Space Penguin Could Hop Around The Moon

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."

Comments

Affordable?

[Red Flayer]

"The Lunar Penguin, originally intended to land on the south pole of the moon to search for ice, is based on tactical weapons technologies, which should make it much more affordable, Raytheon said, without disclosing a price.

See how much great stuff comes out of military research? This is why all you tech-happy people should support increased military funding, instead of something so silly as direct funding of research.

Seriously, this is much more affordable only because we've already paid for the research. That's like a waiter saying, "Your meal will be 10% off, because you gave us the chicken we made it out of."

It's great that we can apply some of our military tech to space / lunar exploration. But don't say it's more affordable just because we already paid for it.

Credit the President

[amightywind]

President Bush also cut NASA funding. They can't even get the shuttle into space without it falling to bits, despite a $1bn re-fit.

The fact that we are even debating the post shuttle/ISS space program is a credit to President Bush. The 'failure' to fix the space shuttle is illusory. The shuttle performs consistent with its design. It's just that the design can never be safer than 1 failure in 100 launches. First it was the SRB O-rings, then frayed wiring, and latest ET foam. If it keeps flying some other problem will reveal itself.