Slashdot Mirror
Robotic Lifeforms To Go To Moon
HarmlessScenery writes "A space.com story gives details about a commercial company that is planning its own moon mission. The idea is to send two robots to collect moon rock for sale here on Earth. The company hopes to make a profit from the rock, and selling access to live Web-cams and from toys / merchandising based on the robots.
Mark W. Tilden at Los Alamos National Lab, is lined up to design the robots. His personal objective is to get a whole robotic ecosystem up there, to prepare the way for human colonisation. The first batch will clear dust from a large area (after completing their rock gathering) - which might hamper future missions. Subsequent robotic generations could build solar farms and lay cable networks to provide a usable power grid."
Mark W. Tilden at Los Alamos National Lab, is lined up to design the robots. His personal objective is to get a whole robotic ecosystem up there, to prepare the way for human colonisation. The first batch will clear dust from a large area (after completing their rock gathering) - which might hamper future missions. Subsequent robotic generations could build solar farms and lay cable networks to provide a usable power grid."
I thank you from the bottom of my rectum. Which is inflamed. I'd rather not talk about it.
--Giving to trolls for the benefit of us all
Please, Robotic Lifeforms?
Until they are quite definitely shown to be alive I think we should refrain from calling them lifeforms.
Slashdot Extra : Washing Machine Lifeforms abused by society and used as slaves.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. (Einstein)
So is this where the finals of BattleBots/Robot Soccer league thing are going to be held?
(OT) This is a good step, even if NASA is not going to do it. With our current technology, going much past Mars is going to be difficult using basically remote control. So, as most of the Slashdrones have been screaming for, autonomous bots get a lot of the work out of our hands. It's also good to read that they are reusing ICBMS to keep costs down (and get a launch in the next 5 years or so). Question: do these guys then win the XPrize too?
Information just wants to be left alone. I asked it.
Planning to be moderated ± 1: Bad Pun.
the prices are going to be sky high, who the hell's gonna buy them? i mean, robot goes up there, collects rocks. mad money spent right there, then shipping them back, vehicles to transport them are gonna be a bitch, well, at least the postage won't be bad since they're weightless.
-"Hey, Baby. It's not a rash, it's textured love."
I would be interested to know if the primary mission and the secondary mission are both programmed before the robots leave Earth, or if they are re-programmed once they are done with the first mission. In the article it is stated that the first mission is for the company (to collect rocks to ship back) and the second is up to the individual designing the robots (he wants them to clear an area for 'future development').
Another thought, will this be something that actually leads to permanent human residents on the moon? Or will this just be the equivalent of that lot down the street that got cleared for the big mall and then got left? I mean, it's exciting, and having someone other than the government (through NASA) be in charge of it seems a lot more promising than what we normally hear, but doesn't it sound like the roboticist (I think that's what their called) is a little optimistic?
If this gets much publicity, I look for the freaks to start coming out of the woodwork and screaming bloody murder that we are 'ruining the moon's habitat' or some such nonsense. Personally, I think that's the first logical step to getting off of this rock and out onto some other ones. We need to do this. Never mind the people that say we need to solve our problems here first. That won't ever happen. Not that we should ignore our problems here. But we can do more good (in the long run) for humanity by getting ourselves some diversity. Diversity of places to live, diversity of culture (instead of the homogenized mess that is happening right now) and the diversity of life that seems missing from our 'modern world'. Yes, I know we have some diversity now, but it's nothing compared to having humans live on different worlds, in different star systems, or even different galaxies (real long term).
Anything that moves us forward seems to me to be a good thing. We need to think about what we are doing and why, but we shouldn't hold ourselves back like we have up to this point. Hopefully this concept will get driven home somehow. And the idea this company has of turning a profit on 'moon rocks' is probably the best idea that I've heard of yet. The only thing that would be better is to get a habitat built and sell 'vacations' in it (on the moon or anwhere 'out there').
Make space profitable and I garauntee you we will see some serious shit start to happen. (A sad reflection on society at the moment, but an honest one.)
Bite my yammer.
Mark's robots are mostly analog, which is completely opposite of most robotocists (sp?) designs. It's crazy, but they end up working, and performing the desired task. They end up doing it because they are light seeking, and their task becomes a side-effect of the robots movement, like his lawnmower that cuts grass that cover's it solar panel, or his window washer that cleans the glass so it has more sunlight. Of course they aren't living, but there as close as any other robots out there now.
Given this http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/09/18/165524 6&mode=thread, how feasible would it be to sustain any kind of colony on the moon? How often do meteorites impact the moon?
"It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory." (W. Edwards Deming)
there's nothing you can't do with those bad boys.
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Peace,
Lord Omlette
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Can you say Software? Sounds like the beginnings of Rudy Rucker's ideas.
-= Briareos =-