Tag Archive for 'Google'

Future Billionaut Brin Sees Off Millionaut Garriott on ISS Trip

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Doug
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Sergey Brin (center, full head of hair) prepares for an orbital vacation aboard Zero G’s aircraft.

Google Founder Brin Visits Russian Space Cosmodrome
Reuters

“Google co-founder Sergey Brin, considering going into space on a private flight, made a surprise visit to Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome on Saturday to wish good luck to a fellow space tourist.

“Richard Garriott, a U.S. computer game developer and Brin’s friend, is due to blast off into orbit aboard Russia’s Soyuz spaceship on Sunday at 1:03 p.m. (0503 GMT) alongside U.S. astronaut Michael Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov.

“Brin, a native of Moscow, arrived at the sprawling Soviet-era complex along with Garriott’s friends and family members to cheer for the success of his journey to the International Space Station.”

Sergey’s Space Obsession
Valley Wag

“Stop him before — whoops, too late. Over the weekend, Google cofounder Sergey Brin flew to Kazakhstan to meet with fellow space traveler Richard Garriott, better known as Lord British in the online game Ultima.”

Two New Teams Join Google X Prize; Analytical Graphics Named Preferred Partner

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PRESS RELEASE

The X PRIZE Foundation today announced two new teams and a new Preferred Partner in the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a robotic race to the Moon to win a remarkable $30 million in prizes.

These two teams join the international group of teams that will compete to land a privately funded robotic craft on the Moon that is capable of roaming the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending video, images and data back to the Earth.

Continue reading ‘Two New Teams Join Google X Prize; Analytical Graphics Named Preferred Partner’

Lunar X Prize Update: Are Scooby and the Gang Headed for the Moon?

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on September 14, 2008
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The Discovery Channel has an interview with the leader of Mystery, Inc. “Mystery Team” that is aiming to win the Google Lunar X Prize competition by landing a rover on the moon. The American-based group is composed of members from several states.

The mysterious leader says they are staying private for now so as to get the drop on the competition and to avoid any risks to their reputations. He says they may reveal their secret identities by the end of the year, at the latest next July. Not that many people will really care. Or that they really care that no one cares.

Continue reading ‘Lunar X Prize Update: Are Scooby and the Gang Headed for the Moon?’

Say Goodbye to Space Tourists: Only Billionaire “Explorers” Need Apply

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Doug
on June 16, 2008
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Space Adventures, a company that has made millions selling orbital joyrides to people worth billions, is trying to ensure that its wealthy clients get a bit more respect.

The Virginia company that pioneered space tourism is rebranding its elite clientele as “space explorers,” pointing to the experiments that they conduct while vacationing aboard the International Space Station. In the process, the company is trying to leave its label as a “space tourism” outfit behind.

“Space tourism isn’t the right word for what we do,” Space Adventures CEO Eric Anderson told Popular Mechanics. “It’s something more. What we’re doing is opening a new frontier. … We’re no longer exclusively a space tourism company, we’re a space mission company.”

Space Adventures kicked off its rebranding effort in earnest last week with the announcement that it would begin charting Soyuz flights to ISS beginning in 2011. The company currently flies tourists as the third passenger on regularly scheduled, government financed missions to the orbital outpost. The charter flights would be commercially funded, carrying a commander and two paying customers.

Google Founder Sergey Brin will likely be aboard the inaugural 2011 flight. He invested $5 million in Space Adventures, money that serves as a downpayment on a flight and makes him the charter member of the brand new Orbital Mission Explorer’s Circle. This exclusive club will have only seven members.

The rebranding effort has been ongoing for some time. Space Adventures’ client Anousheh Ansari, who flew to the space station, gave an interview to Space Future back in April in which she bristled at the label of “space tourist.” Ansari believes the six months of training made her more than just a tourist, even though she is not a professional astronaut.

PopSci’s DIY Guide to X’ing Your Way to the Moon

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on May 27, 2008
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Popular Science has an interesting DIY guide to how you - YES, YOU - can win the Google Lunar X Prize. It seems that all you need is a little bit of moxie, a rover that can survive extreme temperatures, a launcher, and…oh yes…somewhere between $20 to $100 million.

Simple, really. All too easy.

All kidding aside, it’s a really cool story that breaks down the major components that one needs succeed in winning the $20 million prize. There are quotes from Odyssey Moon CEO Bob Richards, Astrobiotic’s Red Whittaker, and other competitors.

Meanwhile, Space.com has a story on four additional teams that have joined the great race. The teams include Advaeros, out of Malaysia; JURBAN, which is focused teaching disadvantaged students to build robots; and STELLAR, a North Carolina group headed by Dick Dell. There is also a mystery team, which apparently has no connection to Scooby-Doo’s outfit, Mystery, Inc.

ISU to Host Google Lunar X Prize Team Summit in May

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on April 7, 2008
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GOOGLE LUNAR X PRIZE PRESS RELEASE

The first ever Google Lunar X PRIZE Team Summit is a unique opportunity for official teams, potential teams and team members, government and industry experts, and potential suppliers and customers to meet and discuss the competition with each other and with key X PRIZE Foundation leaders. Over two days - May 20-21, 2008 - a series of workshops and panels will serve both to collect input from teams about the guidelines for the prize and to provide information that will help each team successfully bring their dreams to fruition.

Summit events and panel topics will include:

  • Rules and Guidelines Workshop
  • Lessons Learned from Historical Lunar Missions
  • Launch and Communications
  • Future Customers
  • Team Announcement Media Event

The Google Lunar X PRIZE is an international competition—so what host venue could be better than the campus of the International Space University? Located just outside of Strasbourg, France, ISU provides an excellent working environment—as well as beautiful tourist sites for attendees to enjoy after the sessions are over.

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Google Lunar X Prize News Roundup for March 15

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Doug
on March 15, 2008
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William Pomerantz site has a blog entry about the winners of the 2008 Botball Design Challenge. High school and middle school students studied the Google Lunar X Prize, designed lunar landers, and developed web materials to promote their ideas.

The Google Lunar X Prize website also has updates from some of the the teams this week. To get an overview, visit the main site here or you can click on individual articles below.

Lunatrex: Lunar landing is key
March 13, 2008

Micro Space: The Google Lander: a stepping stone to Mars
March 13, 2008

Quantum3: Innovation in the Private Sector Created the Foundation for Space Exploration
March 11, 2008

Lunatrex: LunaTrex Outreach Program begun by sponsoring University Rocket Team
March 11, 2008

Micro Space: Human and Robotic Lunar Lander Status
March 07, 2008

SCSG: The Big Elephant in the Room: FUNDING
February 29, 2008

Google Lunar X Prize News Roundup

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Doug
on March 8, 2008
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There have been a series of stories about and interviews with the leaders of teams competing for the Google Lunar X Prize. The groups are competing to land a rover on the lunar surface. The interviews include:

INTERNATIONAL SPACE FELLOWSHIP

Team Italia

Team Cringely

InterPlanetary Ventures

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO (AUDIO FILES)

Team FredNet

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

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Doug
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.”

Private Race to the Moon Takes Off

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Doug
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.