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Space Penguin Could Hop Around The Moon

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the bouncing-science dept.

notdanielp writes "A robotic Lunar Penguin explorer could be hopping around on the moon by 2009, said Raytheon on Tuesday, as it unveiled the concept lander at an aerospace conference. The unmanned lunar device, in development for two years, is 3 feet tall and weighs approximately 230 pounds. It "hops" by reigniting small propulsion engines ... President Bush last year refocused the space program on sending people to the moon, Mars and beyond. Raytheon said the Penguin could be a robotic precursor to future manned space missions and that it was being proposed to NASA."

2 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Smoke 'Em Out by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Moderation -1
        30% Troll
        40% Flamebait
        30% Insightful

    You TrollMods are a bunch of pussies. You talk tough all the time about war, and sacrifice, and the "tough love" of "compassionate conservatism". What a crock. You're a bunch of cowards, hiding behind the fascist Republican Party, which does the dirty work they've conned you into doing. Which mostly damages you, and benefits some Republican operative. You sleazy rightwing TrollMods don't even have the guts to argue with someone's post on Slashdot. You just call it a "Troll", which to you means "scary monster", not the actual Internet jargon meaning. Mod the post (incorrectly) as "Offtopic", if you dare. But these "Troll" and "Flamebait" mods just show what pussies you are, when someone says something that calls your boys on their BS. You are beneath contempt.

    --

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    make install -not war

  2. Going to the Moon is pointless by huge+colin · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    All this "Let's go back to the Moon" stuff is just political nonsense to get support from the science-and-technology-oriented citizens.

    The first series of Moon landings were mainly done to show the Soviets that the US kicks ass and you don't. Mission accomplished. But now, we know that the moon is:

    (a) very expensive to travel to and land on,
    (b) completely unprotected from meteors,
    (c) totally not hospitable to Earth life, and
    (d) devoid of any particularly special minerals, ores, or anything else useful.

    What combination of those attributes indicates that we should go back?