Hypography X Prize Entry

[Jay-qu]

Originally Posted by freeztar

Hear, hear.

If for no other reason, it would be nice to deal a good blow to the lunar mission skeptics.

I was originally thinking that a prime landing spot would be a space free of craters and large topographic features. I would imagine NASA was thinking the same with the Apollo lunar rover missions. It's hard to know without access to high-res imagery WITH known locations of vessels superimposed. Does anyone know the lunar coordinates for the various Apollo relics?

Im not sure if it was posted earlier but there is a 'google moon' that works the same as google earth, Im think that might be able to help you out

Google Moon

[freeztar]

bumpity bump

[Jay-qu]

Not much happening on this front

[TheBigDog]

In my garage I have the RC that will become my prototype rover. I have not even broken the seal on the box, but when the weather warms up and I can work comfortably in the garage, I will be getting back on track again.

Bill

[Giles Corey]

I would love to help!
Just ignore the fact that i have an 11th grade education, and I'll be the biggest asset to the team!

All i can say for now is that if your going to bother to go to the moon, make sure your doing something new for the first time, even if small. For example, Take a rock from the earth to the moon for a change!
~Giles be Useless!

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by Giles Corey

I would love to help!

Everyone's invited!

Take a rock from the earth to the moon for a change!

That's a "scientifically ethical" risk.

What if we found, say, Ebola virus, on Mars? Would we thump ourselves on the head for not sterilizing EVERY component of the equipment, or would we profess "life on Mars found!". Fortunately, space agencies have taken this into consideration (being the smart folk that they are) and the Mars rovers, for example, should not contaminate Mars at all. (barring the minute losses of steel and plastic and whatever else; and of course the final trash heap)

[freeztar]

I found a good article on landing balloons. Unfortunately they don't give numbers, but it seems like a good way to go. The explosive technique can also be used as a coolant through condensation.

'Instant bubblewrap' makes for soft planetary landings - tech - 29 January 2008 - New Scientist Tech

[alexander]

and nobody has thought of doing cool geeky things yet, eh?

I am available if you guys want to make the project just one bit more geeky :P

already know what we need basically too:

the big boomy boosty thingy to bring the rover where it needs to go, i suggest a multiple high altitude balloon launch platform for the mission, chemical energy/weight saving would be enormous

and you will need autonomous control for the mission (mind you this is all software based)... so i was thinking, we could send some really crazy device up in space, like a wireless router that will do all sorts of insane things.... or one of those eee pcs without the monitor ofcourse, or something like that... that would be real elite, can you imagine wearing a shirt that say "i landed a wireless router on the moon"...

hmm, what else... can we make the craft into a giant wireless antenna, for the longest 802.11n communication?

need a cool way to land, since parachute won't quite work, and the airbag method has been used already, i suggest releasing a set of explosive devices, set to explode in precise places at precise times to slow the craft down using directed shockwaves...

ooh another cool way to crash would be to send one of those exit ramp protective boxes made of plastic and styrofoam...

also it would be cool to have a web cam on the moon.... just throwing some thoughts out there...

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by alexander

and nobody has thought of doing cool geeky things yet, eh?

Yes, we have!

I am available if you guys want to make the project just one bit more geeky :P

Cool!

the big boomy boosty thingy to bring the rover where it needs to go, i suggest a multiple high altitude balloon launch platform for the mission, chemical energy/weight saving would be enormous

Can you go into more details about this?

and you will need autonomous control for the mission (mind you this is all software based)... so i was thinking, we could send some really crazy device up in space, like a wireless router that will do all sorts of insane things.... or one of those eee pcs without the monitor ofcourse, or something like that... that would be real elite, can you imagine wearing a shirt that say "i landed a wireless router on the moon"...

TBD beat you to it. He suggested using a router and setting up a web page that would be used to control the camera-equipped rovers from Earth, using php or something.

More here:
Lunar Computer & Software Team

hmm, what else... can we make the craft into a giant wireless antenna, for the longest 802.11n communication?

Yep.

need a cool way to land, since parachute won't quite work, and the airbag method has been used already, i suggest releasing a set of explosive devices, set to explode in precise places at precise times to slow the craft down using directed shockwaves...

This thread has touched on the subject pretty extensively and would be a good place to suggest your idea.

Here are some other related threads:
Lunar Mission Sim
Lunar Exploration History
Team Solid-state
Team Tuttle Park Rover

[alexander]

Can you go into more details about this?

certainly, you as a space person, should be aware of where the majority of chemical energy of a rocket is spent. right, to accelerate the craft over the first 10000feet. the air is dense here, and it takes lots of energy to propel a vehicle through it. This is why for a very long time, russians, in their Buran project, were working on creating a flying shuttle launch platform, because the energy saving is termendous, so, you need less fuel, which means less weight and ability to use a smaller craft. This is also why the original x-prize used a plane to launch the "runner" (i think they called it) which had the rocket booster that then accelerated the craft to where it needed to go...

I suggest a similar design, only instead of a plane, it would be cool to use high altitude balloons, and thinking about the weight of the craft, most likely multiple high altitude baloons, to get the craft to over 10000feet, in fact to something like 100-120 000 feet prior to using rocket boosters to then break the earth's pull... I'm a math person, but i'm not a rocketry person, so i can not give you precise figures, but maybe someone with rocketry experience can, but it would be a hefty amount of fuel that would take you 35km up.... though it's still miniscule compared to the totel distance that is needed to travel, methinks its the biggest friction barrier for the mission

i think i'll stop here and go start working on changing over my linux install to xubuntu on my mac (dont worry it's a dual boot)