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Private Firm Plots Robotic Lunar Exploration
DeviceGuru writes "Astrobotic Technology has unveiled plans for a series of robotic expeditions to the Moon. The lunar rovers will explore high-interest areas of the Moon's surface and beam the data back to the Earth. The plan is to accumulate an extensive library of lunar data and sell it to governments and private corporations (PDF), much as Navteq's data forms the backbone of most terrestrial GPS services. Astrobotic's first goal is to win Google's $30 million Lunar X Prize, with a May, 2010 trip to the Apollo 11 landing site at Mare Tranquillitatis."
I wonder how governments will attempt to regulate space once it becomes a truly commercial frontier (I mean aside from orbit). On the one hand, I'm against regulations on what is essentially just an un-owned patch of "space". On the other hand though...it'd be scary to have any company that can afford to send things to the moon or into space. I mean, that much equipment just floating around out there and something's bound to go catasrophically wrong.
With Red Whittaker as the CEO, I'm sure this company can do what it says. If you're not familar with Red, his robots have been doing great things for many years. For example, it was Red's robots that helped clean up Three Mile Island after the accident there, as well as Chernobyl. His team at Carnegie Mellen also won the Darpa Grand Challange for developing a vehicle that could navigate autonomously. (The previous year, he took 2nd and 3rd place in the same challenge.)
So... I guess after he achieves this, we'll have a "Red Moon" after all!
Bill
It's my Sig and you can't have it. Mine! All Mine!
I agree that this is the right team. But what's just as delightful, and make no mistake, delight is an understated way to describe what I think of this news, is that they're clearly thinking of this not as a "mission" but as a task set to bootstrap a business able to pay its own way. I particularly like that they're not using the oh-so-annoying sop of "space tourism". Afaic, "space tourism" is pretty much like twenties barnstorming. Iow, "we've got this amazing technology that we aren't using seriously at the moment so while we get our act in gear we'll kill time, keep ourselves busy, and make beer money giving people rides on our cool vehicles".
Personally, I've been pushing the idea of private organizations exploring with clusters of small robotic missions for years now, I've even ranted at my friends about it, so how could I not be pleased?
I wonder how long it will take for the mainstream media and legislators to claim that they've backed this approach all along
It's all about the information. And what we do with it.
it can't be called exploration.
Machines are used to investigate. Self aware beings explore.
The human race stopped exploring the moon in 1972. Mars has been investigated, which is good, but never explored, which is not.
The reason that people with european ancestors can be found on every continent is because those ancestors explored. Minute fragments of culture from Europe are still to be found all over the "New World". Whether those 2 facts are a good thing or not is a separate debate.
If human culture and DNA is to survive, we need to explore. Finding out what is elsewhere is only a small part of it.
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
Lunkhod (or Lunakhod) 1 and 2 roved around on the Moon in the 1970's, with the second rover covering over 40 km (more than the current Mars Rovers combined).
Here are some pictures from the mission.
Lunkhod 2 has a laser retroreflector package that is used for laser laser ranging (LLR) along with 3 Apollo LLR retroreflector packages; these 4 sites together determine the Moon's orbit to the order of centimeters and are thus crucial in a number of scientific investigations ranging from pure physics to Lunar dynamics.
As a PS, I would strongly urge any exploration of the Apollo 11 site to stay well away from its LLR retroreflectors, as moving them by even a mm could cause problems interpreting that data.
when they find the moon landing was a hoax and they're the first ones there.
Of course, maybe they're in bed with NASA, who'll let them use the same sound stage where they filmed the apollo landing, and it'll be a double hoax!
Do you have ESP?
much as Navteq's data forms the backbone of most terrestrial GPS services
Define "most." I think that the people who run the International GNSS Service (IGS) would disagree with you.
The Outer Space Treaty which is the first basic attempt to regulate space is pretty much like the concept behind International Waters. The gist of Articles 6 and 7 are that governments are responsible for their citizens and corporate entities operation in outer space. If you need an analogy, this is sort of like how your parents are legally responsible for your actions when you are a child.
As for the equipment just floating around and something going catestrophically wrong, well, just look at the junk floating around earth's orbit, you don't have to imagine it, it's already real. In many respects it's no different than the great pacific garbage patch.
These happenings are perhaps one of the best illustrations of the Tragedy of the Commons effect. There are many sides to this argument about the commons. Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves ;^)