Tag Archive for 'Google Lunar X Prize'Page 3 of 3

Scotland Joins the Google X Prize Moon Race

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on March 2, 2008
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A group at Glasgow University in Scotland has announced plans to join the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize competition. The group, lead by Dr. Gianmarco Radice, put out a call for partners last Friday, according to the Sunday Herald.

“We are looking for partners to join us - we can definitely get to the moon,” he said. “It is very expensive though, so it’s more a prestige thing than an economic investment. It would be quite a PR stunt, to say the least.”

Ten teams are already competing for the prize, which requires landing rover on the lunar surface by 2012.

UA shoots for the moon

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on February 28, 2008
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The Arizona Daily Wildcat has published an editorial praising the university’s participation in the Google Lunar X Prize. The paper believes the combination of UA’s imaging experience, Raytheon’s missile technology, and Carnegie Mellon robotics expertise makes this a very strong entry in the competition to land a rover on the lunar surface.

“Private exploration is lighter, leaner and smarter than lumbering government projects, and we’re glad the UA is playing an important role in the future of space exploration. Google may be paying for the prize, and the UA may be a formidable competitor, but it’s humans everywhere who will reap its rewards,” the editors write.

Team LunaTrex New Roundup

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on February 24, 2008
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Here is a roundup of news stories about Indiana-based Team LunaTrex, one of the entrants in the Google Lunar X Prize competition:

IndyStar.com: Skies are prize for spacey Anderson biz

Heard Bulletin: Anderson company pursuing $30 million lunar exploration prize

WSBT Channel 2: Anderson company to help in bid for $30 million lunar prize

The First 10 Teams in the Lunar X Prize An Odd Lot

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on February 24, 2008
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Wired Science has an interesting story analyzing the entrants in the Google Lunar X Prize, a competition to land a private spacecraft on the moon. The competitors include include “a Jesus freak, a Linux geek and a guy who recently bought 30 books on space exploration…an eclectic mix of engineers, rocketeers and dreamers so confident of winning they made reaching the moon sound easy.”

Space Florida Announces Strategic Partnership for Google Lunar X PRIZE Competition

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on February 24, 2008
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Grand Prize Winner will receive $2M Bonus Prize for Successful Florida Based Launch.
Space Florida Press Release via Business Wire

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.–Space Florida, the organization charged by the Florida Legislature with promoting and developing Florida’s aerospace industry, today announced that it will be a new preferred partner and Florida will become the first preferred launch site for the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE competition. Each preferred partner offers additional prizes or strategic services at a discounted rate to all competition teams.

As the first preferred launch site, Space Florida will award an additional prize of $2 million to the Grand Prize winner of the Google Lunar X PRIZE competition, provided the winner launched the winning flight from the State of Florida and upon confirmation that the winner has complied with all competition rules.

Continue reading ‘Space Florida Announces Strategic Partnership for Google Lunar X PRIZE Competition’

UA Joins Raytheon, Carnegie Mellon in Google Lunar X Prize Bid

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on February 24, 2008
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UA News has a story about the University of Arizona’s partnership with Carnegie Mellon University and Raytheon Missile Systems to form Team Astrobotic - one of 10 competitors in the Google Lunar X Prize competition.

The UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and its Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering are the major elements of the university’s participation. “This is the dream team,” Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Director Michael J. Drake said.

LPL will provide its expertise in designing, building and operating imaging camera systems. It will add a clean room and a high bay to its Phoenix Science Operations Center, where the lunar lander will be assembled.

The Arizona Daily Star also has a story.

State of Florida Offers $2 Million Incentive to X Prize Contestants

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on February 23, 2008
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Florida is offering a $2 million incentive to encourage entrants in the Google Lunar X Prize to launch their robotic rover from the state.

The money would be in addition to the $20 million prize being offered by Google and the X Prize Foundation for the first private group to land a spacecraft on the moon by the end of 2010. Ten organizations have registered for the competition.

Private Race to the Moon Takes Off

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on February 23, 2008
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Ten teams are now competing in the Google Lunar X PRIZE challenge, the race to land a robotic spacecraft on the moon.

The X Prize Foundation revealed that nine additional teams had joined the competition during a press conference this week at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. “It’s not just a new mission,” said X Prize CEO Peter Diamandis announced. “It’s a new way of doing business.”

The 10 teams are:

Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association (ARCA): Based in Valcea, Romania and led by Dumitru Popescu, ARCA was also a contender in the Ansari X PRIZE.

Astrobotic: Team Astrobotic, led by Dr. William “Red” Whittaker, was formed to coordinate the efforts of Carnegie Mellon University, Raytheon Company and additional institutions.

Chandah: Chandah, meaning “Moon” in Sanskrit, was founded by Adil Jafry, an energy industry entrepreneur. He is now chairman and CEO of Tara, the largest independent retail electricity provider in Texas.

FREDNET: Headed by Fred J. Bourgeois III, this multi-national team is comprised of systems, software, and hardware developers who serve as the leaders and overall coordinators of an international group of Open Source developers, engineers, and scientists.

LunaTrex: Led by Pete Bitar, LunaTrex is comprised of several individuals, companies, and universities from all over the United States, some of whom were also competitors for the Ansari X PRIZE.

Micro-Space: Helmed by Richard Speck and based in Colorado, Micro-Space, Inc. has a 31-year history of producing world class, high tech products.

Odyssey Moon: The first team to register for the competition, Odyssey Moon is a private commercial lunar enterprise headquartered in the Isle of Man and founded by Dr. Robert Richards.

Quantum3: A U.S.-based team, Quantum3 is led by Paul Carliner, a senior executive in the aerospace industry.

Southern California Selene Group: According to team leader Harold Rosen, the approach taken by the Santa Monica Selene Group can be succinctly summarized as “an elegantly simple design that is relatively inexpensive to implement.”

Team Italia: Based in Italy and led by Prof. Amalia Ercoli-Finzi, Team Italia is a collaboration between several universities. The team is currently running a prototype of its system at Politecnico di Milano.

X Prize has full details about the competitors on its website. Space.com has a comprehensive story.

Tony Spear discusses Lunar X prize

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on February 19, 2008
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Tony Spear, project manager for Carnegie Mellon’s Google Lunar X Prize entry, recently engaged CMU students and faculty in a lighthearted and informative discussion about the competition.

“At Carnegie Mellon, understanding the problem and the approach to the solution is more important than the answer [itself],” said Spear, discussing his return to Carnegie Mellon after 46 years to join William “Red” Whittaker and his Google X Prize team.