Google Lunar XPrize Teams To Literally Race On The MoonForbes
Eric Mack 2/24/2015 @ 5:27PM
Two of the teams competing in the Google GOOGL +0.76% Lunar XPrize have agreed to share a ride to the moon that will end in a race on the Moon’s surface by each competitor’s lunar rovers in a sort of slow motion NASCAR event.
Japan’s Hakuto and Carnegie Mellon University spin-off Astrobotic are two of the teams competing for the $20 million grand prize that requires the teams to safely land a robot on the moon, then ambulate it 500 meters on, above or below the surface and send back an HDTV video signal to Earth. Hakuto and Astrobotic have agreed to collaborate on that first requirement.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will carry Astrobotic’s Griffin lander to the moon with Hakuto’s Moonraker and Tetris rovers hitching a ride, along with Astrobotic’s Andy rover. The three rovers will be released simultaneously upon touchdown to race across the surface and send back HD video to claim the grand prize.
Credit: AstroboticTeams participating in the challenge have been awarded “milestone” prizes along the way for their designs and achievements in categories like mobility, landing and imaging. Most recently, Hakuto received prize money in the mobility category, while Astrobotic won in the latest round in all three aforementioned areas.
“This contract enables Hakuto to actually send our rover to the moon, which is important because Hakuto is only concentrating on rover development,” said team leader Takeshi Hakamada in a statement.
Astrobotic says it hopes to help facilitate the first race beyond Earth’s orbit.
“We envision a ‘NASCAR on the Moon’ scenario, where competing teams land together, and countries can cheer on their team to the finish line,” said John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic.
The race may be significantly less adrenaline-pumping than a stock car event, given that the Andy rover travels at rates of less than a half-mile per hour.
Astrobotic hopes to land in a region of the moon believed to host lunar caves that could one day be used as a habitat, which Hakuto cites as one of the reasons it chose to piggyback on to the company’s lander.
Teams need to schedule their launch by the end of 2015 and the race to move 500 meters and broadcast from the moon needs to be completed by December 31, 2016, a deadline which was recently extended by the Lunar XPrize.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2015/02/24/google-lunar-x-prize-teams-to-literally-race-on-the-moon/?utm_campaign=yahootix&partner=yahootix
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