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NASA's Robonaut Gets Its Legs; Could a Moonwalk Be In Its Future?
MarkWhittington writes "Project M was a proposal at NASA's Johnson Spaceflight Center that would have put together a mission to deliver a bipedal robot to the lunar surface within a thousand days. The idea never got out of the conception stage, but two major components, a new type of lunar lander, now called Morpheus, and a robonaut continued on as separate projects. Morpheus is getting ready to conduct a second attempt at free flight tests at the Kennedy Space Center. The first attempt resulted in the destruction of the prototype vehicle. If the second round of tests is successful, NASA will have a spacecraft that could deliver 1,100 pounds of payload to the lunar surface. While a copy of Robonaut 2 is still undergoing tests on board the International Space Station, ABC News reports that a cousin of the mechanical person has been built with legs. It stands eight feet tall and weighs 500 pounds. With two major components of Project M nearing completion, could a robonaut become the next moon walker?"
Wheels would be a lot better. Once the rover was made available, our moonwalkers hopped in it and took off exploring. No legs just eliminates the middle man. Before we know it, we'll have software developers fused to our chairs and fed through tubes as to increase efficiency.
Sig: I stole this sig.
The first attempt resulted in the destruction of the prototype vehicle. If the second round of tests is successful,
It's times like these I wonder if the html BLINK tag was retired too early. Because that's a very, very big 'if', so big in fact that the atrocity that was BLINK might be justified. But not marquee, because screw you Microsoft. Sinner!
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Yes. The tech and space race during the cold war drove huge demand for technical and specialized labor, as well as immense demand for the resources and know-how to educate such a workforce (an increasingly educated workforce generally means a more productive one). Even if there isn't an immediate product being produced, you're still drawing more people into higher paying jobs, and giving them experience that will benefit them for their careers well after a given project is done. The economical benefits of even pie-in-the-sky research are positive and long lasting.
And before somebody says anything, no this is not a broken window fallacy. A BWF would be to say the money put into building the rockets is value added. This is a different argument.
I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
NASA's budget represents about 0.5% of the U.S. national budget. I think we can probably find _something_ to cut (say, maybe getting in a few less wars). Or maybe we could raise taxes on the 400 Americans who control more wealth than 150 million other Americans?
Why not cut the $1.8 Trillion expected cost of the ACA since it appears to be a complete failure and based on nothing but lies.
This is expected to cost $1.8 trillion?
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
Yes a nation can work on more then one initiative at a time.
Space Travel inspires people to be Engineers, Scientists, to take risks and look further. That means the kids have a reason to get more schooling and get a better education. Now this educated population will be better at surviving in a global economy, even if they don't get into aerospace.
We have programs available for people to get food if they need it and not starve. A lot of those who are starving do not take advantage of these programs, or do not manage them properly. There is only so much we can do.
Space Exploration, Manned or Robotic, means more jobs in the future requires higher skills. Means a living salary.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.