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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."
.......but does it run Linux?
I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
A penguin with gas.
but am i the only one that is wondering why a penguin??? its cute, but wouldnt a 'rover' type thing do just fine? id really like for NASA to be more concerned with experiments and whatnot rather than what animal to choose for its fun space trip to the moon.
From TFA: 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
Just curious what booster-powered hopping weapons system Raytheon has been working on lately, and if they have lasers strapped to their heads or what.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Personally I like
:)
Lunar Terrestrial Unmanned Excursion.
Lunar TUX
A robotic pre-cursor to manned moon landings? Why?
We were able to do manned moon landings for almost 40 years ago; has our know-how diminished, or are we just less determined than we used to be?
"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.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
What does Bush have to do with NASA's inability to repair debris issues on the shuttle?
Would throwing another billion at the problem have changed the outcome? No. Sorry, I despise Bush as much as the next guy but at a certain point, the "bush sucks" rhetoric gets old.
*** For a better tommorow, change your life today ***
Despite the NASAs great results with their three successful Mars rovers, the two Russian Lunokhods still hold the distance records covering about 30 miles together, or an order of magnitude more than the Martian rovers. The Moon is near enough to allow interactive control of surface robots, unlike Mars.
Of course many of us would like to see dozens of rovers crawling all over the planets and moons. The cost of the International Space Station would have funded over 200 rovers.
It never fails that Hollywood will always ruin good movies with really crappy sequels. I can just see it now:
"March of the Penguins 2: Electric Boogaloo: In Space"
"Make it jump with its flippers extended, like a friendly gesture."
"I don't know, the sight of that robot penguin jumping toward me with flippers extended would scare the piss out of me."
"Good point"
Already done.
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
TOP 5 NAMES SUGGESTED BY RAYTHEON ENGINEERS BEFORE THEIR PR DEPT TOOK OVER:
The risks involved in all those small take offs and landings are probably too high.
Also, we are not looking for life in the moon, we already have lunar rocks, what the point of jumping around the moon?
We should a) get a cheap and reliable way to get to space b) build a base on the moon and explore other planets.
Mac toys and accessories blog
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
Coming with face melting lasers to a theater near you.
NASA has been using a version of realtime UNIX called VxWorks from Wind River in many of its space probes and robots. It has been evolving for decades along with various NASA probes. Its not perfect, having brought down the rovers for a couple weeks with a thread blocking problem. But it has been field tested for a long time.
The guys and gals down at Lunar Linux are grinning maliciously at the success of their propaganda scheme to encourage poor schmucks like me to post links to their project on /. in a desparate attempt to get +5 mod points.
Why am I on Slashdot? I'm bored. Why am I bored? I'm on Slashdot.
I can see how it went down:
Scientist: "Mr. President, we have a number of new designs for our next Mars probe. Utilizing various state of the art metallurgy processes and the most advanced..."
Bush: "Can the scientologist mumbo jumbo, Doc."
Scientist: "::sigh:: This one looks like a penguin."
Bush: "Ooh, a penguin? Heh heh, I like penguins. Approved!"
Q: What's the difference between maggots and Linux zealots?
A: Maggots love open sores.
To the moderators: This post could be considered to be Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, or Offensive. Please moderate +1 Funny... understanding that we all need to laugh at ourselves and few bad puns ever once in awhile
What does Bush have to do with NASA's inability to repair debris issues on the shuttle?
Where did I say he did?
Would throwing another billion at the problem have changed the outcome? No. Sorry, I despise Bush as much as the next guy but at a certain point, the "bush sucks" rhetoric gets old.
What anti-Bush rhetoric? The article summary said Bush had re-focused on the moon,mars and beyond. I simply pointed that Bush had cut NASA spending, which is a fact.
Neither did I suggest spending more money on the shuttle would solve the problem, it was just an example of the state of the current space program, i.e. not good.
Bush: "Put some lasers on it and you got a deal!"
Scientist: "::sigh::"
Tough life - there's only 1 minute difference between (+5, Funny) and (1, Redundant).
Better luck next time.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
We did a study of the tankage sizing changes required and a few other features and actually got some quotes back from some of the contractors. It would have been a relatively cheap mission, about the same as a geostationary satellite launch.
I don't recall whether Raytheon was one of the contractors we contacted for pricing.
Seastead this.
Scientists expect to deploy a Space Batman to thwart any crimes attempted by the Space Penguin. The Governor of California may come to the defense of the Penguin.
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.
an ill wind that blows no good
I first read the title as "Space Penguin Could Hop Around the Moon".
No. Wait..
My other SIG is a Sauer.
Yes, did you check your link with Snopes.com? A simple search yields:
http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.h tm
If the penguins were running OS X the title of this article would be "Space Penguin Hops Around Moon."
But nobody in DC wants to talk about killing astronauts to 'save the ozone'.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
How can you post a story about a lunar penguin with no pictures?
I know penguins, and that, sir, is no penguin.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
See the hopping moon penguin in a field test here!