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Project M: NASA to Send Robot to the Moon
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by Jordan Yerman | July 8, 2010 at 11:55 am
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NASA to send Humanoid Robot to the Moon
NASA has annonced Project M, which entails sending a humanoid robot to the Moon. The goal is to make this happen in 2013. Xeni Jardin of Boing Boing points out that the contractor, Armadillo Aerospace, was founded by John D. Carmack, who created the classic games Doom, Quake, and Castle Wolfenstein, as well as championing open-source software and cross-platform portablility.
Hit the link below for a video of the robotic astronaut. Its name isn't Gort, but it should be.
The humanoid will travel to the moon on a small lander fueled by green propellants, liquid methane and liquid oxygen. It will perform a precision, autonomous landing, avoiding any hazards or obstacles on the surface. Upon landing the robot will deploy and walk on the surface performing a multitude of tasks focused on demonstrating engineering tasks such as maintenance and construction; performing science of opportunity (i.e. using existing sensors on the robot or small science instruments); and simple student experiments.
Currently the robots are operational from the waist up, as fully-functioning legs are still in the implementation pipeline.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (1)
at 03:08 on September 1st, 2010
Getting this robot walking on the moon will be the biggest step forward in space since the Apollo 11 moon landing. Humans are too costly to send into space. They are too delicate, need too much life support overhead , and have to re returned to Earth at the end of the mission. Their day is past. The new generation of space explorers need to be humanoid robots. Then we will be able to successfully explore any moon or planet sooner, better and far cheaper than we ever could with any manned mission.I look forward to seeing Robonaut plant the flag on the moon. One small step for a bot, one giant leap for humanity and space exploration.