Solar-Powered Moon Rover To Explore Apollo Landing

Mike writes "Carnegie Mellon roboticist Dr. William Whittaker has teamed up with Astrobiotic Technology to develop a solar powered moon rover that will explore the Apollo landing site in 2011. The photovoltaic clad robot features two electric motors in the hub of each wheel, and a half cone of solar generators up top that will power the wheels, run computers, and beam stereo HD video back to earth. The project has been entered in the $25 million Google Lunar X Prize competition."

Comments

No

[amstrad]

I think the Apollo landing sites need to be preserved for posterity.

Re:No

[dohzer]

But they've already dismantled it!

Re:No

[Darkness404]

Why? Sure, its "cool" to preserve everything, but its a heck of a lot more valuable to see how the machines have fared for the eventual colonization of the moon and for future generations. I'm not exactly sure what the point is if we are looking back on history rather than creating it.

Buzz Aldrin punch

[t000lish]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOo6aHSY8hU

Re:Buzz Aldrin punch

[DigiShaman]

This single punch is all that's required to earn my respect. No speech, interview, or biography holds as much weight to the punch he threw. It's an act of pure love and protection of the sacrifice he made to make history for all mankind.

Buzz Aldrin, you f-ing ROCK!!!

Please leave the landing sites alone!

[jms]

Sending a mouse to disturb the eternal footprints of giants. Sort of a metaphor for the current state of NASA, sadly.

Here's hoping they'll observe from a distance

[TinBromide]

I hope that they put on a really really good telephoto lense. Those original footprints have the chance of lasting for thousands of years if WE DON'T STOMP ALL OVER THEM WITH A FRICKING ROBOT.

Re:Here's hoping they'll observe from a distance

[Abcd1234]

You are aware that most (if not all) of the footprints were obliterated by the rocket that took the astronauts off the moon, right?

Uh, no they weren't. In fact, you can see the tracks of the astronauts in the latest images of the Apollo 11 landing site returned by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Aldrin's famous first footprint exists only as a photograph.

That's not at all obvious. When the rockets of the ascent stage were fired, thus beginning the return to rendezvous with Columbia, the surface of the moon may have been shielded by the components of the LM that were left behind.

Re:Here's hoping they'll observe from a distance

[Da Cheez]

In fact, you can see the tracks of the astronauts in the latest images of the Apollo 11 landing site returned by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Um, maybe it's just me but I don't see any footprints in the LRO image of the Apollo 11 landing site. Perhaps you're referring to the footprints in the Apollo 14 image? Those footprints go quite a long ways away from the LM and due to the pixelation of the image it's hard to tell just how well-preserved they might be that close to the descent stage.

Could someone please explain

[JayTech]

Why is it necessary that we go back and explore what was accomplished in the past? Call me stupid, but it seems like a rover on the moon could do something more useful than exploring a bunch of dusty boot prints and some used equipment. Anyone care to enlighten me?

Re:Could someone please explain

[isaac338]

Why is it necessary that we go back and explore what was accomplished in the past?

Because the relics of the past visits will give us valuable insight into long-term exposure of our machinery in the environment of the Moon - something that is surely relevant to future efforts of colonization. All the things we left behind have been sitting (hopefully?) untouched for 40 years getting bombarded with micrometeoroids, experiencing huge temperature swings and moonquakes, and generally experiencing the reality of existing there.

I find it fascinating and am excited to see pictures of how the sites have weathered.

Re:Could someone please explain

[stfvon007]

Does this mean google moon will soon feature streetview?

Moonquakes

[jofer]

While they're at it, it would be awesome to deploy a few more seismometers...

Moonquakes are pretty damn cool from a seismological perspective. Beyond that, some of the ones recorded by Apollo-installed seismometers were >Mw 5. Big enough to be damaging.

The moon isn't tectonically active, of course, but it is seismically active, and the data recorded in the 70's indicates that the moon's lithosphere is a very different beast compared to earth's. At any rate, it would produce some extremely neat data!

Re:Moonquakes

[mbone]

One of the things that I think was near criminal about the post Apollo period was that the ALSEPs were turned off, including the seismometers, to satisfy Senator Proxmire. So many billions of dollars to put them on the Moon, but $ 250,000 / year to keep collecting data was just too much.

Re:Horrible Idea

[Eric Smith]

Armstrong's first boot prints must surely have been destroyed when the ascent module fired its main engine. However, there are probably other footprints further from the LM site that should be preserved.

This entire thread, summarized:

[Anonymous Coward]

"Bet they can do it on the sound-stage in Nevada" - Idiot who doesn't understand that every other idiot also thought of the same joke at the same time.

"But we didn't go to the moon! I saw it on Fox, so it must be true" - Flaming moron who couldn't find their ass with both hands, a copy of an anatomy textbook and a full length mirror.

"LOL, wut, we didn't go to the moon, you peeps are sheep" - Troll, pretending to be the above idiot, thereby becoming a recursive idiot instead (idiot^2).

"NASA SUCKS!!!" - Multiple varieties of idiot, any one of whom very well might be a community college certified rocket scientist.

"NOES! They'll destroy the historic bootprints!" - Idiot who believes that lack of erosion signals lack of change. The bootprints are likely long gone, due to heating and cooling of the rocks, vibrations from the ground and, at the landing sites proper, the exhaust from the ascent stage of the lander. Nobody but your high school science teacher seriously thinks they'll last a hundred years, or whatever numeric value you were told.

"Git offa my lawn you kids!" - Angry curmudgeon tired of being able to predict slashdot posts in advance, just by seeing the fucking story title.

There, now you don't have to read the thread. You just read every post, condensed into one. You're welcome. Now, go defy expectations and RTFA instead.

Re:Horrible Idea

[Gadget_Guy]

If only Armstrong made a giant leap instead of a small step then the first footprint might have survived.

Re:Horrible Idea

[JPLemme]

Armstrong's first boot prints were most likely destroyed the minute Buzz Aldrin hopped off the ladder after him. It's the last bootprints that would have been obliterated by the ascent module.

Really? REALLY?

[TiggertheMad]

Oh, for fuck's sake...we go to the trouble to build a super slick rover to explore the surface of another planet, and they want to waste time visiting the .0001% that we already have explored? If there isn't something better to be exploring on the moon, why the hell are we going again?

I knew we were a glorified pack of narcissistic monkeys but this just take it.

"Lets go look and see where we landed LAST time we were here, that seems like a good idea."