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Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #43 March 28, 2011

Posted by Nick Azer in : Germany, Google Lunar X Prize, Google Lunar X Prize Roundup, Google Lunar X PRIZE Team Profile , add a comment

The Google Lunar X PRIZE is a $30 million competition challenging private space enterprises to land a rover on the Moon. Every two weeks, I round up the latest developments as the teams rocket forwards and upwards…

The first half of March brought a bevy of significant updates all around the GLXP—both quantity and quality! The full rundown for March1st-March15th:

A handy note: The official GLXP team pages now have a video bar at the bottom with each team’s Youtube and other updates! Quick-click grand centrals for GLXP vloggage :)

GLXP Team Profile: The Penn State Lunar Lion Team! March 25, 2011

Posted by Nick Azer in : Google Lunar X Prize, Google Lunar X PRIZE Team Profile , add a comment

With the Google Lunar X PRIZE final team roster announced, 8 new teams came into the fold for the $30 million prize.

Here on Luna C/I previously, whenever a new team was announced, I’d post a spotlight on them. Eight new teams at once, though, presented a bit of a conundrum.

So, what I’ve decided to do is post profiles of not just the eight new teams, but all 29! :) Starting with the eight new kids on the block and rolling into the rest of the competition, I’ll be posting perspectives on who each team is, where they come from, and what their strategies mean.

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So, without further ado…first up under the GLXP-scope: the Penn State Lunar Lion team!

A joint effort between researchers and students at Penn State University in central Pennsylvania, the team aims for a goal of simplicity, which results in pretty interesting craft:

Their craft is actually going to be an all-in-one: spacecraft, lander, and…well, lander. This multitasking Lunar Lion, instead of roving across the surface to meet the 500m prize requirement, will lift back up and fly the distance (at a low altitude, Neil Armstrong-style). The concept is similar to team Next Giant Leap‘s hopper, which also goes airborne instead of roving…and has been attracting some pretty serious buzz!

Armed with a good concept, the Penn State Lunar Lion has a ton of experience to back it up: team leader Michael Paul was the spacecraft systems engineer from 2000-2008 on the MESSENGER craft, which made headlines this week by arriving successfully in Mercury orbit. Other team members have experience on everything from the Phoenix Mars lander mission (Miles Smith) to actually flying on Space Shuttle missions (Terry J. Hart), so the team’s definitely got a lion’s share of experience it can pride itself on.

This actually marks the second Pennsylvanian team; GLXP powerhouse Astrobotic is based in nearby Pittsburgh (and also sports a close relationship with a university—in their case, Carnegie Mellon). Considering the muscle behind both teams, Pennsylvania could be shaping up as a surprisingly important space state.

The Penn State Lunar Lion Team also wins an unusual-diction award as the only team that always prompts using a “the” in front of their name (which really threw me off at first when writing about them, ha.) (Rocket City Space Pioneers come close, but as demonstrated there, not all the way :D)

All things considered, the Penn State Lunar Lion Team has a serious chance to come out as a king of the pack…so their GLXP competiton should be prepared! :)

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Previous GLXP team profiles:

India’s ISRO Discovers Giant Lava Tube Cave Near Lunar Equator! March 17, 2011

Posted by Nick Azer in : Indian Space Research Organization, Lava Tubes, radiation , 2comments

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has discovered a giant underground lava tube on the Moon—a potentially ideal environment for a lunar base!

Located just north of the lunar equator within Oceanus Procellarum (the “Ocean of Storms”, and the moon’s largest mare), the ~1 mile long and 395-foot wide cave is an uncollapsed section of a rille (pictured above).

“This is a monster cave.” -Ashutosh Arya, senior Indian geologist; “Cave hope for moon house- Indian discovery raises possibility of shelter“,  The Telegraph India

With a roof estimated to be 131 feet thick, the lava tube cave could provide some invaluable benefits as a moon base, including:

“Such natural protection will help cut down the bill for future human habitats.” -A.S. Kiran Kumar, principal investigator for Chandrayaan-1′s Terrain Mapping Camera; ”Cave hope for moon house- Indian discovery raises possibility of shelter“,  The Telegraph India

The central location ain’t bad, either:

While there’s perhaps something less romantic about hiding in a cave versus building a big, shiny base on the surface, lava tubes like this should prove to be an invaluable resource. There could be more coming, too: Japan’s Kaguya identified a potential lava tube in 2009, and detailed surveying of the moon is really just getting started. (Check out NASA’s ongoing LRO mission and the public Moon Zoo project for more survey and mapping fun.)

For all the nerdy details, check out the ISRO’s published article on the finding  in the journal Current Science [PDF], and keep an eye here as the ISRO, NASA, China, and others pile up more imaging discoveries :)

Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #42 March 12, 2011

Posted by Nick Azer in : Google Lunar X Prize, Google Lunar X Prize Roundup, Virgin Galactic , add a comment

The Google Lunar X PRIZE is a $30 million competition challenging private space enterprises to land a rover on the Moon. Every two weeks, I round up the latest developments as the teams rocket forwards and upwards…

Late February was a huge time for the Google Lunar X PRIZE—EIGHT new teams became official! Holy Tchaikovsky! Without further ado, here’s all the highlights for Feburary 15th-March 1st:

Keep an eye out for my profiles on the 8 new teams over the next few weeks, and I’ll have Roundup #43 (for Mar 1st-15th) up soon as well! :)

 

A Look at NASA’s Awesome Lunar Social Media Site—MyMoon! March 1, 2011

Posted by Nick Azer in : Luna C/I, MyMoon, social media , 1 comment so far

It’s time for a look at the NASA Lunar and Planetary Institute’s slick, energetic, and cutting-edge social media site: MyMoon!

Gritty, fun, and borderline spastic, the site is set up to serve as a fun destination for discussion of all things lunar.

An overview of the cornucopia of things up on the site:

It’s a fun place to explore, and it’s great to have a social spot for all things lunar—so check it out (and keep a tab on their blog for updates)!  The Moon’s a surprisingly personal thing to many people (“NASA is bombing the moon? WTF?!” was a common response to the LCROSS impact mission, especially as it caught fire on Twitter), so social moon destinations will be interesting places to track as this chapter in space develops…