its PhD students
* feels toxic (Sayre's Law: "Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics, because the stakes are so low.")
PhD students
* do overtime
* rarely/never publish
* publish in irrelevant magazines
* publish with their names on the nth position (after doing all the work)
* don't or rarely attend conferences
* don't or rarely work on what they signed up for
* take long to finish (or don't finish at all)
* blame others/circumstances for their bad situation
Talk to PhD students, ask on the net, listen to speeches and lectures the professors gave.
A lot of advice given at HN about whether to join a startup applies to academia as well. Unnecessary work, little pay, vague promises, inconsistent management, insider circles. I wonder what academia's equivalent of stock options is. Aiming for tenureship perhaps?
Space burials [1] are a thing. When I investigated this, I found that in Germany the cremation industry is against separating remains, i.e. don't bury a part on Earth and another on the Moon. I'm not aware whether a legal background exists, but at least some might consider it as morally dirty (though I doubt people would really complain over here, but in other cultures people might react stronger). So it depends on your country (culture, jurisdiction) whether it's a viable business case.
Considering that there's little time left, your payload (and business model) has severe constraints. Unless you have something pre-developed and nearly ready to launch (e.g. at a university), aim for something simple. That leaves you mostly with media attention (sponsors), technology demos (e.g. for third parties), paraphernalia/vanity items that wealthy individuals or communities pay for (no remains or religious artifacts please). But please be inventive.
$980k (€800k) [1] for the first kg to the lunar surface, for lunar orbit it's less (ask me in private, it's not published). Expect $50k-500k to develop the payload (depends on what it is and who builds it). There are several open source CubeSat designs and kits that give you an idea.
So whether you have a simple payload/business model or a more sophisticated one (more suitable for a later launch probably), contact me better sooner rather than later. Many details need to be cleared early on.
I work with a former GLXP team (PTScientists from Germany). We left the prize in early 2017 and will launch in 2019.
We're actually grateful for the GLXP. It opened doors, it did spread the word and created a community, it forced us to push through to meet deadlines. We had to develop business models (the prize itself wouldn't cover the costs) and adopt a professional mindset while not losing the hacker approach. And while nobody won the prize, the primary goal (kickstarting an ambitious private space industry) was accomplished.
That said, we still offer payload capacity to the lunar surface and lunar orbit. Since there's not much time left, it should be rather small and nice (think CubeSat format). We provide transportation, energy, communication. Don't be shy, fellow hackers, ask me. Here or under jk at ptscientists.com