StarStryder has some comments by NASA Administrator Griffin at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. This is mainly about science, but commercial space comes up a few times. The comments are paraphrased by StarStryder, and I wasn't there, so I can't tell how closely the comments match what Dr. Griffin actually said:
He is outlining the tests of the new launch vehicles, launching from Kennedy and the New Mexico spaceport. He is challenging us to find uses for these new vehicles, and he is challenging us to find ways for NASA to stay first in space and first in the world.
...
From depressing badges to Google Lunar X-Prize - How will NASA deal with a commercial winner? Will there be commercial contracts? asks someone from the commercial space race (he didn’t say which company). Griffin: Yes. And we’ll use a certain amount of government money to seed it and will hirer folks.
...
Women: Thank you for restoring outer solar system missions and the servicing mission to Hubble. What is being down to increase access to launch vehicles and power systems?
Griffin: Paraphrasing - We’re developing new technologies. As for launch vehicles … government is not very efficient. I’m hoping that the commercial space agencies will drive innovation and lower costs. Government can be efficient under stress (when things get streamlined), but it can’t be successful when trying to meet the needs of everyone in all of government. For instance, the system of procurement is designed to be fair but not to be efficient. … We need to empower a group to efficiently run the space race. I hope that it will be NASA, but it may be the commercial agencies…
Monday, March 10, 2008
Masters of Doom
RoboRocketry has a post about Masters of Doom, a book about John Carmack's software work (a book I didn't know about until this post). Naturally on a blog called RoboRocketry Armadillo and the X PRIZE Cup are featured in the post.
Unreasonable Rocket Helicopter, Tanks, Shuttle, and Parts
This is a catch-up for 2 Unreasonable Rocket posts on pictures of unreasonable rocket parts and fighting to make progress with the helicopter and tanks.
There's also a section about wanting to watch the Shuttle launch. I have to say as a spectator to all of this rocketry stuff I'd rather see a couple X PRIZE Cup Unreasonable Rocket and/or other successful Lunar Lander Challenge launches and landings than a Shuttle launch, and I don't stand to win a cent on the LLC. I'm also not nearly as "1 track minded" about space prizes as you might think from my selection of niche for this blog. In spite of having a critical attitude about the Shuttle and the ISS, I'm quite enthusiastic about this phase of the ISS construction where habitable nodes and labs are being added and ISS capability is growing considerably.
Nevertheless I think Paul made the right decision. He doesn't have to go to Florida to see a really cool rocket.
There's also a section about wanting to watch the Shuttle launch. I have to say as a spectator to all of this rocketry stuff I'd rather see a couple X PRIZE Cup Unreasonable Rocket and/or other successful Lunar Lander Challenge launches and landings than a Shuttle launch, and I don't stand to win a cent on the LLC. I'm also not nearly as "1 track minded" about space prizes as you might think from my selection of niche for this blog. In spite of having a critical attitude about the Shuttle and the ISS, I'm quite enthusiastic about this phase of the ISS construction where habitable nodes and labs are being added and ISS capability is growing considerably.
Nevertheless I think Paul made the right decision. He doesn't have to go to Florida to see a really cool rocket.
Sustainability in Space
Jon Goff at Selenian Boondocks has some thoughts about OSTP Director Dr. John Marburger's recent speach that features Centennial Challenges as a small effort that NASA is doing that's in the right direction, and an idea about an orbital propellant depot prize. These are minor parts of the overall discussion, though. He also has related comments about sustainability in space efforts. There are related links at RLV News, Transterrestrial Musings, and Curmudgeon's Corner (go to the Sunday March 09, 2008 posts for the last link - I'm not sure how to get the permalink on that one).
20 Teams Registered for 2008 Regolith Excavation Challenge
The California Space Authority sent out a notice of 20 teams registered for the 2008 Regolith Excavation Challenge. Check the Teams page for a list of them. Most of them have links to the team site on the CSA regolith page, which sometimes (not always) has a link to a separate site for the team ... or an address that might one day be a team site.
The registered teams include the ones from last year's event, like UMR Lunar Miners and Tech Ranch. Terra Engineering is related to last year's Mendenhall BDF. This team was also in the DARPA Grand Challenges. According to the press release, Team of One is led by Geoffrey Pulk from last year's competition, rounding out all of last year's competitors that made it to the Challenge event.
Check out the latest team map.
I imagine the press release will appear on the CSA regolith page soon, but I can't find it there, so here's a cut-and-paste of the main part:
20 Teams Competing in Regolith Challenge
Competition for $750,000 NASA Prize Ramping Up
Washington, DC – The California Space Education and Workforce Institute and California Space Authority announced today during a ceremony at NASA Headquarters that 20 teams have registered to compete in the 2008 Regolith Excavation Challenge. The teams competing for the $750,000 prize purse hail from 12 states and represent a variety of backgrounds; including universities, seasoned private sector robotics teams, and industry based competitors. The Challenge event will take place during August 2nd and 3rd on the campus of challenge co-host California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo College of Engineering.
”We are pleased to have robust participation in the 2008 Regolith Excavation Challenge. It creates a great opportunity to make the excitement of space exploration tangible for the many students, professionals and other enthusiasts who are following the competition.” said Jack Gregg, Ph.D., Executive Director of the California Space Education and Workforce Institute.
All four of the teams that participated in the Challenge event in 2007 have returned for the 2008 competition despite the increased technical difficulty that this year's rules provide. Technology Ranch, led by Jim Greenhaw, Team of One led by Geoffrey Pulk, Terra Engineering led by Todd Mendenhall, and the Lunar Miners led by Cory Smith represent the four returning teams. New this year are Poiesis Research, Toy Garden, Boppers, UBC Tread Robotics, Green Cheese Solutions, Lunaccretion, Team Terrich, Ajax Laboratories, Kingfish Tech, LREX ONE, Mocha Boca II, Sandstorm, Dig-It, LunOREDIGGERS, Sileas Research Mining and Full Scale Robotics. The teams hail from California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.
Like last year, teams will be required to build autonomous excavators, but new this year is a requirement that the excavators be mobile and navigate their way through obstacles. This change requires that the teams address some of the obstructions and other operational constraints likely to be encountered on the lunar surface.
Update (March 11): I don't see the announcement yet anywhere but in my email, but San Luis Obispo.com has a brief mention of it.
The registered teams include the ones from last year's event, like UMR Lunar Miners and Tech Ranch. Terra Engineering is related to last year's Mendenhall BDF. This team was also in the DARPA Grand Challenges. According to the press release, Team of One is led by Geoffrey Pulk from last year's competition, rounding out all of last year's competitors that made it to the Challenge event.
Check out the latest team map.
I imagine the press release will appear on the CSA regolith page soon, but I can't find it there, so here's a cut-and-paste of the main part:
20 Teams Competing in Regolith Challenge
Competition for $750,000 NASA Prize Ramping Up
Washington, DC – The California Space Education and Workforce Institute and California Space Authority announced today during a ceremony at NASA Headquarters that 20 teams have registered to compete in the 2008 Regolith Excavation Challenge. The teams competing for the $750,000 prize purse hail from 12 states and represent a variety of backgrounds; including universities, seasoned private sector robotics teams, and industry based competitors. The Challenge event will take place during August 2nd and 3rd on the campus of challenge co-host California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo College of Engineering.
”We are pleased to have robust participation in the 2008 Regolith Excavation Challenge. It creates a great opportunity to make the excitement of space exploration tangible for the many students, professionals and other enthusiasts who are following the competition.” said Jack Gregg, Ph.D., Executive Director of the California Space Education and Workforce Institute.
All four of the teams that participated in the Challenge event in 2007 have returned for the 2008 competition despite the increased technical difficulty that this year's rules provide. Technology Ranch, led by Jim Greenhaw, Team of One led by Geoffrey Pulk, Terra Engineering led by Todd Mendenhall, and the Lunar Miners led by Cory Smith represent the four returning teams. New this year are Poiesis Research, Toy Garden, Boppers, UBC Tread Robotics, Green Cheese Solutions, Lunaccretion, Team Terrich, Ajax Laboratories, Kingfish Tech, LREX ONE, Mocha Boca II, Sandstorm, Dig-It, LunOREDIGGERS, Sileas Research Mining and Full Scale Robotics. The teams hail from California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.
Like last year, teams will be required to build autonomous excavators, but new this year is a requirement that the excavators be mobile and navigate their way through obstacles. This change requires that the teams address some of the obstructions and other operational constraints likely to be encountered on the lunar surface.
Update (March 11): I don't see the announcement yet anywhere but in my email, but San Luis Obispo.com has a brief mention of it.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Astrobotic, LunaTrex, and ARCA Lunar X PRIZE Videos
A couple of videos from Google Lunar X PRIZE competitor Astrobotic were recently posted to YouTube here and here. You may have seen one of them at the GLXP Teams site before.
There are also some videos that were added a bit longer ago - around the time of the GLXP teams announcement - one from LunaTrex and several from ARCA.
There are also some videos that were added a bit longer ago - around the time of the GLXP teams announcement - one from LunaTrex and several from ARCA.
Friday, March 07, 2008
Meet the New Centennial Challenges Leader
The Space Elevator Blog has a post that I'm presenting not so much because it has to do with the Space Elevator Games, but rather because it introduces the new person in charge of Centennial Challenges (among other responsibilities), Andy Petro.
Consolidated Lunar and Glove Prizes Post
For the Google Lunar X PRIZE:
The Space Fellowship has had a series of interviews and articles on the Google Lunar X PRIZE teams. Here's one on Team Italia.
The Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams site has an update from Micro-Space that also has some Space Fellowship content.
For the Lunar Lander Challenge:
RLV News has the latest updates from Masten Space Systems on a new employee's job and igniter tests, and Unreasonable Rocket showing data from a test. Actually, RLV News already has an even newer post on available summer interships. I'm not sure if Masten is still going for the LLC prize this year.
For the Astronaut Glove Challenge:
RLV News links to another cool article from NASA ASK by 2007 Astronaut Glove Challenge winner Peter Homer where the "incremental failure" approach, applicable in many other design situations, leads to a win:
I decided to focus all my effort on just the finger element. If I couldn't come up with a more flexible finger, there was no point in spending time on the rest of the glove, I reasoned. So I devised a simple test fixture that allowed me to build and pressurize finger elements in about twenty minutes, and I spent the next few weeks designing and making glove fingers. A lot of fingers. Probably three dozen in all. Every one of those fingers (except the last) was a little failure, but every one taught me something about what did and didn't flex easily, or about how to streamline the fabrication process, or what materials and design elements were or were not important.
Here's another lesson that's might come in handy:
By remaining aware of the big picture, continuously asking myself, “Am I converging on a solution?” and “Am I converging fast enough?” I was able to see that my original design was not going to succeed, leading to the decision to start over.
The Space Fellowship has had a series of interviews and articles on the Google Lunar X PRIZE teams. Here's one on Team Italia.
The Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams site has an update from Micro-Space that also has some Space Fellowship content.
For the Lunar Lander Challenge:
RLV News has the latest updates from Masten Space Systems on a new employee's job and igniter tests, and Unreasonable Rocket showing data from a test. Actually, RLV News already has an even newer post on available summer interships. I'm not sure if Masten is still going for the LLC prize this year.
For the Astronaut Glove Challenge:
RLV News links to another cool article from NASA ASK by 2007 Astronaut Glove Challenge winner Peter Homer where the "incremental failure" approach, applicable in many other design situations, leads to a win:
I decided to focus all my effort on just the finger element. If I couldn't come up with a more flexible finger, there was no point in spending time on the rest of the glove, I reasoned. So I devised a simple test fixture that allowed me to build and pressurize finger elements in about twenty minutes, and I spent the next few weeks designing and making glove fingers. A lot of fingers. Probably three dozen in all. Every one of those fingers (except the last) was a little failure, but every one taught me something about what did and didn't flex easily, or about how to streamline the fabrication process, or what materials and design elements were or were not important.
Here's another lesson that's might come in handy:
By remaining aware of the big picture, continuously asking myself, “Am I converging on a solution?” and “Am I converging fast enough?” I was able to see that my original design was not going to succeed, leading to the decision to start over.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Ken Davidian on Commercial Space Development and Centennial Challenges
Former NASA Centennial Challenges manager Ken Davidian recently appeared on the Space Show. Most of the interview was on his new assignment, which deals with a new NASA ESMD policy favoring commercial space development. Towards the end of the interview he also discussed each of the existing Centennial Challenges prizes, including questions of where the next Lunar Lander Challenge would be held, when would this year's Astronaut Glove Challenge rules be revealed, and more.
Reasonable Blogging Tools for the Lunar Lander Engineer
Unreasonable Rocket is testing new blogging software tools and showing how windy it was during tests from the previous post.
Lunar X PRIZE, Universities, and Cringely
RLV News posts on 2 Google Lunar X PRIZE articles. The first, from the Tucson Citizen, is on the University or Arizona's contribution to team Astrobotic. Here's one snippet from the article showing how it's going:
The project has $1.5 million in hand donated by UA, Carnegie Mellon and Raytheon to fund design work and develop a business plan needed to raise funds to cover the project's $100 million price tag, Lauretta said.
What does UA have to gain from the competition?
"The X Prize is not the only revenue stream. We will have a system for pinpoint accuracy delivery to the surface of the moon or other planets. Others will come and pay for that. We really believe in the vision of the Google Lunar X Prize to make lunar surface activities routine."
... and ...
"Instead of being the group that provides the science instruments, we will be able to provide an entire spacecraft and run an entire mission," Lauretta said. "UA will be capable of building and operating entire space missions for NASA. We'll have a bigger share of the workload.
The other article is from the Space Fellowship, which has been interviewing GLXP teams. This time the interview is of Team Cringely.
Finally, here's a GLXP article from Design News on universities and the GLXP.
The project has $1.5 million in hand donated by UA, Carnegie Mellon and Raytheon to fund design work and develop a business plan needed to raise funds to cover the project's $100 million price tag, Lauretta said.
What does UA have to gain from the competition?
"The X Prize is not the only revenue stream. We will have a system for pinpoint accuracy delivery to the surface of the moon or other planets. Others will come and pay for that. We really believe in the vision of the Google Lunar X Prize to make lunar surface activities routine."
... and ...
"Instead of being the group that provides the science instruments, we will be able to provide an entire spacecraft and run an entire mission," Lauretta said. "UA will be capable of building and operating entire space missions for NASA. We'll have a bigger share of the workload.
The other article is from the Space Fellowship, which has been interviewing GLXP teams. This time the interview is of Team Cringely.
Finally, here's a GLXP article from Design News on universities and the GLXP.
X PRIZE Foundation Newsletter, Feb 29, 2008
The X PRIZE Foundation sent out its latest newsletter, the February 29 edition. The link-rich email includes a summary of the first 10 GLXP team and Space Florida announcements, and a featured GLXP Lunar Legacy photo. There's also a bit about the Automotive X PRIZE at the New York International Auto Show where
The exhibit space will include videos about the Automotive X PRIZE, showcasing of potential teams and their vehicles and new, exciting announcements about the prize.
Finally, there's a section on a dinner honoring new X PRIZE Foundation Vision Circle members:
The X PRIZE Foundation welcomed the latest members of the Vision Circle, Sergey Brin and Ann Wojcicki; Ray Sidney; and Barry and Trudy Silverstein whose son, Jake, will represent the family. The dinner was hosted by Bita Daryabari at her home in Atherton on February 16.
The exhibit space will include videos about the Automotive X PRIZE, showcasing of potential teams and their vehicles and new, exciting announcements about the prize.
Finally, there's a section on a dinner honoring new X PRIZE Foundation Vision Circle members:
The X PRIZE Foundation welcomed the latest members of the Vision Circle, Sergey Brin and Ann Wojcicki; Ray Sidney; and Barry and Trudy Silverstein whose son, Jake, will represent the family. The dinner was hosted by Bita Daryabari at her home in Atherton on February 16.
Pomerantz on Lessons Learned and a New SEDS Contest
William Pomerantz at the X PRIZE Foundation posts on an article he wrote for NASA's ASK Magazine on lessons learned from the entrepreneurs going for the Foundations' prizes. I'm not sure if NASA will be able to take advantage of these lessons learned, since it's if anything tending to go for even fewer, bigger missions, like the Ares rockets and associated NASA lunar transportation systems, very large Mars robotic missions, etc. Lessons like "Build, Test, Fly, Destroy, Repeat", "(Small) Size Matters", and the others are tough to fit into these kinds of programs. Good luck to NASA on finding and fostering some niches where these lessons can be applied while at the same time tackling the big programs.
Will also posts about a new SEDS Lunar Rover Design Competition. The first round will be held at the UK Space Conference 2008, which, if you check my earlier post at that link you'll see has a lot of other interesting prizes, competitions, and awards.
Will also posts about a new SEDS Lunar Rover Design Competition. The first round will be held at the UK Space Conference 2008, which, if you check my earlier post at that link you'll see has a lot of other interesting prizes, competitions, and awards.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
National Space Society Short Story Contest(s?)
The National Space Society's Downlink #85 broadcast email has some prize-related news I've covered before (Google Lunar X PRIZE team announcement, NSS Space Elevator Team), but it also has a new prize article. This one is on the 'Return to Luna' Short Story Contest. Among other prizes, the winners will be in a Science Fiction print anthology called 'Return to Luna'. They're looking for a certain flavor of story you might expect the National Space Society to prefer; see the link for more details. Judges include some well-known space-oriented Science Fiction authors. Here's more on the publisher.
Spaceref and Space for All also are helping get the word out on the contest.
Also, although I can't find any confirmation of it on the NSS site (so make some phone calls before writing that story!), the site linked ahead states that the NSS is also still part of the 2nd Annual Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest.
Spaceref and Space for All also are helping get the word out on the contest.
Also, although I can't find any confirmation of it on the NSS site (so make some phone calls before writing that story!), the site linked ahead states that the NSS is also still part of the 2nd Annual Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest.
60's: Purple Haze; 80's: Purple Rain; '00's: Unreasonable Purple Rocket Cloud
RLV News points out the latest update - with a YouTube video - from Unreasonable Rocket. Armadillo Aerospace's John Carmack makes a suggestion in the comments.
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