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Roaming Robot May Explore Mysterious Moon Caverns
ananyo writes "William 'Red' Whittaker often spends his Sundays lowering a robot into a recently blown up coal mine pit near his cattle ranch in Pennsylvania. By 2015, he hopes that his robot, or something like it, will be rappelling down a much deeper hole, on the Moon. The hole was discovered three years ago when Japanese researchers published images from the satellite SELENE1, but spacecraft orbiting the Moon have been unable to see into its shadowy recesses. A robot might be able to 'go where the Sun doesn't shine', and send back the first-ever look beneath the Moon's skin, Whittaker told attendees at a meeting of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program in Hampton, Virginia, last week. And Whittaker is worth taking seriously-his robots have descended into an Alaskan volcano and helped to clean up the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant."
I wanted to see a picture of the moon hole. Here's one on Mars, I'd like to see a robot investigate that!
Free Martian Whores!
Wait, I saw this already...Apollo 18. Is NASA finally fessing up to the conspiracy or are the moon rocks we brought back just now coming to life and we have to figure a way to kill them. Exciting times indeed,
Life is a great ride, the vehicle doesn't matter
Whittaker is worth taking seriously ...
Red Whittaker is worth taking seriously for other reasons as well: He lead the Carnegie Mellon team that won the 2007 DARPA Grand Challange.
When it comes to robots, I don't think there is anyone that should be taken more seriously.
Susan Calvin
Because if you see teeth, you'd better get the fuck outta there!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Wait, are they planning to explore the Moon or Uranus?
Might as well take the alliteration in the title all the way.
Do you think they will find Thurgood still worshiping the Plant?
Since we all already know what's down there there's no point in even bothering to send the robot.
I mean, what else do you think a rover would find down there? While potentially exciting for planetary geologists, for most of us -- including the vast majority of people who pay for these missions -- studying rocks, aside from the engineering gymnastics of getting into the cave, does not stir the human spirit of exploration. Lets explore the seas of Titan, the volcanoes of Io, or the water geysers of Enceladus, not another rock-hunting trip with taxpayer money. There's a decent chance of finding life in our solar system, and yet NASA keeps turning away from that goal in favor of literally dry material.
He gets sent on an explorative mission, and here I am stuck trying to find a job! What gives? But sending him where the sun don't shine. That's cold, man, that's cold!
Whittaker is worth taking seriously ...
Red Whittaker is worth taking seriously for other reasons as well: He lead the Carnegie Mellon team that won the 2007 DARPA Grand Challange.
When it comes to robots, I don't think there is anyone that should be taken more seriously.
Seriously? The past tense of "to lead" is "led." The wikipedia article you quoted got it right. Sorry, this has become my biggest pet peeve the past couple years. It's a pretty simple conjugation, but it seems more people get it wrong than right anymore. Sigh.....
1. Ancient metal corridors coming back to life as the detrius covered battle station comes out of hibernation.
2. The remains of an ancient city.
3. An intact, stasis shielded something or other that has a worn but still workable button poking out of the stasis field.
4. A giant swastika on an iron door ala Iron Sky.
5. A large circular thingy with chevrons along the outer edge.
6. The rocky bottom of a hole that happens to be on the moon.
Roaming on the moon - I hope they ensured a cheap data plan with their provider.