September 15th, 2007Google’s 30-Million Dollar Moon Challenge
There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency.
- President John F. Kennedy
I had goosebumps the first time I heard the complete speech given by President John F. Kennedy at Rice Stadium in the 60’s. The speech was given on September 12th, 1962 and remains just as important to me today as it was back then. Of course, I wasn’t alive when the speech was given … my father was only five years old at the time. But being the geek that I am, this was something I wanted to hear in elementary school soon after becoming enamoured in space science.
What an exciting time it must have been at NASA when the Gemini and Apollo missions were in full swing. They had huge budgets, impossible tasks, incredible risks and some of the greatest minds the world has ever known working towards a common non-military goal. There were accidents, and some even payed the ultimate price, but after 8 years of increbile stress and sleepless nights, the men and women at NASA developed the technology to put humans on the moon and return them safely to the Earth.
So why am I talking about “the good ol’ days” of space technology research? Well … because Google’s offering upwards of $30-million USD to private organizations that can get us exploring our closest celestial neighbour again.
The competition to send a robot craft to the Moon is being run with the X-Prize Foundation. To claim the money, any craft reaching the lunar surface must perform a series of tasks such as shoot video and roam for specific distances. Firms and individuals interested in trying for the prize have until December 31st, 2012 to complete the goals.
In a statement announcing the competition, Google and the X-Prize Foundation said it had been created in an effort to stimulate research into low-cost robotic exploration of space.
The top prize of $20-million will be given to the private firm or organization that soft-lands a rover on the Moon and then completes a series of tasks. These include roaming the lunar surface for a distance of at least 500 meters, gathering images and video, and other pieces of data. A prize of $5-million will be awarded to the second firm that reaches the Moon with a rover that can complete the same tasks.
Google went on to say they would give bonuses of $5-million if the rovers complete other objectives, including travelling much further over the lunar surface, taking pictures of Apollo hardware, finding water-ice (which I think would be worth more than $5-million for anyone staying on the moon) and surviving the extreme temperature changes for prolonged periods.
Rovers taking part must be fitted with high-definition video and still cameras.
This contest really excites me, though it’s a shame that I do not have the resources or skills necessary to take part in such an endeavour. But that said, there is still time to learn.
If the prize is not awarded by the end of 2012, a smaller sum of $15-million will be offered until December 31st, 2014.
Sending a rocket to the Moon is a difficult task any day, but including with that rocket must be a robot that can safely land and carry out some specific tasks for an specific amount of time. Typically such incredible feats are left for nations or international agencies, but with the world’s brightest minds working on the problem, there’s a good chance that low-cost robotic scouts can be created and sent to the Moon and beyond.
I look forward to the opportunities this competition will bring.
Since I couldn’t find a decent version on YouTube, you can download President Kennedy’s historic speech at Rice Stadium in .mpg format here (176 MB) or in .asf format here (25 MB).
You would think that the chance of winning the money is so slim that people would be discouraged from even trying. Still, if someone can do it on a shoestring budget, what will that say about NASA? It’ll be very interesting to follow.
I don’t think people would be discouraged at all. Heck, if I were in university or college, I’d likely try to get the robotics group to work together with the propulsion engineers in an effort to put together something that will meet these criteria.
As for what a successful mission would say about NASA, I don’t think it would say much at all. NASA’s missions try to accomplish as much as possible with some of the most advanced scientific tools known to man. Since entries do not require spectrometers, microscopic examination tools, or even a prolonged mission schedule (since the bare requirements could be completed in less than 12 hours if the robot could quickly navigate the lunar dust), the robot can be built on a barebones budget.
If NASA were to take part in something like this, I’m quite certain they could put something on the moon before the end of this year for next to nothing. No mission specialists would be needed. No over-engineering of the robot would be necessary (they certainly over-engineered the Mars rovers, and the scientific community is better for it). Very few specialists of any kind would be needed.
Heck, I’m sure NASA could accomplish this with just 3 people: a rocket scientist, a robotic expert, and a recent grad to fetch the coffee
You would think that the chance of winning the money is so slim that people would be discouraged from even trying.
People weren’t discouraged from trying to win the Ansari X-Prize. Some of them are still plugging away - see Armadillo Aerospaace in Texas.
I’m pretty excited by this - it demonstrates that the way to solve space problems is for someone to make a lot of money in a non-related industry and then throw money at engineers until the problem is solved or you run out of money.
Okay, I just assumed that putting a robot on the moon would be difficult.
I know very little about this kind of thing, but there are a lot of people who believe the U.S never really went to the moon. So, this competition has the potential to prove once and for all whether they really did or not. I mean, if it were a hoax then NASA/government/whoever would need to stop this competition getting off the ground - literally!
Has this hit the mainstream news yet? Where are all the people urging Google to spend the money on some of Earth’s more pressing problems?
Sending a robot to the Moon is quite difficult. Just like Mr. Kennedy said, “we choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
Engineers need to have an incredible knowledge of physics in order to get something out of the atmosphere and on the proper trajectory to reach the Moon. It’s not as simple as looking at the night sky and eye-balling a tube filled with high-explosives.
Remember to shoot at where the Moon will be when the rocket arrives … not to where the Moon is right now
Then there’s the problem with the robot. The device would need to handle temperature extremes, LOTS of dust, and huge hills and craters. Not only does that prove a challenge at the best of times, but that robot needs to land softly enough to actually work when it’s on the surface.
There’s lots of engineering that would need to go into this project, and it’s not something that could easily be done by someone in their garage during weekends (though I am considering it
).