Luna C/I: Moon Colonization and Integration

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Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #34 October 23, 2010

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

Oct 12th-19th was a landmark week for the GLXP: NASA awarded a huge shot in the arm to six teams, including a previously unannounced one! All the details for a great week:

• Six U.S.-based teams were awarded contracts under NASA’s $30 million Innovative Lunar Demonstration Data program!: teams Astrobotic, FREDNET, Omega Envoy, Next Giant Leap, Rocket City Space Pioneers, and (the previously unannounced) Moon Express! (A great analysis was posted by the official GLXP Launch Pad Blog :) )
• A new official team came into the fold: Moon Express! Based out of San Francisco and led by former team Odyssey Moon CEO Bob Richards, the team came out of the gates with one of the NASA ILDD contracts!
• Team SELENE began construction on a skydiving robot prototype!
• An effort was announced to form a UK-based GLXP team!
• Team Rocket City Space Pioneers posted a detailed update on their progress so far :) They also posted two videos on their GLXP Team Summit experience, as well as a video on their team goals!
• Team Omega Envoy blogged about their NASA ILDD contract!
• Team Astrobotic also posted about their ILDD contract, with a breakdown of their team partner companies :) The team also posted photos of family tour day at the lab!
• Team STELLAR showed signs of life, with an update about getting their team together!
• Team Synergy Moon featured their new blogger and project manager, as well as their partnership with Space Synapse!
• After the ILDD contracts, Evadot’s unofficial GLXP scorecard was updated :)

I’ve tinkered with the format a bit with this roundup: having enabled Apture on the site (highlight any text to learn more about it via a handy on-page search and awesomeness box), it greatly reduces the sometimes-crazy amount of linkage I’ve had on posts before.

A question for you: are links on every team name important, or is Apture and the linked news enough to get you info on them (and keep the posts readable)?

Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #33 October 14, 2010

An exciting week for Google Lunar X PRIZE coverage, with the annual Team Summit wrapping up and a ranking of the GLXP teams being published! Not to mention, announcements related to payload space on a mission and involvements with space tourism.

Here’s all the details for Oct. 5th-12th:

• Mike Doornbos and his team at Evadot posted their GLXP Scorecard! It’s a ranking of the teams so far, with points for a variety of categories (including rover/hopper, funding, social, and more). Jeff Foust over at the NewSpace Journal (and of Space Politics) posted a commentary/critique of the scorecard’s weighting, with an interesting and thorough response from Doornbos in the comments. Great discussion :)
• The official GLXP Launch Pad blog posted a quick summary of the 2010 Team Summit!
• Team Rocket City Space Pioneers has announced payload space on their mission, for Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit and Low Lunar Orbit! :)
• Two Synergy Moon team members are going to be test pilots on Interorbital System‘s first manned space tourism mission! The team also posted about their GLXP summit experience :)
• SpaceNews.com featured the efforts of several GLXP teams to benefit from NASA’s big new Innovative Lunar Demonstration Data (ILDD) funds!
• Team ARCA‘s successful Helen 2 rocket launch was featured by New Scientist! (See Roundup #32 for more on the launch!)
• Team White Label Space‘s plan to put an Australian flag on the moon was featured  by News.com.au (and Slashdotted)! They also announced they are recruiting a (volunteer to start) blogger/Youtuber for their team!
• Team Next Giant Leap posted a video update on their Hopper (versus Rover) test bed! The concept was also featured by Technology Review (in the context of Mars, even :) )
• Team SELENE featured a concept for a skydiving robot!
• Team Part Time Scientists posted a blog (in German) about STEM education!
• Team Astrobotic featured a bizarre but yet somewhat awesome…rover costume/fan hoodie/thing :)

Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #32 October 6, 2010

As World Space Week begins, it’s been a big week around the Google Lunar X PRIZE, with one team successfully launching a rocket, and most of the teams gathering at the annual GLXP summit.

Here’s all the neat details from Sept. 27th-Oct. 4th:

• Team ARCA successfully launched their Helen 2 rocket! Launched using a carrier balloon over the Black Sea, this is the first rocket to be launched during the GLXP. Check out the press release and Picasa album of the event, and a great Universe Today article on the launch for details (with more coming soon) :)
• The annual GLXP Team Summit began! Lots of Twitter highlights to be found via #glxpsummit, and check back over the next week as team begin to post their recaps :)
• Team SELENE blogged about the completion of parts for their Wilson cloud chamber!
• Team Euroluna posted an update on the status of their planned Romit 1 test satellite mission! They also posted a video of their initial experiences at the GLXP Summit :)
• Team Open Moon posted about their webconference with Mars Society!
• Team FREDNET featured the Danish Space Challenge!
• Team Next Giant Leap‘s hopper concept was featured in a CNET article!
• Team Astrobotic‘s David Gump and investor Julian Ranger stopped in for an Evadot podcast! The team was also featured by several British newspapers, and they blogged about a photoshoot with magazine GEO :)
• Team White Label Space posted a message from their team leader marking the beginning of the Summit :) They also posted a profile of the CEO of their Japanese branch and awarded the Manga Guide to Physics (plus other goodies) via Facebook (and their partner, O’Reilly) :)
• Team Part Time Scientists marked their 5000th fan on Facebook with a new video! (On a related note, Luna C/I now has its own brand new Facebook page….closer to 30 than 5,000 right now, but perhaps, someday… :D )
• Team Rocket City Space Pioneers blogged about interest, especially local, they are receiving :)

Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #31 September 30, 2010

Here’s the latest roundup of Google Lunar X PRIZE goodness, covering the week of Sept. 20-27th!:

• Team Omega Envoy submitted an ILDD proposal to NASA! They blogged about the student advantage :) (More about the ILDD)
• Team FREDNET featured their most recent NS1b Balloon Launch! They were also featured in an article about them being the first Hunstville, Alabama GLXP team (the new Rocket City Space Pioneers being the second) :)
• Team SELENE posted about the easiest way to win the GLXP! They were also featured in an Asia Times article about US-China relations :)
• Team JUXTOPIA_JURBAN‘s parent (Juxtopia) is a candidate for TechNite Company of 2010—and you can vote :)
• Team Astrobotic blogged about hibernation recovery for rover systems!
• Team Micro-Space blogged about a Bigelow-esque plan to put names/’business cards’ in space :)
• Team ARCA noted the third anniversary of their Mission 2!
• Team Part Time Scientists began holding new contests on their Facebook page! They also uploaded some new wallpapers :)
• Aspiring team Puli was featured in an Evadot podcast!

Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #30 September 22, 2010

Hot on the heels of the three-week Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #29, here’s #30, getting the Roundups back into a weekly rotation.

All your GLXP goodness for the week of September 13th-20th:

• A new letter-of-intent (so not-quite-official) team is in the mix:  Team Puli, hailing from Hungary! Their website and Facebook page are up and running, and GLXP guy Will Pomerantz welcomed them with a video!
• Team FREDNET blogged about their high altitude balloon (NS1B) launch, and the lessons learned! They also posted about their preparations,
• Team SELENE postponed their own high altitude balloon launch. They also blogged about preparations for the balloon launch, and their engaging of Chinese students with robots :)
• Team White Label Space opened its Japan office!
• Team ARCA posted their Video Journal #35!
• Team Rocket City Space Pioneers blogged about reactions to the announcement of their team (including from CNN) :)
• Team JUXTOPIA_JURBAN‘s parent organization (Juxtopia) was listed as a top Baltimore tech company!

——-

Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #29 September 22, 2010

It’s time for another bonus-sized dose of Google Lunar X PRIZE goodness, this time covering August 20th-September 13th.

Here’s your three weeks of highlights:

• A new team was announced— Rocket City Space Pioneers! Check out their first post, the Dynetics press release, and my own look at the team :) The official GLXP Launch Pad also featured the team leader’s other rocket tinkerings!
• Team Odyssey Moon CEO Bob Richards resigned. (Sad to see him go—a comment from him on this blog way back in its infancy is what opened my eyes to the potential and kind of audience this little project of mine could have. Totally blew my mind that a team found, read, and commented on my site. Best of luck on all things in your future endeavors, Dr. Richards :) )
• The MoonBots winners were announced! Future lunar pioneers :)
• Also announced was the fourth Google Lunar X PRIZE team summit, to be held October 4-5 on the Isle of Man!
• Team ARCA featured their Mission 4 command center, loading of Mission 4B elements, their new partnership with SC CALOR, and their makeover,
• Team Astrobotic added Caterpillar as a team sponsor! Also, they posted a video tour of their Lunar Expo at Carnegie Mellon (as well asphotos), and also blogged about a Moon Arts Group open house there!
• Team White Label Space featured touch screen technology for rover control—including a plan to have their rover be controlled by fans’ phones during their mission! They also added student help on their rover prototype design, blogged about the heat challenges of the moon,  presented for Attraktor, and featured a team member presenting a paper at the International Astronautics Congress (IAC) 2010!
• Team Next Giant Leap‘s director of marketing was selected as a finalist for Ernst+Young’s 2010 Entrepreneur of the Year! The team also  posted an update on their rover’s landing gear!
• Team JUXTOPIA_JURBAN is participating in a forum on opportunities for African-Americans in NewSpace :)
• Team SELENE posted concepts of their weather baloon glider, as well as concepts of a ‘lán yuèliàng’ rocket rover and of a cloud chamber!
• Team Micro-Space blogged about a potential NanoSat opportunity with Interorbital Systems!
• Mike Doornbos, Evadot podcaster and GLXP Launch Pad guest-poster, blogged about the GLXP as a human story :)

Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #28 September 3, 2010

After some technical downtime here, as well as personal travel and other technical difficulties (I finally set aside time in a crazy week to do a post…and that’s when Twitter’s lists went down temporarily. Doh!), I’m finally able to bunker down and get a mondo-sized Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup out :)

This roundup’s going to cover the month-long period of July 20th-August 20th, with Roundup #29 (coming shortly) covering the 20th-27th.

So, without further ado, here’s a whole month of GLXP highlights. A lot of technical advancement can be seen…it feels like the competition is rounding a new corner. Exciting! :) Check out the whole lowdown:

• Next Giant Leap and Astrobotic are both seeking awards from NASA’s big new $30.1 million for lunar data! GLXP Gal Amanda Stiles posted a neat feature article on NASA’s move, and GLXP guy Will Pomerantz also blogged about it :)
• Team ARCA‘s Mission 4 was postponed to October after a balloon problem on their attempt. Here’s the mission overview and the initial computer animation.
• Team FREDNET tested components of their rover on a balloon flight (more on the components)! They also blogged video updates on their rover’s progress, a look at lunar squirrel cages and a presentation in Spanish :)
• Team Omega Envoy began construction on their lunar lander prototype, and also announced they’ll have a Honeybee Robotics payload on the lander!
• Team Part Time Scientists‘ rover came to life with its first steps, and they also blogged about it’s brain. (“It’s alive!”) They were also interviewed by Evadot!
• Team White Label Space established themselves as a Foundation, and partnered with Advanced Composites! They were also interviewed by the Asia Times regarding the impact of the upcoming Russian/Indian Chandrayaan-2 and blogged about the mission structure of the NASA Surveyor program, the leader of partner Lunar Numbat’s upcoming TEDx talk,
• Team SELENE blogged all about their weather balloon project: technical progress, fun parachute tests, preparation,the Wilson cloud chamber design and related atom physics! They also featured an article from the Asia Times about GLXP goings-on and blogged more about thelunar mail-by-cannon concept :)
• Team Astrobotic blogged about lunar excavators they are developing, attitude control testing, ramp deployment without motors,. Also, their leader (David Gump) was interviewed for a Carnegie Mellon podcast on the team, the Pittsburgh Tribune featured the team’s multiple award goals, and they were also featured by MSNBC.
• Team Synergy Moon partnered with Aerogels Australia B&C! They also posted photos of a model of their rover.
• Team Barcelona Moon added the Technical University of Catalonia to their team! They (and team FREDNET) were also featured on Spanish TV.
• The New York Times featured Google’s GLXP point gal, Tiffany Montague!
• New Scientist featured 11 total teams in a slideshow article!

I’ll have Roundup #29 posted this weekend as well, and next week the Roundups will be back on their weekly rotation :)

Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #27 July 20, 2010

• Team SELENE posted about mail by cannon. Yes, cannon. There’s even test video. (All you need to do is launch bacon out of it and the awesomeness will be complete! :D )
• Team FREDNET signed a memorandum of understanding with Broward College, bringing CubeSat experience :) They also blogged about satellite views of a solar eclipse.
• Team Astrobotic posted video of a test of their rover’s motors! They also continue to cook up Black Magic.
• Team White Label Space‘s rover is receiving a master’s thesis thermal analysis :)
• Team Synergy Moon posted about NASA’s announcement of new Centennial Prizes!
• Team Part Time Scientists uploaded a bunch more pictures of their ILA ’10 presence :)
• Mike Doornbos (of neat podcasting spot Evadot) is taking over the GLXP social media reins for a week (with the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE racing down to its finish)! :)
• NASA Propulsion Academy students visited the GLXP! (Future lunar pioneers? :) )
• The GLXP LEGO MoonBots teams received Mindstorms kits from LEGO HQ! :)

Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #26 July 13, 2010

Here’s all your Google Lunar X PRIZE goodness for the week ending July 12th…

• A potential new GLXP team, Phoenicia,  is looking for ‘kickstarts’ to get them into the running!
• Team ARCA posted a slideshow of their Helen 2 rocket being loaded onto a ship in preparation for their upcoming test launch!
• Team SELENE posted about their antennas for an upcoming weather balloon experiment!
• Team Astrobotic conjured up a post on their “Black Magic”… :)
• Team C-Base Open Moon posted a 3-D rendering of their rover!
• Team Part Time Scientists held a contest on their Twitter page :) They also blogged about their one-year anniversary!

To keep up on all of the teams’ Twitterverse activities, check out my handy GLXP Twitter List :)

Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #25 July 5, 2010

• Team ARCA is sending childrens’ artwork to space! And still taking submissions :)
• Team Synergy Moon welcomed a new development group for their Tesla  prospector rover!
• Team Astrobotic took a look at potential sun shield materials :)
• Team White Label Space highlighted new work by their Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC) engineer, Dhanushka Chamara Liyanage!
• A member of team Omega Envoy, Jason Dunn, reported on the interesting project tracks at Singularity University!
• Team Part Time Scientists celebrated their 1-year anniversary as a team! Meanwhile, Will Pomerantz of the GLXP celebrated his 5-year anniversary with the X PRIZE Foundation—lots of milestones :)

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