tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80184947232743255472020-04-12T01:56:57.403-07:00The Launch PadMark Krynskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09463968721145409915noreply@blogger.comBlogger1045125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-30009181423525851042011-08-23T13:56:00.000-07:002011-08-23T13:59:34.793-07:00MoonBots in the MediaOver the past weekend, the 20 <a href="http://www.moonbots.org/">MoonBots finalists</a> were put to the test as their Lego Moon rovers were required to perform live missions for the judging panel. Teams earned points toward their grand total by carrying out mission objectives (such as finding "water ice" and exploring craters), and were additionally judged on their STEM outreach projects carried out over the summer. While the winners of the competition won't be officially announced until Thursday, it is worth noting that these teams have done some <i>extraordinary</i> outreach work, and the media has taken notice. <br /><br />The following is just one such example. Team "Just Ducky" were featured on Fox News Twin Cities -- check out the video below to see their robot in action. Pretty cool.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object data="http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/video/videoplayer.swf?dppversion=11266" height="280" id="video" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="320"><param value="http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/video/videoplayer.swf?dppversion=11266" name="movie"/><param value="&skin=MP1ExternalAll-MFL.swf&embed=true&adSizeArray=300x240&adSrc=http%3A%2F%2Fad%2Edoubleclick%2Enet%2Fadx%2Ftsg%2Ekmsp%2Fnews%2Fdetail%3Bdcmt%3Dtext%2Fxml%3Bpos%3D%3Btile%3D2%3Bfname%3DMoonbot%2DLego%2DLunar%2DChallenge%2Dwith%2DM%2EA%2E%2Daug%2D22%2D2011%3Bloc%3Dsite%3Bsz%3D320x240%3Bord%3D7305751575770632%3Frand%3D0%2E6938273672172827&flv=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Emyfoxtwincities%2Ecom%2Ffeeds%2FoutboundFeed%3FobfType%3DVIDEO%5FPLAYER%5FSMIL%5FFEED%26componentId%3D135695031&img=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia2%2Emyfoxtwincities%2Ecom%2F%2Fphoto%2F2011%2F08%2F22%2Fma082211%5Ftmb0004%5F20110822110532%5F640%5F480%2EJPG&story=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Emyfoxtwincities%2Ecom%2Fdpp%2Fnews%2FMoonbot%2DLego%2DLunar%2DChallenge%2Dwith%2DM%2EA%2E%2Daug%2D22%2D2011&category=&title=%2D%2D%2D&oacct=foximfoximkmsp,foximglobal&ovns=foxinteractivemedia&headline=Moonbot%20Lego%20Lunar%20Challenge%20with%20M%2EA%2E" name="FlashVars"/><param value="all" name="allowNetworking"/><param value="always" name="allowScriptAccess"/></object></div><div style="text-align: center; width: 320px;"><a href="http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/Moonbot-Lego-Lunar-Challenge-with-M.A.-aug-22-2011"><br /></a></div><br />It's also worth mentioning that Team "Dragonbots" was <a href="http://www.cnnchile.com/ciencia-tecnologia/2011/08/17/el-equipo-chileno-dragonbots-compite-en-concurso-mundial-de-robots-lunares/">featured on CNN Chile</a> -- for a full 14 minutes! The video is not embeddable here, but you can click the image below to watch (note: video in Spanish!). <br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.cnnchile.com/ciencia-tecnologia/2011/08/17/el-equipo-chileno-dragonbots-compite-en-concurso-mundial-de-robots-lunares/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TKsr48vX1PQ/TlQS-4Sk5QI/AAAAAAAACNs/JS6t8HIsP7I/s320/CNN%2B-%2BCHILE%2B_%2BCIENCIA-TECNOLOGIA.jpg" width="320" /></a></center><br /><br />Congratulations to all of the MoonBots participants -- you all accomplished GREAT things this summer. Amanda Stileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967338300679020228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-10923119737438498152011-08-22T19:26:00.000-07:002011-08-22T19:26:03.345-07:00NASA Centennial Challenge Updates: Sample Return, Nanosat, Green Flight, Tether, MoreA lot has been happening related to NASA Centennial Challenges in the last few weeks, so here's an update that focuses mainly on them.<br /><br />Some teams are anxious to learn more about the rules and team agreement for the Sample Return Robot Challenge:<br /><br /><a href="http://wp.wpi.edu/challenge/2011/07/27/update-on-challenge/">Update on Challenge</a> <br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_668618999"> </a><br /><a href="http://wp.wpi.edu/challenge/2011/08/16/status-update/">Status Update</a> - Sample Return Robot Challenge<br /><br />As you can see, starting a major prize competition can be quite a challenge in itself.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hobbyspace.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=31825">Team Phoenicia to hold 2nd Nanosat launcher seminar</a> - RLV News - From the Team Phoenicia post:<i> </i><br /><br /><i>This will be upgraded to a two day event based on the feedback that we have received. Food and drink will be provided. There will be speakers in the vein of last time, but additionally all potential teams that wish to present will be able to do so on a first come, first serve basis until the slots are filled. Potential suppliers for the teams will also be given time to present as well.</i><br /><br /><a href="http://news.discovery.com/tech/energy-beam-laser-military-110810.html">Tech Could Beam Power to Drones - Lasers could power drones in flight and remove the need for gas deliveries to army bases.</a> - Discovery News covers LaserMotive, the winner of the most recent Beam Power Centennial Challenge.<br /><br />Also check out the recent tweets from @<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/LaserMotive">LaserMotive</a> at the <a href="http://www.symposium.auvsi.org/auvsi11/public/content.aspx?ID=318&sortMenu=106004">Unmanned Systems North America 2011</a> conference. The conference had some other prize events, including a <a href="http://www.auvsi.org/FOUNDATION/EducationalOutreach/StudentCompetitionPavilion/">student competition pavilion</a>, a photo contest, awards, and the following X PRIZE hint:<br /><br />@<a class="tweet-screen-name user-profile-link" data-user-id="21200219" href="http://twitter.com/#%21/AUVSI" title="AUVSI Headquarters">AUVSI</a>: <i>Diamandis: will announce $10M purse James Cook X Prize next month for AUV that can circumnavigate the globe collecting certain data.</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=500">Move Over DARPA: X Prize is Here</a> - National Defense Magazine - This covers the Peter Diamandis talk at the conference. It includes a bit more information about potential prizes, including the James Cook X Challenge for a long-range autonomous underwater vehicle with a sensor suite and an Autonomous Auto X PRIZE that would pick up where the DARPA Challenges left off.<br /><br /><div class="tweet-row"><div class="tweet-corner"><div class="tweet-meta"></div></div></div>Getting back to the Centennial Challenges, here's some news about the Green Flight Challenge:<br /><br /><a href="http://blog.cafefoundation.org/?p=3895">Google to Sponsor Green Flight Challenge</a> - CAFE Foundation Blog:<i> </i><br /><br /><i>CAFE (Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency) will conduct the event from September 25 through October 2, 2011 at Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport. ... All competing aircraft will be shown to the public at the Google Green Flight Challenge Exposition hosted by NASA at Moffett Field–NASA Ames Research Center, from 9 AM to 4 PM on October 3, 2011. ... In addition to the main prizes for highest scores, the competition includes a bio-fuel prize and plans for a special Lindbergh Prize for Quietest aircraft, to be presented by Erik Lindbergh, grandson of the renowned winner of aviation’s Orteig Prize, Charles Lindbergh.</i><br /><br />In addition to the Centennial Challenge news, the CAFE Foundation also has an announcement from Oshkosh 2011: <a href="http://blog.cafefoundation.org/?p=3902">PC-Aero Wins Lindbergh Electric Aircraft Vision Award</a><br /><br />The Tether Strength Competition was held at the Space Elevator Conference a few days ago:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.seattleweekly.com/2011-08-17/news/space-elevator-going-down/">Space Elevator: Going Down?</a> - Seattle Weekly<br /><a href="http://www.spaceelevatorblog.com/?p=1498">The 2011 Strong Tether Competition</a> - The Space Elevator Blog<br /><br />Many competitors in past Centennial Challenges continue their contributions. The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge is a great example of this:<br /><br /><a href="http://unreasonablerocket.blogspot.com/2011/08/thoughts-on-small-sat-and-cube-sat.html">Thoughts on small sat and cube sat market size.</a> - Unreasonable Rocket<br /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10150345471791224&id=213171526223">Team Prometheus on Carmack 100kft Micro Prize</a> - Team Prometheus:<i> </i><br /><br /><i>Team Prometheus officially entered the Carmak Micro Challenge today. Our launch date is set for March 10th 2012. That's the date for our Space Shot. Going to be crazy here for a while!</i><br /><br /><a href="http://masten-space.com/2011/08/10/masten-space-systems-wins-nasa-suborbital-flight-contract/">Masten Space Systems Wins NASA Suborbital Flight Contract</a><br /><a href="http://masten-space.com/2011/07/27/masten-space-systems-announces-management-additions/">Masten Space Systems Announces Management Additions</a> - Masten Space Systems<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bcbr.com/article.asp?id=59079">'Sticky Boom' made for space dockings</a> - Boulder County Business Report on the 2011 Heinlein NewSpace Business Plan Competition win by Altius Space Machines<br /><a href="http://blog.altius-space.com/2011/08/biz-plan-pitch-video/">Biz Plan Pitch Video</a> - Altius Space MachinesRayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13508338717987649684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-90238660295831827572011-08-18T20:23:00.000-07:002011-08-18T21:26:25.206-07:00About the MTA..<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-__1HFGGsos4/Tk3jxUIeZ8I/AAAAAAAAAH4/s8eqXKEJMmM/s1600/buehler%2Bmoon.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 215px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-__1HFGGsos4/Tk3jxUIeZ8I/AAAAAAAAAH4/s8eqXKEJMmM/s320/buehler%2Bmoon.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5642416344522450882" /></a><p class="MsoNormal">Before I joined the Google Lunar X PRIZE staff, I had heard a great deal about the Master Team Agreement (“MTA”). I’d read the online comments and the associated speculation. Now I’ve had a chance to get to know this document, I can provide a perspective for you.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Before I get into some specifics, it’s worth addressing why we have an MTA. In a nutshell, it is to define what needs to be done to win the competition(s) and to provide a legal framework for that. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The agreement between the X PRIZE Foundation (“X PRIZE”) and Google that was signed in 2007 includes a number of stipulations about how the competition is to be run along with the requirements for winning the prize(s). Then there are specific requirements that relate to X PRIZE and Google’s goals for the promotion of the space economy and the inspiration of the next generation of scientists and engineers through this competition. Executing on these goals requires agreement on related items such as logo, media tracking, and approval rights. There are also important requirements involving liability (working with rockets tends to raise this issue!) and not very exciting things like the reporting requirements from X PRIZE to Google.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">All of these items, which are in the agreement between Google and X PRIZE, were the basis behind the requirements that have then been put into the MTA that teams have to sign up to in order to participate in this prize.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">It sounds simple enough. However, drafting a legal document that can cover all the possible issues raised by 28 teams that are various types of entities (from corporations to non-profits) from many different countries is definitely a legal challenge. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In addition, since X PRIZE’s original agreement with Google was signed in 2007, new issues have come to light as a result of either technology advancing, experiences with other prizes, or simply coming across a situation that wasn’t anticipated back then. These developments drive the potential for a rethink or a modification.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It doesn’t help that there are several sets of attorneys that need to be involved – Team attorneys, X PRIZE attorneys, and Google attorneys.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">As team registration closed, the MTA needed to be finalized so that X PRIZE’s effort could shift to the major promotion of the prize and the teams as quickly as possible with a solid framework for the execution and enforcement of the competition in place.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The document went through various draft iterations over the life of the competition to date – first as “Guidelines” and since 2009 as the “MTA.” Many hours of discussion at Team Summits, plus follow up with teams and our counsel, has been devoted to going through all the different issues, trying to balance the requirements set down by X PRIZE and Google with the needs of the teams.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">At the start of this year, version 3.0 was issued and accepted by the vast majority of the teams. Just before the signing deadline, additional feedback was received from the remaining teams and X PRIZE agreed to look at a number of modifications which were almost all favorable to Teams and in most cases were simply clarifications of intent. A version with these changes made was issued, with the expectation that this would be it.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Around the same time, X PRIZE began enforcement of the video and blogging requirements in MTA version 3.0. The debate amongst teams regarding these social media requirements and their enforcement is related but a separate issue from the discussions regarding an amendment of the MTA.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">For the MTA, a further and hopefully final amendment is in draft. It is worth noting that there can only be one MTA in existence. So, if as a result of ongoing discussions, a new version is produced, it will need to be adopted by all teams to replace MTA version 3.0.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">As MTA version 3.0 is legally binding, there are requirements for enforcement, such as the aforementioned social media requirements. Judging by the ongoing comments from teams, it is this area that is among the most debated.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">X PRIZE has a number of avenues open to it when a team is not in compliance with any part of the MTA. If it is possible to do so, then a warning letter including instructions on how to get back into compliance is the first preferred approach. If a team does not return to compliance during the warning period, then the team can be suspended and appropriate actions taken while providing another period for the team to return to compliance. If after two such chances, the team is still out of compliance, then the X PRIZE Foundation has the option to terminate, or it may, at its discretion, continue to explore both why the team is out of compliance and whether it intends to come back into compliance. Occasionally, there are very valid reasons (serious illness or legal issues, for example) that make such decisions not-so-black-and-white as to whether to terminate.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This all sounds reasonable. Except that for a variety of reasons, X PRIZE hasn’t succeeded in pursing team compliance for all MTA requirements in a timely manner. The reasons relate mainly to major staffing changes over the last six months, as well as limited internal resources. This has led to teams being unintentionally given much longer than anticipated to return to compliance. This is unfair to the other teams who are remaining in compliance and has led to frustration and accusations of favoritism.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We deeply apologize to the compliant teams for this but can reassure them that there is no one team that has been given special accommodations. There are actually several teams that remain out of compliance and are in line for suspension, and a number of teams that have been warned. We aim to be up to date by the end of this week on all our warnings and suspensions.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Cambria;">I know this doesn’t address the issue of whether the video and blogging requirements themselves are appropriate/fair etc. However, I’ve received all the feedback. Watch this space for more on that topic.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Cambria;">P.S As you can't do a blog post without a photo, I searched for 'moon' in my album and this one from 1994 popped up. I think back then I was hoping humans would be permanently on the Moon by now..</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-12468198420926602442011-08-18T12:30:00.000-07:002011-08-18T12:38:34.573-07:00More MOONBOTS AND STEM<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1134-SQZgao/Tk1pu_YOSfI/AAAAAAAABKE/zEirXvTYh64/s1600/100_1285.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5642282164173031922" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1134-SQZgao/Tk1pu_YOSfI/AAAAAAAABKE/zEirXvTYh64/s320/100_1285.jpg" /></a>
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<br /><div>We are very excited to share the last examples of STEM projects that our MoonBots teams have completed. Teams have worked with their local communities, online communities and around the world! Please help spread the word about these incredible projects.
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<br /><a href="http://legoaces.org/rover/new.php#file_mission_control">LEGO Aces and their live “Drive a Rover” online program. </a>
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<br /><a href="http://moonbots.mcleanrobotics.org/home/blog">Pi in the Sky and their STEM outreach all over the world, including Washington D.C., Europe and India</a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.ironreignrobotics.com/moonbots">Iron Reign and their astronaut presentation with a local elementary school. </a>
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<br /><a href="http://moonbots.raiderrobotix.org/Moonbots/Blog_%28Page_2%29.html">Raider Robotix and their MoonBots Game Day. </a>
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<br /><a href="http://molokaimahina.yolasite.com/stem-outreach.php">Molokai Mahina and their public service announcement on local TV about STEM.</a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.teamqed.tk/">Q.E.D. and their work with their local YMCA to get kids involved in MoonBots. </a>
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<br /><a href="http://lunarscouts.webs.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=12098970">Lunar Scouts and their work to get other Boy Scouts involved in Robotics programs. </a>
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<br /><a href="http://moonstormers.blogspot.com/p/kids-robotics-fair.html">Lehi Moonstormers and their Robotics Fair with their local 4-H group and NASA engineers. </a>
<br /><a href="http://lunarlords.wordpress.com/">
<br />Lunar Lords and their STEM Outreach Party</a>!
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<br /><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/team2011legoodyssey/stem-outreach-project">2011 LEGO Odyssey and their presentation at a local robotics camp. </A! href="http://www.anthem-a-tronics.com/moonbots/blog.html" <a>Anthem-a-Tronics and their Library LEGO Day! </a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.discoveret.org/ingrid/legobots/html/outreach.html">Lunar LEGOBots and their work with the American Museum of Science and Energy. </a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-80999714119503555752011-08-17T13:53:00.000-07:002011-08-17T13:53:19.996-07:00Rover Video RoundupThe past couple of months have kept me busy working on the new Google Lunar X PRIZE website, and Chanda has been keeping students busy this summer building <a href="http://www.moonbots.org/">MoonBots</a> (finals are this weekend!). But what have the GLXP teams been up to? Some exciting stuff, from the looks of it. Here are a couple of videos posted recently to give you an idea... <br /><br /><a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/teams/white-label-space/blog/rover-release-japan-press-conference-announced?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter">White Label Space just announced</a> that they will unveil their prototype on Monday, August 29th, along with the following teaser video (hint: you can click the "cc" button and use Google Translate to catch what they are saying):<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="314" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3GCe94rzAI4" width="500"></iframe><br /><br /><a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/teams/barcelona-moon">Team Barcelona Moon </a>also posted a video of a prototype designed to deal with rocks on the lunar surface:<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="314" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rL9SYqGdD2Q" width="500"></iframe><br /><br />Finally, keep an eye on <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/teams/jurban">Team JURBAN</a>. They announced that they have hardware built and are doing a demo at a Baltimore Inner Harbor robotics event on September 25th. They even <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/teams/jurban/blog/my-robot-is-better-than-your-robot">promised a special guest</a> that they will be announcing soon!Amanda Stileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967338300679020228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-10020028045094137502011-08-16T13:30:00.000-07:002011-08-16T13:39:12.535-07:00What are MoonBots Finalists Up To?!<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_fzp7jdmjvA/TkrVDy3qVqI/AAAAAAAABJ8/pPPk7FRmGXY/s1600/P8050206.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641555744406525602" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_fzp7jdmjvA/TkrVDy3qVqI/AAAAAAAABJ8/pPPk7FRmGXY/s320/P8050206.JPG" /></a>
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<br /><div>A WHOLE LOT! As our teams prepare for their live final lunar science mission rounds, they have also been very busy over the last month working with kids from all over the world. We are extremely impressed with all of the great<strong> Science, Technology, Engineering and Math</strong> (STEM) outreach projects focused around the topic of MoonBots. We love to hear that this Google Lunar X PRIZE MINDSTORMS Challenge is reaching kids in so many fantastic ways! Here are some great examples of what teams have been up to. </div>
<br /><ul>
<br /><li><a href="http://www.uss.cl/2011/08/escolares-chilenos-participan-en-concurso-mundial-de-robots-lunares/">Dragon Bots (Chile) and their partnership with Engineer and Technology of Universidad San Sebastián and with Google Lunar X PRIZE Team Angelicum (Chile)</a></li>
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<br /><li><a href="http://teamjustducky.blogspot.com/2011/08/rockets-and-robots.html">Just Ducky (Minnesota) and their creation of their book, “Ranger the Robot and his journey to the Moon- A Google Lunar X PRIZE MINDSTORMS story.” </a></li>
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<br /><li><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/walkthemoonwalk/games">MoonWalk (New Jersey) and their lunar literacy program and fun Lunar Science Trivia Games </a></li>
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<br /><li><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/robospartansmoonbots2011/home/stem-project">New Hartford RoboSpartans (New York) and their STEM-agedden project with Google Lunar X PRIZE Team- Part Time Scientists (Germany)</a></li>
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<br /><li><a href="http://technoinventors.yolasite.com/stem-outreach-project.php">Techno Inventors (Malaysia) and their MoonBots Acting Skit Program </a></li>
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<br /><li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piASmA0sqUY&feature=player_embedded#at=53">The Pink Team STEM Outreach Video</a></li>
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<br /><li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu8hpnEzeUg&feature=player_embedded#at=23">X-Treme Team STEM Outreach Video </a></li>
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<br /><li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNfc_MxRU78">Say Watt? STEM Outreach Video </a></li></ul>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-43971637926757651092011-08-13T10:38:00.000-07:002011-08-13T11:16:59.689-07:00"X-Files" at the Google Lunar X PRIZE!<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r18oXT5QvRk/Tka_VbvESBI/AAAAAAAAAHw/Ey3DWN7lD0Q/s1600/Space%2BVenture%2Bconference.jpeg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r18oXT5QvRk/Tka_VbvESBI/AAAAAAAAAHw/Ey3DWN7lD0Q/s320/Space%2BVenture%2Bconference.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640405958271453202" /></a><p class="MsoNormal">I had thought about relating a story involving a telescope, a frosty night and a painful injury as my first blog post, but the commentary in the blogosphere this week has raised a few questions and this seems like a good place to address them, even though they may not be as funny as the aforementioned story. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">First up, I was thrilled to learn from one commentator that I am part of some deep dark conspiracy. Fabulous! I always wanted to wear a long raincoat and drink coffee in the back of dingy cafes.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Or stated another way, does the fact that I know and have worked with people in the space community before, some of whom are at the X PRIZE Foundation and others who are involved in Google Lunar X PRIZE teams, mean that I can’t run this prize fairly?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Not at all. I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect that someone coming in to run this competition would have zero existing connections. Indeed, I've used just one photo I have - from quite some years ago - showing that, yes, I know a few folks. (Google Lunar X PRIZE goodies to the first person to name a) the event and b) all the folks in the photo!) Our ‘NewSpace’ community is a small one. Any regular space conference attendee will attest to the fact that you see many of the usual suspects every year!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In anticipation of exactly this, the X PRIZE Foundation has very solid conflict of interest guidelines that prevent me from being part of a team or having a financial interest in a team. Further, they demand disclosure of all relevant relationships and friendships, and they expect me to exercise professional behavior at all times and be aware of what is appropriate in terms of, for example, sharing information. This type of situation is no problem to anyone who is used to working in a professional manner and with other professionals.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">For example, this extends to insuring that any Team can use the services of an airship company I am a shareholder of under the same commercial terms as any other team.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">For non-employees of the X PRIZE Foundation, such as Trustees and Supporters, there are also strong conflict of interest rules. As Cristin Dorgelo <a href="http://evadot.com/media/XPF.pdf">stated</a> in response to a commentator raising the issue about an X PRIZE Foundation Trustee who was also involved with a Google Lunar X PRIZE team, there are disclosure and recusing requirements which mean that anyone who has an interest in a competing team has to leave the room when the Google Lunar X PRIZE is discussed. Trustees and supporters with interest in teams in our competitions have no access to insider information or any influence on operational decisions. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">And just as with the NewSpace industry, I don’t think its reasonable to assume that there won’t be overlap when it comes to individuals. The community of passionate people who would support the goals of the X PRIZE Foundation and get involved in promoting the concept of “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Revolution through Competition</i>” is also quite small and connected. It is not surprising then that some Trustees and supporters have involvement in teams who are doing what they also believe in.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Finally, if all these safeguards weren’t enough, in the end, the prize will be judged against objective criteria that are already set and by a team of independent judges. So unless you’re part of the group that believes against all evidence that humans never landed on the Moon in 1969, then presumably you’ll believe that the transmissions coming from our nearest neighbor do belong to the winning spacecraft!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I’m sorry if none of this is as interesting as a conspiracy theory, as I enjoy them as much as anyone. I also know that people who really believe there's something going on will believe that in spite of all evidence and statements made to the contrary, so having said my piece, I'll stop now.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Next Up: Much Ado about the MTA… </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <!--EndFragment--> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-68753589765113682682011-08-09T12:35:00.000-07:002011-08-09T12:54:37.135-07:00MoonBots Reloaded<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5kLyWee7CUU/TkGPMiQQEPI/AAAAAAAABJM/_-hdG0ff7Ew/s1600/RWC%2BProject%2BOpen%2B070711%2B22.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 180px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638945653960741106" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5kLyWee7CUU/TkGPMiQQEPI/AAAAAAAABJM/_-hdG0ff7Ew/s320/RWC%2BProject%2BOpen%2B070711%2B22.jpg" /></a> We want to share some exciting news with all of you MoonBots enthusiasts. Landroids, the Grand PRIZE Winner of the 2010 <a href="http://www.moonbots.org/">MoonBots Challenge </a>has been up to some pretty amazing and inspiring things this summer. The <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/">Google Lunar X PRIZE </a>wants to commend this team for its dedication to STEM Education! You guys are great! We can not thank you enough for all that you have done for these students.
<br />
<br />
<br /><a href="http://www.landroids.org/">Article posted by Landroids:</a>
<br />Summer 2011 has so far been an extremely busy time for the Landroids. Earlier this year, our team had decided to “take the summer off” to recharge, and not compete in the Moonbots 2.0 challenge. Well, the “time off” idea turned out to be a wishful thinking for a short while. Instead, this summer, the entire team is participating in two Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science internships at NJIT, attended 2 courses of synthetic biology in NYC. On top of that, we are also partnering with Real World Connections (RWC) and the Capstone Program at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) to introduce robotics to the inner city middle school and high school students.
<br />
<br />Our ambitious summer plan started in June when approached by RWC to recruit our team as their summer robotics track instructors. The six Landroids 9th grade students became the youngest instructors ever in the RWC history, whereas typically, these positions are filled by the NJIT Capstone Program graduate students.
<br />
<br />With Google Lunar X PRIZE’s blessings, we designed a 5-weeks fun but intense robotics curriculum known as the “Moonbots Reloaded”, modeled after the on-going, real world Moonbots 2.0 competition, and conducted this robotics course concurrently with the Moonbots Phase 2 challenge during the summer. Our goal is to reach out to a new sector of students, most of whom are not currently interested in STEM or experienced in robotics. How to make them from zero to hero in 5 weeks would be a new challenge for our team. In early July, in front of more than 150 middle schools to graduate students, college deans and industry professionals, Landroids rolled out the “Moonbots Reloaded” Prezi presentation as one of the 10 project tracks at Real World Connections. We gave an overview of the Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP) Moonbots challenge, complete with videos, the entire Moonbots field set up from the previous year, and laid out an intense competition requirement. Immediately, a dozen incoming 5th to 10th grade students took on the challenge to make up two teams, known as the Crater Raiders and Hurricane Bots. Each team would have 5 weeks, 2 days a week, to prepare a robot proposal, a LEGO Digital Designer (LDD) rendering, blog weekly on their newly created websites, document their progress with pictures and videos, build and program a Mindstorm robot to attempt some of the Moonbots missions, and present their journey at the end of this summer course.
<br />
<br />To start off, a more permanent location to set up the Moonbots field and conduct classes during the summer is needed. Also, we found out that none of these students owns a laptop to do any programming or computer work, most of them had only played with the LEGO bricks previously, never even seen a Mindstorm robot. Luckily, the NJIT Honors College generously offered us the posh Honors Student lounge and the computer lab as our summer home. RWC took charge of purchasing multiple sets of LEGO Mindstorms kits and HiTechnic sensors for this course. With the VIP room keys in hand and boxes of new toys delivered, the Landroids 2011 “Kids Teaching Kids” Moonbots robotics track kicked into high gears!
<br />
<br />Once all the resources, mentorships and facilities are in place, the rookies robotics students soon became addicts to Moonbots. Starting from opening up all the Mindstorm kits in Week 1, settling at their own computers in the PC lab, along with a full team of Landroids rotating through with each student throughout the day, progress enthused exponentially. Everyone was busy and focused on either building or programming robots, browsing through the Moonbots and GLXP websites, creating their own websites, writing blogs, and learning LDD, taking pictures, or prepare for weekly presentations and homework deliverable. At the end of Week 4, both teams had a robot that moved on the field! By then, the students wanted shorter lunch breaks, extended hours and extra days to work on the robot. The transformation and passion were truly amazing!
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<br />Soon, many realized how math and science can be applied to engineering the robot. They started to compare notes on which math classes they had taken would help in navigating the robot movements, teaching the younger ones the concept of degrees and rotation, and how physics would affect the effectiveness of the robot drive train and ways to pick up the loops. Even though this robotics track was the most intense and demanding project in the entire RWC summer program, many felt that maybe Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) are not as boring as they thought! They too can do this!
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<br />On August 10, 2011 at NJIT, at the end of this summer program, both Moonbots Reloaded teams will be showcasing their robots and present their journey to all of the visitors and spectators as part of the RWC Project Showcase Day . Perhaps, some of these students will go back to their schools and start new robotics teams, perhaps they will remember and talk about how hard they had worked together to meet the challenge, and maybe some will even pursue more STEM related activities in the future. We applaud everyone’s effort and progress. Good luck to you all next week! Many thanks to the tremendous support we have from RWC, the Capstone students, NJIT and GLXP!
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-48893264426818594182011-08-04T07:48:00.000-07:002011-08-04T07:48:53.182-07:00NewSpace 2011 - Quick Download<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r2nibA3_F7o/Tjo9UFdpsnI/AAAAAAAACM4/HD4glPrqXGg/s1600/NewSpace+2011+Space+Conference-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r2nibA3_F7o/Tjo9UFdpsnI/AAAAAAAACM4/HD4glPrqXGg/s320/NewSpace+2011+Space+Conference-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/">Google Lunar X PRIZE</a> team spent a few days of last week in Mountain View, CA at the <a href="http://newspace2011.spacefrontier.org/">NewSpace 2011 conference</a> -- an annual conference put on by the <a href="http://spacefrontier.org/">Space Frontier Foundation</a>. This is an annual gathering of great minds who are passionate about/involved in current and upcoming commercial space activities.<br /><br />If you're looking to hang out with the likes of SpaceX, Virgin Galactic (former GLXP'er <a href="http://www.twitter.com/pomerantz">Will Pomerantz</a> represented VG on a suborbital spaceflight panel), <a href="http://www.sncorp.com/">Sierra Nevada Corporation</a>, <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/">NASA</a>, and Google Lunar X PRIZE teams, then NewSpace is your place. This year attracted many government and "big aerospace" entities as well -- the conference itself was hosted at <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/home/index.html">NASA Ames</a>, and representatives from many NASA centers and ATK were present. This led to many panels and hallway discussions about ways that everyone can play nicely together in the same space exploration sandbox; for example, day one of the conference included panels entitled, "Public-Private Partnerships: Back to the Future of Space Development" and "NASA Leadership Roundtable: Commercial Partnerships".<br /><br />As always, there were plenty of interesting updates from the commercial space industry folks -- <a href="http://www.xcor.com/">XCOR</a> alluded to flight tests of their Lynx Mark I suborbital vehicle in the Fall of 2012, <a href="http://www.twitter.com/bob_richards">Bob Richards </a> of <a href="http://moonexpress.com/">Moon Express </a>unveiled their new "The Moon is ME"campaign and spoke about mini-hoppers on the Moon, <a href="http://www.spacex.com/">SpaceX</a> mentioned their plans to berth with the ISS in December this year, and <a href="http://www.virgingalactic.com/">Virgin Galactic</a> "hopes to be flying to space next year". Welcome to the tipping point of a new era in space exploration, my friends.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FQOHpKFmTCg/Tjo7Vw4_mvI/AAAAAAAACM0/SWFjYW-OE6s/s1600/photo%25287%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FQOHpKFmTCg/Tjo7Vw4_mvI/AAAAAAAACM0/SWFjYW-OE6s/s200/photo%25287%2529.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>One of my favorite talks of the conference was from <a href="http://www.twitter.com/scasey1960">Sean Casey</a>, formally a GLXP team member and now running the "<a href="http://siliconvalleyspacecenter.org/">Silicon Valley Space Center</a>" (SVSC). During his talk, he mentioned the importance of getting the tech community (and anyone, really) more involved with the space community. YES. One project that the SVSC is planning is hosting monthly "hackathons" on cubesats starting in October -- which is great, because hands-on activities are one of the best ways to engage people in space exploration.<br /><br /><br />The final panel of the conference was entitled, "The Promise of NewSpace," with our Googler Tiffany Montague as a panelist. She talked about why Google was sponsoring the Google Lunar X PRIZE (to build a new space economy, for education/inspiration, and technical achievement) and added, "Hurry up and get to Mars already. I'm 35!" The audience had many questions for her after the panel, and were certainly interested in Google and their space plans.<br /><br />On a final note, congratulations to entrepreneur (and former <a href="http://masten-space.com/">Masten Space Systems</a> engineer) <a href="http://www.twitter.com/rocketrepreneur">Jon Goff</a>, who <a href="http://blog.altius-space.com/2011/08/altius-wins-newspace-business-plan-competition/">won the NewSpace 2011 Business Plan competition</a>, worth $25,000!Amanda Stileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967338300679020228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-28759753081862533892011-08-02T10:00:00.000-07:002011-08-03T10:13:57.546-07:00MoonBots 2.0 Play List Now Available!All of the MoonBots Team Finalists Videos are now in one collection! Show your support and tell a friend about this awesome playlist.<br /><br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/FE0D006FCB8B2475?version=3&hl=en_US&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/FE0D006FCB8B2475?version=3&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Video Categories:<br /></strong>• How can robots influence future space missions, including missions to the moon?<br /><br />• Who is your favorite Google Lunar X PRIZE Team and why?<br /><br />• Who is your favorite Space Explorer and why?<br /><br />• Why is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education important, and how can space exploration benefit from having kids excel in these fields?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-66429007863160655242011-07-21T17:15:00.000-07:002011-07-22T12:15:50.545-07:00GIRL Time! The Google Lunar X PRIZE partners with the Girl Scouts.<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6p2Mh5zgayQ/TijBzCqeHRI/AAAAAAAABIw/zWvMR_YIOqA/s1600/GLXP%2BMoon%2BBall%2BGS.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631964416659299602" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6p2Mh5zgayQ/TijBzCqeHRI/AAAAAAAABIw/zWvMR_YIOqA/s320/GLXP%2BMoon%2BBall%2BGS.JPG" /></a> Many of you may have read in previous posts here on the Launch Pad about the work we have done with the Boy Scouts. Well, it's GIRL Time now. In preparation for the <a href="http://www.girlscoutsrv.org/100th_anniversary/">Girl Scout Centennial Anniversary in 2012,</a> the <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/">Google Lunar X PRIZE</a> is getting to know the Girl Scouts and having a whole lot of fun in the process. From supporting troops involved in the <a href="http://www.xprize.org/first-championships">FIRST LEGO League Innovation Award </a>and <a href="http://www.moonbots.org/">MoonBots Challenge,</a> to recently being involved in summer camp adventures; girls are excited about our private race to the Moon and have gotten the opportunity to learn about scientific and technical advances in space exploration. We really have had a fun summer with the Girl Scouts and are proud to be working with this premier leadership organization that offers experiential experiences around STEM education. So stay tuned for all of the amazing work we will be doing around the world with the Girl Scouts in the coming months!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nCUVEnuHyCA/TijDSP3UJXI/AAAAAAAABI4/-hQTVUmII-4/s1600/DSC00639.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631966052290405746" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nCUVEnuHyCA/TijDSP3UJXI/AAAAAAAABI4/-hQTVUmII-4/s320/DSC00639.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em><br /></em></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><em><br />Los Angeles Council Girl Scouts playing Space Bingo! The selected word.... our very own GLXP Team- Team Jurban!</em></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-39856535634580037792011-07-15T04:19:00.000-07:002011-07-15T04:19:37.098-07:00Prize Roundup: 100kft Prize, Crater Finder, Sample Agreement, AIAA Booster Plane, Debris Removal, and Prop Depot Designs, More<a href="http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home/News?news_id=376">The Carmack 100kft Micro Prize </a> - Armadillo Aerospace - Currently one launch attempt is scheduled, the Proteus 7 sounding rocket, at the Tripoli Rocket Association's <a href="http://www.ahpra.org/b2k.html">Black Rock Desert</a> high power rocket event.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/07/13/nasa-tournament-lab-open-innovation-demand">NASA Tournament Lab: Open Innovation On-Demand</a> - OSTP Blog discusses NASA's prize and open innovation work, including the recent <a href="http://community.topcoder.com/ntl/">NASA Tournament Lab</a> announcement of the <a href="http://community.topcoder.com/ntl/?p=493">winner</a> of a contest to create ideas to automate detection of craters.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/06/27/competition-shines-light-dark-matter">Competition Shines Light on Dark Matter</a> - OSTP Blog<br /><br /><a href="http://wp.wpi.edu/challenge/2011/07/06/team-agreement-for-review/">Team Agreement – For Review</a> - Sample Return Robot Challenge<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/HeinleinPrizeTrust">HeinleinPrizeTrust</a> - YouTube - The Heinlein Prize Trust YouTube channel has some newly uploaded videos of the 2011 Heinlein Prize Award ceremony to Elon Musk.<br /><br />The 2010-2011 academic year's <a href="http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=210">AIAA Design Competitions</a> include a <a href="http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=300">Low-Cost Access to Space Booster Aircraft</a>, an <a href="http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=221">Orbital Debris Removal Spacecraft</a>, and a <a href="http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=301">Propellant Depot Design and Analysis of Economic Benefit</a>.<br /><br />The next 2 links are from the <a href="http://www.scienceinschool.org/forum/competitions">Science in School - Competitions</a> page.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Education/SEM9SN0T1PG_0.html">Entries wanted for the 2012 European CanSat competition</a> - ESA<br /><br /><a href="http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Education/SEMGC64TBPG_0.html">Explore the dynamic high-energy Universe – competition for secondary students</a> - ESA - The competition is open to secondary students from "ESA Member States and Cooperating States, Russia and the USA".<br /><br /><a href="http://www.parabolicarc.com/2011/06/29/a-busy-summer-looms-for-masten/">A Busy Summer Looms for Masten</a> - Parabolic Arc describes a highlight in a visit to Mojave.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.parabolicarc.com/2011/07/11/google-lunar-x-prize-appoints-new-senior-director/">Google Lunar X Prize Appoints New Senior Director</a> - Parabolic Arc presents a press release on the new director of the Google Lunar X PRIZE.<br /><br /><a href="http://blog.altius-space.com/2011/07/altius-selected-as-finalist-for-the-2011-newspace-business-plan-competition/">Altius Selected as Finalist for the 2011 NewSpace Business Plan Competition</a> - Altius Space Machines (link from <a href="http://www.rlvnews.com/">RLV News</a>)<br /><br /><a href="http://spacefrontier.org/2011/07/06/we-are-space-finalists/">We-Are-Space Video Contest Finalists Now Online</a> - Space Frontier Foundation (link from <a href="http://www.hobbyspace.com/nucleus/HSblog.php?itemid=30697">Space for All</a>)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hobbyspace.com/nucleus/HSblog.php?itemid=30653">NASA/Etsy Space Craft winner's work on Atlantis</a> - Space for 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priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> </a><p class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style=";font-family:";" >I want to personally thank my GLXP Team and all the X PRIZE Foundation staff that made this last Google Lunar X PRIZE Team summit a success. It was a pleasure to get to know all the new teams and to refresh the relationships with our oldest team members.<br /><br />I would also like to extend our many thanks and sincere appreciation to all the folks at the <a href="http://www.seti.org/">SETI Institute</a>,<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/home/index.html"> NASA Ames</a> & the <a href="http://unarscience.nasa.gov/">NASA Lunar Science Institute</a> who helped to make this a unique an exciting event. Additionally, we at the X PRIZE Foundation are continuously grateful to Google </span> <span style=";font-family:";" >for their continued support. Without them, none of this would be possible</span><span style="">. </span><span style=";font-family:";" >Until next time!<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Nicky Jordan<br /></span></p> <span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:12pt;" ></span></span>Nicole Jordan ( Nicky J Rocket Girl)http://www.blogger.com/profile/12602398805118986672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-81777304842645346812011-07-11T11:49:00.000-07:002011-07-11T11:49:58.525-07:00GLXP Team Summit Kicks Off + New Senior Director Appointed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pzc5L52Vamw/ThtE6ZpsdsI/AAAAAAAACMI/rggLiisnL5Y/s1600/Google+Image+Result+for+http___www.airshipventures.com_img_alex_copilot_128_171.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pzc5L52Vamw/ThtE6ZpsdsI/AAAAAAAACMI/rggLiisnL5Y/s1600/Google+Image+Result+for+http___www.airshipventures.com_img_alex_copilot_128_171.jpg.jpg" /></a></div>Today is a big day for the <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/">Google Lunar X PRIZE</a> -- our annual Team Summit has kicked off at the <a href="http://www.seti.org/">SETI Institute</a> in Mountain View, CA. The room is filled with both new and familiar faces of nearly every team entered in the competition, plus our Google rep (Tiffany Montague), Peter Diamandis, and the X PRIZE staff. This includes the most recent addition to the Google Lunar X PRIZE staff, <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/featured-article/the-x-prize-foundation-appoints-alexandra-hall-to-senior-director-of-the-30-m">just announced today</a> -- Alex Hall, the new Senior Director of GLXP! Alex has an impressive background in science education with previous experience as the Executive Director of Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, CA, as well as demonstrated business savvy as the co-founder and CEO of Airship Ventures. We are happy to have her onboard, and she looks forward to sharing her ideas, thoughts, and ambitions for the Google Lunar X PRIZE with all of you. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cGbYky9KKZM/ThtESNhOUII/AAAAAAAACMA/xnuMLSrj9M4/s1600/summit1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cGbYky9KKZM/ThtESNhOUII/AAAAAAAACMA/xnuMLSrj9M4/s320/summit1.jpg" width="320" /></a>The Team Summit in general is off to a great start. We've already heard from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Shostak">Seth Shostak</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Tarter">Jill Tarter</a> of SETI, as well as <a href="http://www.spacex.com/">SpaceX</a> and <a href="http://www.agi.com/">AGI </a>-- all preferred partners of the Google Lunar X PRIZE. Steven Canvin of <a href="http://www.lego.com/">LEGO</a> presented about MoonBots and Team Selenokhod shared a greeting from Cosmonauts aboard the ISS for all of the Google Lunar X PRIZE teams. It has been an eventful morning -- and there is still much to come! Stay tuned.Amanda Stileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967338300679020228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-8344103257792715932011-07-07T17:23:00.000-07:002011-07-07T17:42:13.677-07:00GLXP Team Summit Around The CornerThe Google Lunar X PRIZE team here at HQ has *definitely* been keeping busy lately -- we have a lot of great news to share, including our announcement of the <a href="http://moonbots.org/">20 finalist teams of the MoonBots competition</a> this past Wednesday (check out these amazing young lunar robotics fans when you have a chance!), and we have some other VERY exciting news that we'll share in a few days. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DaxBVViZ3CY/ThZQtmkHSBI/AAAAAAAACL8/Hwqs9v6u1ss/s1600/DSCN3569.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DaxBVViZ3CY/ThZQtmkHSBI/AAAAAAAACL8/Hwqs9v6u1ss/s200/DSCN3569.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>But this post is all about the upcoming <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/">Google Lunar X PRIZE</a> Team Summit, which will take place on July 11-12 in Palo Alto, California. This is a yearly meeting that involves <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/teams">the teams</a>, <a href="http://www.xprize.org/">X PRIZE</a>, and <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&xhr=t&q=moon&cp=4&qe=bW9vbg&qesig=jVj9CwKGrZL6zV4ab4azrA&pkc=AFgZ2tkcKRgN87AV47SVG6yxbK5viy8wDXp1V3b2oQ5mg7Vp8YqxRSNfl4oa5Rlz1nZemTfFsq-CjkXD3gcAIqZrvbthuPjjjg&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1022&bih=621&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi">Google</a> for discussion about the contest as it currently stands. This is the 5th Summit and will have by far the largest attendance of any of the previous Summits, with at least 1 or 2 representatives from every active team who are flying into San Francisco from around the world as we speak. <br /><br />We'll be spending most of the two days at the <a href="http://www.seti.org/">SETI Institute</a>, situated near Google and <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/home/index.html">NASA Ames Research Center.</a> Teams will have an opportunity to tour NASA Ames and attend a Lunar Science meeting with some of the experts who reside there. Topics related to business, funding, science, social media, competition rules, and everything in between will be discussed. There will also be plenty of time for discussion amongst the teams themselves, which can be one of the most beneficial aspects of this annual gathering.<br /><br />The Summits are always a whirlwind two days, but it is surely one of my favorite parts of the <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/">Google Lunar X PRIZE</a> competition. This will be my 4th Summit (3 as XPF staff, 1 as an ISU student), and I'm looking forward both to meeting new team members and visiting with those that I've interacted with over the past couple of years. And speaking of those that I've met before... <br /><br /><b>Acceptance of Challenge Acceptance</b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YvAxKieuL4c/ThZLOYBxAGI/AAAAAAAACL4/7-SzkhFKYgo/s1600/Google+Image+Result+for+http___www.esquire.com_cm_esquire_images_esq-in-n-out-burger-080709-lg-45867371.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YvAxKieuL4c/ThZLOYBxAGI/AAAAAAAACL4/7-SzkhFKYgo/s200/Google+Image+Result+for+http___www.esquire.com_cm_esquire_images_esq-in-n-out-burger-080709-lg-45867371.jpg.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>This brings me to one final and very important point, and that is a cheeseburger challenge. Today, the <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/teams/part-time-scientists/blog/challenge-accepted">Part-Time Scientists</a> formally stepped up to a California cheeseburger challenge -- the GLXP teams vs. X PRIZE. We'll be recruiting contestants at the Summit and hopefully a few teams will join in the fun.<br /><br />In response to the <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/teams/part-time-scientists/blog/challenge-accepted">PTS blog post</a> this morning: I've been spending my week eating cheeseburgers to train. Ok, I had pizza for lunch yesterday. But other than that, all cheeseburgers. Many of the PTS team members may be from Hamburg, home of the Hamburger... but let's not forget that *cheeseburgers* <a href="http://www.cheese-burger.net/history">were invented near X PRIZE in Pasadena, CA </a> :)<br /><br /><br />Stay tuned for more news from GLXP in the next few days. And in the meantime: <a href="http://spaceflightnow.com/shut%E2%80%8Btle/sts135/status.html">GO ATLANTIS</a>!Amanda Stileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967338300679020228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-45170639661583592492011-07-05T17:43:00.000-07:002011-07-05T21:12:21.676-07:00Twenty Finalists Named in “MoonBots 2.0” Educational Contest<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7KcpdCJn-RQ/ThOxUvko_QI/AAAAAAAABIo/m-ZMPqHpEy0/s1600/MoonBots%2BLogo.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626035329441529090" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7KcpdCJn-RQ/ThOxUvko_QI/AAAAAAAABIo/m-ZMPqHpEy0/s320/MoonBots%2BLogo.jpg" style="float: left; height: 65px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 320px;" /></a><br /><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br />The <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/">Google Lunar X PRIZE </a>and LEGO Group are pleased to announce the twenty finalists for <a href="http://www.moonbots.org/teams">MoonBots 2.0</a>, a global educational contest.<br /><br /><b>Top 20 Finalists </b><br /><br />2011 LEGO Odyssey- California, US<br /><br />Anthem-a-Tronics- Arizona, US<br /><br />DragonBots- Santiago, Chile<br /><br />Iron Reign- Texas, US<br /><br />LegoAces- Ohio, US<br /><br />Lehi Moonstormers- Utah, US<br /><br />Lunar LegoBots- Tennessee, US<br /><br />Lunar Lords- Washington, US<br /><br />Lunar Scouts- Virginia, US<br /><br />Molokai Mahina 2.0- Hawaii, US<br /><br />Moonwalk- New Jersey, US<br /><br />New Hartford RoboSpartans- New York, US<br /><br />Pi In The Sky- Virginia, US<br /><br />Q.E.D.- North Carolina, US<br /><br />Raider Robotix- New Jersey, US<br /><br />Say Watt?- New Jersey US<br /><br />Team Just Ducky- Minnesota, US<br /><br />Techno Inventors- Subang Jaya, Malaysia<br /><br />The Pink Team- Florida, US<br /><br />X-Treme Team- California US<br /><br /><br />We want to thank all of this year’s MoonBots teams for their submissions! We look forward to sending all team members some great prizes!!!<br /><a href="http://www.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx"></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-45650790731563471282011-06-28T12:42:00.000-07:002011-06-28T12:44:52.410-07:00MoonBots Phase 2: We Have Lift Off!Yesterday -- Monday, June 27 -- marked the exciting kick off of Phase 2 of the <a href="http://www.moonbots.org/">MoonBots competition</a>, a student contest where teams build and program <a href="http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx">LEGO MINDSTORMS</a> robots to navigate a LEGO lunar surface to meet mission objectives. <br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Phase 2 already?! What happens now?</b></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_13bWszx26A/TgouTX_C5_I/AAAAAAAACJ0/qGdMmDNgQOQ/s1600/moonbots_waterice-100907-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_13bWszx26A/TgouTX_C5_I/AAAAAAAACJ0/qGdMmDNgQOQ/s320/moonbots_waterice-100907-02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>We're glad you asked! First of all, registration for the competition closed on June 26; in total, <b>75 teams</b> from around the world submitted proposals about why their robot should be sent to the Moon and videos about a GLXP-related topic. A special judging panel now has the very daunting task of reviewing/scoring all 75 submissions and narrowing it down to the top 20 teams. With so many great teams signed up, this is no easy task!<br /><br /><i><b>The top 20 teams will be </b><b>announced next week on July 5</b></i>. Those teams will then be sent a <a href="http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx">LEGO MINDSTORMS</a> kit to build their robot and a LEGO lunar landscape that they will assemble into the official MoonBots gameboard for the ultimate test -- a live broadcast of their timed lunar mission. A panel of judges will watch the mission broadcast, and the team with the most points will win the grand prize: a VIP trip to the grand opening of <a href="http://www.legoland.com/">LEGOLand in Florida</a>! <br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Google Lunar X PRIZE and MoonBots</b></span><br /><br />We are thrilled to hear that some of the <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/">Google Lunar X PRIZE</a> teams are working with <a href="http://www.moonbots.org/">MoonBots</a> teams. Here at X PRIZE we often call MoonBots "the mini GLXP" since there are so many parallels between the two competitions. We also see many ways that GLXP and MoonBots teams inspire each other -- an great example of this is a recent podcast between the <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/teams/rocket-city-space-pioneers">Rocket City Space Pioneers</a> and MoonBots X-Treme Team (<a href="http://evadot.com/2011/06/10/evadot-podcast-78-moonbots-x-treme-team-meets-the-rocket-city-space-pioneers/">click here to listen</a>), or this video by the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/NewHartfordRoboSpartans">New Hartford RoboSpartans</a> about the <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/teams/part-time-scientists">Part-Time Scientists</a>:<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="286" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1mAbo8-whfo" width="450"></iframe><br /><br />The complete list of GLXP/MoonBots team mentorships (so far) include the following:<br /><br /><ul><li><a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/teams/frednet">Team FREDNET</a> and Lego Aces</li><li><a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/teams/jurban/blog/inspiring-kids-and-adults-too-via-moonbots-20">Team JURBAN</a> and <a href="http://moonbotsgotice.blogspot.com/">Team Got Ice</a>? </li><li><a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/teams/indus/blog/of-bots-ducks-a-river-the-moon">Team Indus</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#%21/pages/Team-Just-Ducky/179587168765677">Just Ducky</a></li><li><a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/teams/rocket-city-space-pioneers">Rocket City Space Pioneers</a> and X-Treme Team</li><li><a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/teams/part-time-scientists/blog/moonbots-20-phase-one-with-the-robospartans">Part-Time Scientists</a> and <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/robospartansmoonbots2011/">New Hartford RoboSpartans</a></li></ul>Stay tuned for updates and the announcement of finalists on July 5th. Good luck to all of the teams -- we look forward to seeing your LEGO 'bots this year!Amanda Stileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967338300679020228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-29979863496333430362011-06-27T04:27:00.000-07:002011-06-27T04:27:29.129-07:00Prize Roundup: Heinlein Prize, International Rocketry Challenge, CanSat winners, SEDS Conference, More<a href="http://www.heinleinprize.com/?p=717">Heinlein Prize Honors Elon Musk of SpaceX</a> - Heinlein Prize Trust<br /><br /><a href="http://www.speedupworld.com/news_06_16_11.html">06/16/2011: Swing Test</a> - SpeedUp<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/jun/HQ_11-189_Zero_Robotics.html">NASA And DARPA Offer Students Chance To Support Future Missions</a> - NASA - This is for the <a href="http://zerorobotics.mit.edu/">Zero Robotics</a> competition using floating SPHERES platforms on the International Space Station<br /><br />The CanSat Competition has posted their <a href="http://www.cansatcompetition.com/2011_Winners.html">2011 Competition Winners</a> and <a href="http://www.cansatcompetition.com/2011_Photos.html">2011 Cansat Photos</a>. Also, the 2012 mission has already been identified: <a href="http://www.cansatcompetition.com/Mission.html">Mission: Planetary Atmospheric Entry Vehicle</a>.<br /><br />Raytheon has a number of posts about the International Rocketry Challenge at the International Paris Air Show. You can see all of them at their <a href="http://www.raytheon.com/media/parisair2011/tags/tarc/">2011 Paris Air Show - Team America Rocketry Challenge</a> tag. The most recent post is <a href="http://www.raytheon.com/media/parisair2011/2011/06/24/usa-tarc-wins/">Raytheon-Sponsored Texas High School Team Wins International Rocket Fly-Off at Paris Air Show</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=33942">Northrop Grumman Announces Student Winners of Fourth Annual Engineering Scholars Program for Woodland Hills Facility</a> - SpaceRef<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hobbyspace.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=30307">SEDS Space Vision 2011</a> - RLV News - The early <a href="http://spacevision2011.com/Speakers">Speakers list</a> for the conference includes a number of people with prize connections: Bill Nye (Executive Director of the Planetary Society, which has held a number of space competitions like the <a href="http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/apophis_competition/">Apophis Mission Design Competition</a> and numerous <a href="http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/advocacy_and_education/space_information/contests.html">contests</a> with themes like space art and mission names), Robert Richards (a Google Lunar X PRIZE competitor), Will Pomerantz (formerly of the X PRIZE Foundation), Jon Goff (who was part of the winning Masten Space Systems Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge team), and Ben Brockert (also from the Masten NG-LLC team, and now a member of another prize-winning NG-LLC team, Armadillo Aerospace).<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hobbyspace.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=30373">Team Phoenicia sells first engine</a> - RLV News<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hobbyspace.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=30375">Briefs: Masten intern jobs; Langley lifting body event; Bruce Cordell interview</a> - RLV News<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hobbyspace.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=30408">White Label Space starts testing engines</a> - RLV News<br /><br />The next 2 links are from @<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/challengegov">ChallengeGov</a>:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/06/24/now-cool-ride">Now this is a cool ride!</a> - The White House Blog discusses the <a href="http://www.local-motors.com/XC2V">Experimental Crowd-derived Combat-support Vehicle</a> (XC2V).<br /><br />The latest <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/scivis/dates.jsp">International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge</a> opened on May 31. <br /><br />A TEA Party organization called <a href="http://www.teainspace.com/">TEA Party in Space</a> has a <a href="http://www.teainspace.com/platform/">platform</a> that includes the following plank:<br /><br /><i>NASA shall use competitions and prizes whenever feasible to stimulate the private sector, including individual American inventors, to achieve innovative and affordable solutions to technological challenges.</i>Rayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13508338717987649684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-73003567274322210392011-06-24T08:34:00.000-07:002011-06-24T08:54:37.815-07:00Hurry UP! MoonBots Registration Closes this Weekend- June 26th<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CpbRGN2dJLs/TgSy5NUwnnI/AAAAAAAABIg/XDe783-vReE/s1600/spaceman.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 66px; height: 250px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CpbRGN2dJLs/TgSy5NUwnnI/AAAAAAAABIg/XDe783-vReE/s320/spaceman.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621814930764242546" /></a><br />We want to remind everyone that <a href="http://www.moonbots.org">MoonBots 2.O</a> closes this Sunday, June 26th. So help spread the word, or better yet, register a team. Every member will receive a cool retro LEGO spaceman key chain and has the opportunity to move on to Phase Two of the competition. And did we mention that the winning team will receive a VIP trip to the grand opening of <a href="http://florida.legoland.com/">LEGOLand</a> in Florida?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-12071474075463495032011-06-21T10:40:00.000-07:002011-06-22T11:55:55.212-07:00A GLXP Adventure in Microgravity<div class="MsoNormal"><div style="font-family: inherit;">On an ordinary work day last December, my email client chimes and a message appears with an intriguing subject line: “Zero G”. I blink as I read the note -- are my eyes deceiving me? In front of me is a request to fly as a journalist for a NASA microgravity student team. With fingers typing at speeds that likely almost break the sound barrier, I reply, “Of course!” And so the fortuitous story begins of how I recently got to fly on the <a href="http://www.gozerog.com/">Zero G</a> aircraft with NASA's <a href="http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/">Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program</a> (RGEFP) and a group of students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. To start, here's a quick teaser video that I created of our adventure:</div><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="286" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rc2dYhfE2p4" width="450"></iframe></center></div><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="font-family: inherit;">I have to acknowledge that I'm very fortunate to work for an organization that supports such opportunities (and STEM education!): the <a href="http://www.xprize.org/">X PRIZE Foundation</a> graciously allowed me to abandon my desk for a week and work remotely in Houston, TX as I shadowed the University of Wisconsin-Madison microgravity team in April. Our base camp for the week was NASA's Hangar 990 at Ellington Field, where the UW team worked on final preparations of their NASA experiment -- a device designed to make very accurate measurements of propellant levels in space. </div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oBUm2xCgsFU/Tf-YrRIYmXI/AAAAAAAACI4/PQkMmp1hufg/s1600/IMG_0807.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oBUm2xCgsFU/Tf-YrRIYmXI/AAAAAAAACI4/PQkMmp1hufg/s320/IMG_0807.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hangar 990 with the Super Guppy parked outside</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><center><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4CWq8ZqGDkQ/Tf-Y6Yi_IrI/AAAAAAAACI8/2BH0OczA3tU/s1600/IMG_0767.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4CWq8ZqGDkQ/Tf-Y6Yi_IrI/AAAAAAAACI8/2BH0OczA3tU/s320/IMG_0767.jpg" width="240" /></a></center><br /><br /><div style="font-family: inherit;">On Day 1 of the "flight week" (as it's referred to), the UW team discovers that the shipping service did <i>not</i> handle their experiment with care and that it requires some fixing prior to flight. Fortunately, simplicity of the design and great teamwork results in a quick formulation of a solution to the problem -- the team creates plans for repairs and springs into action. Some of the team disassembles the experiment and others are sent to the hardware store for parts (like all good engineers, they have duct tape on their list). The ability of the UW students to calmly evaluate the problem, work together to find the best solution, and then delegate tasks to fix their experiment -- all within an afternoon -- is nothing short of impressive.</div><br /><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-07waq7XONPg/TfvaF-JGoQI/AAAAAAAACIk/trEvh_mR3dU/s1600/IMG_0779.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-07waq7XONPg/TfvaF-JGoQI/AAAAAAAACIk/trEvh_mR3dU/s320/IMG_0779.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That pretty well sums it up.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f2cPxeENjq0/TfvaN8m9V4I/AAAAAAAACIs/4riSLPS0KLQ/s320/IMG_0800.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="240" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing up solutions</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"> </div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VhNXCj_fqZ4/Tf-ZilZeFvI/AAAAAAAACJA/E_mtrLc1ymk/s1600/IMG_0778.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VhNXCj_fqZ4/Tf-ZilZeFvI/AAAAAAAACJA/E_mtrLc1ymk/s320/IMG_0778.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dividing up work</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CBmBLZmgcTk/TgDlRKHXcOI/AAAAAAAACJo/xCPUcUKQQcU/s1600/IMG_0793.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CBmBLZmgcTk/TgDlRKHXcOI/AAAAAAAACJo/xCPUcUKQQcU/s320/IMG_0793.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deconstruction</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: inherit;">Outside of working on the experiment, the team also participates in a few "briefings" (side note: there is nothing brief about NASA briefings) which cover a range of topics; for example, what happens to your sense of direction if you are quickly spun around in a chair with your eyes closed. This is one example in a flight physiology briefing about motion sickness -- where we also received warnings about eating Taco Bell right before the Zero G flight. Talk of getting sick amongst the students is fairly light-hearted; relatively few actually get motion sickness on the flights (the briefings and optional pre-flight meds help a lot with this). A NASA flight surgeon informs us about the "ScopeDex" anti-motion sickness medicine that we can take prior to our flight, adding that "30 parabolas might do somethin' to ya." While I usually have a stomach of steel on boats, rollercoasters, and the </span><a href="http://www.insideflorida.com/images/cities/teacup_ride_920_medium.jpg" style="font-family: inherit;">Tea Cup ride</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> at Disneyland, I decide that I'm not going to leave this one to chance, and sign up to take the medicine along with the rest of the UW flight crew.<br /></span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yYTyWyTZ2MU/Tf-anCoewWI/AAAAAAAACJE/eAxSgNctXIs/s1600/IMG_0931.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yYTyWyTZ2MU/Tf-anCoewWI/AAAAAAAACJE/eAxSgNctXIs/s320/IMG_0931.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hanging with the cool UW kids at the briefings </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N3XdYE8-a3s/Tf-bGBtNz8I/AAAAAAAACJI/B_xtwANU0UM/s1600/IMG_0821.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N3XdYE8-a3s/Tf-bGBtNz8I/AAAAAAAACJI/B_xtwANU0UM/s320/IMG_0821.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spinning in the name of science</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;">In the downtime, I talk to the students about their project and the flight. The University of Wisconsin-Madison applies to the NASA Reduced Gravity Program every year and traditionally has at least one team project accepted. This ongoing microgravity program means that they have a large team of engineering students that work on the projects each year -- the new students work as ground crew, and returning students are considered for the flight crew. The team that I'll be flying with are microgravity veterans: Paul Pezzi and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/nathanpwong">Nathan Wong</a>, both seniors in engineering, along with Dr. Manohar Despande, the team's NASA mentor. </div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f60vJM9eDOw/Tf-c5WVb87I/AAAAAAAACJM/EPU35pkAirQ/s1600/IMG_0910.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f60vJM9eDOw/Tf-c5WVb87I/AAAAAAAACJM/EPU35pkAirQ/s320/IMG_0910.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The entire UW-Madison crew</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Flight Day</b></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"></div><div style="font-family: inherit;">The experiment is loaded on the aircraft and fully secured for microgravity. Our flight crew reports to Ellington Field at 8am in our NASA-issued flight suits, and we're ready to roll. Nathan is even sporting his <a href="http://buzzaldrin.com/moonwalk-like-buzz-nikes-rocket-hero-shoe/">Buzz Aldrin "Rocket Hero" Nike shoes</a>. "They're only for microgravity," he explains. </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><center><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pnX78NxzG54/Tf-eZq_3obI/AAAAAAAACJQ/KNjUjsmKKnU/s1600/IMG_0941.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pnX78NxzG54/Tf-eZq_3obI/AAAAAAAACJQ/KNjUjsmKKnU/s320/IMG_0941.JPG" width="320" /></a></center></div><br /><div style="font-family: inherit;">Our flight team takes our anti-motion sickness meds and sit down for the pre-flight briefing. We'll be flying a series of 30 parabolas, alternating between 2G (trough of the parabola) and 0G (peak of the parabola). The microgravity (0G) periods will last about 20-25 seconds -- in total, we'll get about 8 minutes in microgravity. We'll even get one Mars gravity parabola (~1/3 G) and one lunar parabola (~1/6 G). At this point, saying that we are excited about flying in 0G is like saying that the Saturn V was a decent-sized rocket (understatement!). Between our excitement and the meds, which make you feel a bit squirrely, we can hardly contain ourselves. </div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><center><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VlWC47eCG1E/Tf-hcGGa3FI/AAAAAAAACJU/eN4XK9lwvf4/s1600/jsc2011e033801.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VlWC47eCG1E/Tf-hcGGa3FI/AAAAAAAACJU/eN4XK9lwvf4/s320/jsc2011e033801.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></center></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NASA's watching, be cool! Our flight crew (from L to R): Amanda, Nathan, Paul, and Dr. Despande</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="font-family: inherit;">At long last, we are cruising high above the Gulf of Mexico and getting ready for the first 0G parabola. The students are busy setting up their experiments -- the UW team immediately fires up their computer and is ready to take data. There won't be any moving parts visible on their experiment in microgravity, so the computer will be vital for monitoring whether their experiment is functioning and data is being properly collected. </div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NzLv4EnuzDg/Tf_IWvD-tfI/AAAAAAAACJk/T_wvXta32Yg/s1600/IMG_1058.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NzLv4EnuzDg/Tf_IWvD-tfI/AAAAAAAACJk/T_wvXta32Yg/s320/IMG_1058.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: inherit;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paul sets up the UW experiment</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="font-family: inherit;">Soon we feel the 1.8G pull, which means the start of the parabola series. Microgravity, here we come! I search for the nearest handhold so that I won't feel completely out of control, at least until I get used to the feeling of weightlessness. As the plane noses over at the top, the Gs drop off very quickly and in a matter of a second or two, everyone is floating around the cabin. Smiles and laughter and cheering erupt, and all I can think is, "Wahoo!" We giddily float in this new environment for about 20 seconds, then the flight crew yells, "FEET DOWN!" We drop out of microgravity just as quickly as we initially floated into it, and then it's back to 1.8Gs to repeat the process. </div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FLpjCkuSktU/Tf-8oB7Ii_I/AAAAAAAACJc/4hlu--YfylY/s1600/IMG_1010.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FLpjCkuSktU/Tf-8oB7Ii_I/AAAAAAAACJc/4hlu--YfylY/s320/IMG_1010.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All smiles.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="font-family: inherit;">A couple of parabolas allow us to get oriented, then it's time to start research. Nathan and Paul hunker down and start the computer program that collects data coming from a special sensor mounted on their experiment. Within the experiment rig is a simulated propellant tank that contains small polypropylene balls, which float freely during 0G. These represent globules of propellant that form in space, and the sensor is measuring their mass. Data flows in, and everything appears to be running smoothly. </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><center><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g6u2laVi1Rg/Tf-75dJdV5I/AAAAAAAACJY/o1qfiSEoCvU/s1600/IMG_0987.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g6u2laVi1Rg/Tf-75dJdV5I/AAAAAAAACJY/o1qfiSEoCvU/s320/IMG_0987.jpg" width="320" /></a></center><br /><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: inherit;">30 parabolas passed by in the blink of an eye. As you can tell from the video at the beginning of this post, there was a little time to do "secondary research" (aka, time to play) -- Nathan and Paul brought a small basketball in honor of the NCAA basketball tournament happening in Houston at the time, and I brought a <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/">Google Lunar X PRIZE</a> sticker. I really can't wait until 0G sports become a reality -- it is going to be be tons of fun to watch (and hopefully participate?). Oh, and my 20 second preview of lunar gravity? Amazing. I can see why Apollo astronaut <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Conrad">Pete Conrad exclaimed</a>, "Whoopee!" when he bounced onto the lunar surface. </div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: inherit;">When we finally returned to solid ground, every student aboard the Zero G aircraft was feeling a bit more inspired about science, research, and (of course!) space. The <a href="http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/">NASA RGEFP</a> is an incredible opportunity for students, allowing them to conduct research in a real-world manner, but coupling it with an out-of-this-world experience. In addition, many students made valuable contacts at NASA and learned about internship/career opportunities during the flight week. These bright, motivated, and inspired students are essentially the perfect recruits for <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/">NASA</a>. </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><center><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ypwrcP7KwSc/Tf_BoNTBSJI/AAAAAAAACJg/gYRghMNwKyw/s1600/jsc2011e033797.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ypwrcP7KwSc/Tf_BoNTBSJI/AAAAAAAACJg/gYRghMNwKyw/s320/jsc2011e033797.jpg" width="320" /></a></center><br /><br /><div style="font-family: inherit;"> I'd like to thank the University of Wisconsin-Madison team for inviting me to fly as their journalist (especially Nathan and Paul). Also big thanks to X PRIZE for being flexible, and of course to NASA for the incredible opportunity. It was definitely the experience of a lifetime -- I can only hope that there will be a chance to do it again someday!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div>Amanda Stileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967338300679020228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-68489970912070030462011-06-19T09:16:00.001-07:002011-06-19T09:16:36.720-07:00Prize Roundup: Counting Craters, Earth Day Videos, Rockets, Asteroids, Sample Return Rules<a href="http://www.roboticstrends.com/design_development/article/nasa_requires_source_code_from_robot_challenge_entrants">NASA Requires Source Code from Robot Challenge Entrants</a> - Robotic Trends on the Sample Return Robot Challenge<br /><br /><a href="http://wp.wpi.edu/challenge/2011/06/13/draft-rules-feedback/">Draft Rules Feedback</a> - WPI responds to some of the concerns from their comments sections and articles like the Robotic Trends one.<br /><br /><a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2011/06/12/earth-at-the-movies/?src=eorss-blogs">Earth at the Movies</a> - NASA Earth Observatory on the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/playlist?p=PL7D755AFE81D23935">2011 NASA Earth Day Video Contest</a> with the theme <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/earth-videos.html">The Home Frontier</a> (link via <a href="http://nasawatch.com/archives/2011/06/video-of-the-da.html">NASA Watch</a>)<br /><br /><a href="http://features.caltech.edu/features/189">Caltech Space Challenge: Mission to an Asteroid</a> - California Institute of Technology - Two groups of students will participate in a workshop and compete to design a mission to an asteroid or comet. Here is more information about the <a href="http://www.kiss.caltech.edu/workshops/space-challenge2011/index.html">workshop</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://community.topcoder.com/ntl/?p=489">The Second NTL Marathon Match Challenge</a> - NASA Tournament Lab (NTL) - This competition will be to develop algorithms to automatically detect craters from remote sensing images. The winners of the previous challenge, the <a href="http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=ProjectDetail&pj=30016974">Planetary Data System Idea Challenge</a>, were <a href="http://community.topcoder.com/ntl/?p=477">announced recently</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hobbyspace.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=30276">College rocket teams competing in Utah contest</a> - RLV News<br /><br /><a href="http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/14/6859435-materials-wizard-wins-500000-prize">Materials wizard wins $500,000 prize</a> - Cosmic LogRayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13508338717987649684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-33209639479936314732011-06-14T16:45:00.000-07:002011-06-14T16:47:48.453-07:00Evadot Podcast: Rocket City Space Pioneers Chat with the "X-Treme Team"<div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><a href="http://evadot.com/2011/06/10/evadot-podcast-78-moonbots-x-treme-team-meets-the-rocket-city-space-pioneers/" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_If-tm-u0og/TffxJAvnYxI/AAAAAAAACIg/xSnoDC7Z7nY/s1600/Evadot+Podcast+%252378+%25E2%2580%2593+Moonbots+X-Treme+Team+Meets+the+Rocket+City+Space+Pioneers.jpg" /></a></div><br />One of our favorite aspects of the MoonBots contest is seeing students interact with real <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/">Google Lunar X PRIZE </a>teams. Our friends at Evadot recently captured a conversation between <a href="http://www.moonbots.org/">MoonBots</a> X-Treme Team and the <a href="http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/teams/rocket-city-space-pioneers">Rocket City Space Pioneers</a> last week in a podcast, and it is definitely worth listening to: <a href="http://evadot.com/2011/06/10/evadot-podcast-78-moonbots-x-treme-team-meets-the-rocket-city-space-pioneers/">check it out here!</a> <br /><br />Much like the GLXP teams, the MoonBots teams are required to build a robot to meet certain "lunar" objectives such as finding water or surviving a lunar night. They design their robot in CAD, post YouTube videos about their progress, and program a robot to move autonomously on the Lego lunar surface while broadcasting live to the judges. The MoonBots teams and the GLXP teams can definitely learn a lot from one another; Google Lunar X PRIZE teams inspire students to continue learning about robotics, and the creativity and enthusiasm of the students for the contest and exploring the Moon is absolutely contagious.<br /><br />Enjoy the podcast, and<b> if you are a MoonBots team looking for a GLXP team to mentor you</b>, please leave us a note in the comments below. A number of the GLXP teams are very excited to work with MoonBots teams this summer!<br /><br />Also, registration is still open for MoonBots. Form a team and sign up by June 26 to get involved -- just visit <a href="http://www.moonbots.org/">www.moonbots.org</a> for more information.Amanda Stileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967338300679020228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-88540063656343209702011-06-10T09:36:00.000-07:002011-06-10T09:59:58.795-07:00Want to Receive a LEGO Space Key Chain? .... Register Now for MoonBots!<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3w3tvOyek6U/TfJIX4LoGrI/AAAAAAAABIY/OyglSo75LIc/s1600/lego%2Bspace.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5616631260339772082" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3w3tvOyek6U/TfJIX4LoGrI/AAAAAAAABIY/OyglSo75LIc/s320/lego%2Bspace.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Just announced! We want students from all over the world to register in <a href="http://www.moonbots.org/home">MoonBots 2.0</a>. To celebrate Registration and Phase One of the MoonBots Challenge, each team member will receive a <strong>LEGO Space Robot Keychain from </strong><a href="http://www.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx">LEGO</a>!!! Help spread the word about this fantastic gift!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-13115939429080339242011-06-08T14:49:00.000-07:002011-06-08T14:49:54.963-07:00TO: ALL INTREPID ROBOT TEAMS | FROM: MOONBOTS MISSION CONTROL<div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-onWsanmZWLY/Te-lsCh4SII/AAAAAAAABII/VGgWKjad9Rc/s1600/2011%2BMoonBots%2Bheader%2Blogo.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615889436366096514" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-onWsanmZWLY/Te-lsCh4SII/AAAAAAAABII/VGgWKjad9Rc/s400/2011%2BMoonBots%2Bheader%2Blogo.jpg" style="float: left; height: 96px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 400px;" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><div>DATE: 06-08-2011<br /><br />PROJECT: <a href="http://www.moonbots.org/">MOONBOTS 2.0</a><br /><br />JUST ANNOUNCED: <b>REGISTRATION HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO <span style="font-size: large;">JUNE 26<br /></span></b></div><br /><br /><div>One year after the first successful MoonBots mission, we return with new robots and challenges to another former landing site of missions long past. We learned a lot from our missions last year, but this year is a little bit different.<br /><br />In an effort to economize on our rocket payloads, robots must fit in a tighter space. A new requirement has been issued to restrict the size of robot accessories to no more than the length of the robot body before being deployed.<br /><br />We are still after Water Ice and Helium 3 this year, but they are located in harder to reach places and smaller quantities.<br /><br />The new surface area to explore (although smaller in scope) isn't as easily navigable.<br /><br />The primary target will be the GIANT crater - Canvin, and it's smaller sibling - Chanda. Entry will be treacherous, but the wealth of water ice to discover will be worth the effort.<br /><br />Energy will be an issue, so you won't have much time and you will need to survive the harsh conditions of a lunar night.<br /><br />We know you can do it and are proud to be part of this international endeavor. Good luck roboteers. MoonBots 2.0 is a go.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.moonbots.org/">PLEASE REGISTER YOUR TEAM TODAY</a>.<br /><br />-= MoonBots Mission Control - Out =-<br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018494723274325547.post-42644206506085466722011-06-06T22:59:00.000-07:002011-06-07T16:38:26.532-07:00Sample Return Review, Unreasonable Perspective, Rover Challenge Results, EuSEC Teams, Armadillo Test<a href="http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1858/1">NASA’s new robot challenge</a> - The Space Review - Ben Brockert discusses the Sample Return Robot Challenge.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hobbyspace.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=30012">Armadillo SuperMod test at full-throttle</a> - RLV News - Ben also shows what Armadillo Aerospace is doing. You can see more from Armadillo in other recent RLV News posts.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hobbyspace.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=29983">Unreasonable UAV aerial videography</a> - RLV News - Continuing the coverage of former Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge teams, Unreasonable Rocket gives a view of a rocket launch that somehow reminded me of the trailer for the new X-Men movie.<br /><br />Here are a few links for the 2011 University Rover Challenge:<br /><br /><a href="http://urc.marssociety.org/home/urc-news/theresultsarein">The Results Are In!</a><br /><a href="http://www.marssociety.org/home/press/announcements/untitledpost-2">2011 University Rover Challenge Concludes in Utah</a><br /><a href="http://urc.marssociety.org/home/photo-gallery/2011">Photos -> URC 2011</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.spaceelevatorblog.com/?p=1486">EuSEC announces competitors</a> - The Space Elevator Blog<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hobbyspace.com/nucleus/HSblog.php?itemid=30010">We-Are-Space video contest extended to June 14th</a> - Space for AllRayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13508338717987649684noreply@blogger.com0