Astrobotic strives to be FedEx to the Moon

Astrobotic Griffin lunar lander and Red Rover LR. GLXP Hakuto team announced it has joined in their attempt to win the X-PRIZE contest, riding to the Moon atop a Falcon 9 booster [Astrobotic/CMU]. 

Tim Reyes

Techcrunch

Astrobotic Technology, a leading Google Lunar X-PRIZE competitor, is setting up to become the first delivery service to the Moon.

With a low-cost launch, they now have a lander with the potential for precision landings driven by new system on a chip (SOC) technologies developed by Nvidia with help from General Electric.

Astrobotic knows that space and robotics are not that easy, but at a recent Nvidia-sponsored technology conference, the company’s engineers were presenting technologies that it argues could ease and accelerate the path to the Moon.

And the company is offering anyone — including their X-PRIZE competitors — a ride to the Moon. Safely on the surface they propose a civilized Mad Max road race to the finish line – 500 meters away –  the winner taking  the $20 million grand prize.

To date, only the Japanese team HAKUTO has joined them.

To make their moon mission a reality, the company is blending an interesting mix of old and new into their lander design, the Griffin Lander.

The new includes the Nvidia Tegra K1 chip used initially in its Jetson dev kit. The old is none other than General Electric designing the custom boards based on Tegra K1 and low-cost computer boards they hope will be recognized as a better, cheaper, alternative to existing radiation-hardened electronics costing millions. The Nvidia dev kit costs little more than $300.

Tapping their own wiz-kids from Carnegie-Mellon, Astrobotics is using laser-guided imagery that was developed to compete for the DARPA Grand Challenge for autonomous vehicles. For Astrobotic, the convergence of all of this tech is designed to get them beyond just the Google Lunar X-PRIZE but much more.

Read the featured article, HERE.

GLXP Milestone Prizes to five teams

Google has announced a list of Milestone prizes in the Google Lunar X Prize competition. Five teams have won prizes, thus far totaling $5.25 million for demonstrated proficiency in Landing, Mobility, and Imaging.

Awards in Imaging and Mobility were announced in December. On Monday, Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic of Carnegie Mellon University tops this latest list adding up $1.75 million in prize money across all categories.

Astrobotic, Team Indus and Moon Express were each previously awarded $1 million in the Landing column, adding to $500,000 for Mobility also awarded Astrobotic last month, together with Japan's Team Hakuto and Germany's Part-Time Scientists and $250,000 for Imaging each to Astrobotic, and Part-Time Scientists and Moon Express.

Astrobotic Technology's Red Rover concept, ultimately selected by Popular Science as one of the 100 Best Innovations of 2011, part of their design system in the heating-up contest to win the Google Lunar X-Prize [Astrobotic Technology, Inc.].

ISRU: NASA KSC prototype rover photo op

From the Hawai'i summer season of 2011, NASA and academia will continue the methodical testing and development of semi-autonomous and robust robotic rovers will continue this year [NASA].

An excellent overview of a recent lunar analog study, released (PDF) May 2012
Desert Research and Technology Studies (DRATS) 2009: A 14-Day Evaluation of the
SpaceExploration Vehicle Prototype in a Lunar Analog Environment
Abercromby, Gernhardt and Litaker, JSC

Media are invited to a briefing and photo opportunity Tuesday, June 12, at the Press Site television auditorium at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to view a prototype of a lunar prospecting mission.

The Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction, or RESOLVE, consists of a lunar rover and drill provided by the Canadian Space Agency to support a NASA payload that is designed to prospect for water, ice and other lunar resources. RESOLVE also will demonstrate how future explorers can take advantage of resources at potential landing sites by manufacturing oxygen from soil.

Journalists will have an opportunity to photograph the hardware, as well as interview NASA and Canadian Space Agency officials.

NASA will be conducting field tests in July outside of Hilo, Hawaii, with equipment and concept vehicles that demonstrate how explorers might prospect for resources and make their own oxygen for survival while on other planetary bodies.

Journalists without Kennedy accreditation must apply for credentials by 4 p.m. June 11. International media accreditation for this event is closed. Badges for this specific event can be picked up at Kennedy's Badging Office on State Road 405. Media must apply for credentials online at: https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

For more information about NASA's exploration plans, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration

Astrobotics contracted for polar exploration refinements

Astrobotic "Polaris" lunar rover design and the Icebreaker expedition

Astrobotic Technology has unveiled a NASA contract to determine whether its Polaris lunar rover design can deploy an ice-prospecting payload to the Moon.

The increasing likelihood of ice on the Moon might eventually yield water, oxygen, methane and rocket propellant to dramatically reduce the cost of deep space exploration.

"Astrobotic seeks the immense resources available on the Moon to both accelerate space exploration and improve life on Earth," said Astrobotics president David Gump. "The lunar path is near term. We intend a prospecting mission in 2015."

Astrobotic began development of a lunar excavation robot in 2009 under a series of NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts now total $795,000. The new NASA SBIR Phase 3 follow-on contract is designed for refinements for carrying NASA-supplied instruments and a drill to Cabeus or Shoemaker craters at high latitudes in the lunar south and other heavily shadowed places nearer the lunar north pole where hydrogen in the form of water ice appears to have been detected..

Instruments on-board India's Chandrayaan-1 orbiter and its Moon Impact Probe (MIP), and detailed surveys from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) along with the LCROSS impact at Cabeus have directly detected water, hydroxyl compounds, methane, ammonia, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide and other volatiles. These resources went undiscovered during the Apollo expeditions which were concentrated near the Moon's equator.

An important next step is to discover the "ground truth" by directly drilling and measuring these ressources directly to see if they are sufficiently concentrated to be useful.

Propellants and other materials manufactured in place on the Moon could enable spacecraft for long voyages at greatly reduced costs or used for vehicles dispatched to Earth orbit more cheaply than the high cost of launching spacecraft and fuel out of Earth's gravity well. Water and oxygen would also be invaluable for life support, and other elements have immense value for energy, processes, fabrication and extended habitation.

When seeking resources from planetary destinations, the four-day travel time to reach the Moon enables early return on investment compared to more distant targets.

Astrobotic has reserved a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster to send its spacecraft and robotic explorer to the Moon. The Astrobotic payload will deliver a prospecting robot to the lunar surface with technology that autonomously avoids hazards such as boulders and craters. This navigation system was derived from technology developed at Carnegie Mellon University under the direction of Dr. William "Red" Whittaker, Astrobotic's founder. 

Dr. Whittaker won the DARPA Urban Challenge with a driverless car able to autonomously navigate city streets, avoiding other cars while obeying California traffic laws. The ability to detect hazards and automatically select alternative pathways is the core of Astrobotic's automatic lunar landing system.

Astrobotic has totaled $12 million in nine NASA lunar contracts covering issues from simulating lunar gravity on Earth to discovering ways to robotically explore the Moon's ravines and pits. Natural caverns on the Moon should provide vital shelter for both unmanned vehicles and human explorers, from ionizing radiation, a near constant infall of micrometeorites and the extreme temperature swings experienced directly on the lunar surface.

Astrobotic changes plans, aims for lunar north

High potential resources, greater mobility, better parking? Epps and Wingo of Skycorp/LOIRP made a strong case for preferring the north over the south polar regions for lunar rover missions in a poster presented at the 43rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in March. Top, fig. 1a from that presentation, shows "LOLA 10 Meter Gridded Data Record Terrain from 87.5° North to the North Pole (3x vertical exaggeration)." Below, LOLA steady accumulation of laser data is bringing the far lunar north out of permanent and near permanent shadow, while other LRO experiments continue to back up low-resolution conclusions offered after the Lunar Prospector (1998-1999) neutron survey, namely that hydrogen species derived from all vectors may be present at twice the accumulation in the north over the lunar south polar regions [NASA/LOLA/Skycorp].

David Templeton
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Astrobotic Technology, one of 26 teams competing for a $30 million Google Lunar X Prize, has altered its October 2015 mission to the moon in dramatic fashion. It's headed to the lunar north pole to prospect for natural resources, including water and methane, and abandoning plans to land near the equator.

The new goal is to advance science by confirming the presence of resources necessary for colonization of the moon. The space robotics company, which holds six NASA contracts to develop robotic equipment for moon missions, changed its strategy to take full scientific advantage of landing its first robot on the moon.

NASA, ESA, Japan, India and China all completed recent satellite orbits of the moon that indicated the presence of water and other resources there, but without confirmation*.

In February, Astrobotic president David Gump announced Astrobotic is the first to announce that it has reserved a launch vehicle -- a Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX -- to carry its robot and lander to the moon.

Astrobotic's Polaris robot, which is a lunar rover, also will be able to dig and drill for resources, then analyze and report its findings to Earth. Its landing would represent a major scientific step forward in moon exploration.

"If we get on the ground in the north pole and confirm the presence of resources, that would be the basis for a thriving lunar economy where we could create spacecraft fuel on the moon," Gump said.

Led by noted Carnegie Mellon University roboticist William "Red" Whittaker, the company now is redesigning its Polaris robot to transform it into a lunar prospector. Because the weight the rocket can carry is set, any additional weight added to the robot must be subtracted from the lander, Gump said.

Originally, Astrobotic planned to land a robot near the moon's equator, which would travel across the lunar surface and send video back to Earth. The former plan also included a trip near the Apollo 11 landing site, where the first humans stepped on the lunar surface, and provide fresh video of the famous spot.

"The previous robot was designed to be a scout carrying cameras and making long-distance traverses," Gump said. Astrobotic plans to haul payload from space agencies and scientific institutions to the moon at a cost of $820,000 a pound.

At the north pole, the robot will operate for 10 to 12 days of constant sunlight, then hibernate during the equal period of polar nighttime.

*Editor's Note: India's Moon Impactor Probe (MIP), released from Chandrayaan-1, directly detected the presence of water in trace form before its hard landing near Shackleton crater and the lunar north pole. The Cassini probe detected hydrogen as molecular hydroxyl and water while making baseline calibration observations of the Moon on the way to Saturn in 1999. Water was directly observed in the plume resulting from the LCROSS impact at Cabeus crater. The presence of water, within and near permanently shadowed regions of the Moon has been inferred by remote sensing data consistent with the presence of water ice by Clementine (1994), Lunar Prospector (1998-1999), and more recently from the Mini-RF, LEND and LAMP instruments on-board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Astrobiotic unveils Polaris high-latitude explorer

Polaris prospects for water at the lunar poles. One of three lunar rover designs by Astrobotics Technology, Polaris has three vertical solar panels to generate 250 watts of power and two radiator panels to rid itself of excess heat. Stereo cameras and laser are used to guide Polaris and generate 3-D video and models of the lunar surface. The robot communicates directly with Earth using a pointed S-band antenna to receive commands and send video and data. Polaris carries up to 175 lbs (80kg) of payload, such as a drill to take core samples and science instruments to identify water content. Polaris is capable of driving and avoiding obstacles autonomously including traverses into dark regions in the lunar pole’s long shadows. Polaris suspension includes raise and lower capability to vary chassis ground clearance to lower for drilling and raise for driving on rough terrain. The suspension maintains four-wheel ground contact over sloped and rocky lunar terrain without the use of springs. Surface operations are carefully preplanned to maintain unobstructed views of the sun for power and the earth for communication. View the full-size artist concept HERE [Astrobotic Technology/CMU].

Pittsburgh / CMU - Astrobotic Technology unveiled its new Polaris lunar rover design, which will prospect for potentially rich deposits of water ice, methane and other resources at the moon's north pole in three years.

A powerful Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX will launch Polaris from Cape Canaveral in late October 2015. Four days later Polaris will land during north pole summer, when patches of ground that are in cold shadow most of the year get brief illumination. This is where ice will be found closest to the surface, and when a solar-powered robot will get the sunlight needed to sustain exploration. Polaris will search for ice for the next 12 days until sundown in early November.

Polaris carries up to 175 lbs (80kg) of payload, such as a drill and instruments to analyze samples from the drill. To find the best spot to drill, two sensors will look for signs of hidden ice beneath the surface layer of dry soil. A neutron spectrometer will measure the number of neutrons given off by the first yard of soil beneath the rover; a dip in the reading indicates neutrons coming in from space are being absorbed by hydrogen (in water or methane) in ice beneath the robot. A near infrared spectrometer will look for variations in surface temperature that may hint at ice below.

Polaris is adapted from a lunar excavation machine that Astrobotic has been prototyping under a NASA contract granted in 2010. After Polaris and other prospecting robots find the highest ice concentrations, excavation robots will remove the covering layer of dry soil to recover the ices and deliver them to a plant that turns them into rocket propellant.

CMU's Red Whittaker and the Google Lunar X-Prize

Astrobotic Technology's "Red Rover" design concept picked by Popular Science as one of the 100 Best Innovations of 2011, their team entry in the contest to win the Google Lunar X-Prize [Astrobotic Technology, Inc.].

Debra Erdley
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

William "Red" Whittaker is still shooting for the moon.But Whittaker, a Carnegie Mellon University robotics professor and CEO of Astrobotic Technology Inc., says his team has pushed back its plans to land a robot on the moon by a year — to May 2015 — to tailor a robot suited to the expedition's new destination: the lunar south pole.

The CMU/Astrobotic team is competing to claim a portion of a multimillion-dollar prize for landing a robot on the moon. The team's new plan calls for a robot prospector to drill for ice samples at the moon's south pole to try to confirm the existence of water there, a possibility lunar orbiters and a lunar penetrator have strongly suggested in recent years.

William "Red" Whittaker, roboticist and research professor
of robotics at Carnegie Mellon University, describes the
Astrobotic lunar lander that his team built in a Pittsburgh lab
before it was crated up to ship to California for additional
testing, last June 15. The team is tweaking its design and has
changed the launch date to May 2015 [Andrew Russell/
Tribune-Review].

"It is high-risk and high-return," Whittaker said.

His team is among 26, including one from Penn State University, that are competing to claim a portion of the Google Lunar X Prize, which will go to the first team to land a robot on the moon, make it travel 500 meters and transmit video to earth.

Prize organizers extended the deadline for the contest several times, most recently to December 2015.

The CMU/Astrobotic team built and tested its lunar lander. Last year Astrobotic signed a contract for a $60 million space shot with the privately owned Space X company. Along the way, the company picked up $610,000 in NASA contracts.

Astrobotic president David Gump said confirming water at the poles would be a major discovery that could point the way to the production of rocket fuel on the moon — water is a critical component — and the use of the moon as a fueling and launching point for further space exploration.

"The big question is: How can you do exploration at an affordable price? The key to that is being off-planet. If we can get propellant for a Mars trip on the moon, it will really make getting to Mars much cheaper," Gump said.

Going to the south pole of the moon means the trip can occur only during a one-month window when the cold, dark region has a small amount of light. Whittaker said the robot will have to be slightly larger and stronger than originally envisioned.

But he's excited about the possibilities inherent in a lunar polar mission.

"There is no more significant deliberate discovery that a robot can achieve in a near-term mission than to confirm the existence of ice at the poles of the moon. ... Given the life opportunity of a landing on the moon, why not make it count?" Whittaker said.

Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Additional ILDD contract awarded to Astrobotic

Prototype Astrobotic Scout Rover undergoes field tests in a
Big Island "lunar proxy" environment in 2011 [Astronbotic].

NASA has awarded Astrobotic Technology Inc. an additional task in its $10 million Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data (ILDD) contract under which NASA buys information about the company’s commercial robotic expeditions to the Moon. The $100,000 task order brings total funding under the ILDD contract thus far to $610,000.

Astrobotic Technology will launch its first expedition on a Falcon 9 rocket under contract from Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX).

 In May 2015, it will deliver a robot to the Moon’s south pole to prospect for water, methane and other minerals. Turned into rocket propellant, these resources will dramatically reduce the cost of space exploration by providing an off-planet refueling station.

“The number one challenge in space exploration today is the cost,” said David Gump, Astrobotic’s president. “Commercial robotic expeditions can serve space agencies at one-third the cost they traditionally spend with cost-plus contractors. And by prospecting for rocket fuel ingredients at the Moon’s poles, we can provide a much lower cost source for spacecraft propellant as they venture further away from Earth.”

Astrobotic is a spinout from the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, which carries out lunar research funded by Astrobotic. 

In October 2010 NASA awarded first phase ILDD contracts to Astrobotic (Pittsburg, PA), The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc., Cambridge, MA, Dynetics Inc., Huntsville, AL, Earthrise Space Inc., Orlando, FL, Moon Express Inc., San Francisco, CA and Team FREDNET, The Open Space Society, Inc., Huntsville, AL.

Read the full Astrobotic news release HERE.

Astrobotic's Guide for lunar payload developers

Lander-rover architecture by Astrobotic Technology, a leading competitor for the Google Lunar X-Prize [Astrobotic Technology, Inc.]

Astrobotic Technology today released a new guide for researchers on preparation of their instruments for the company's planned December 2013 robotic expedition to the surface of the Moon.

The expedition, based on technology from Carnegie Mellon University, will carry up to 240 pounds of science, engineering, and marketing payloads. Any university, government agency or company is eligible to purchase payload accommodations on the December 2013 flight.

"To get their sensors and experiments to the lunar surface, researchers have had to propose entire missions to space agencies such as NASA or the European Space Agency," said Astrobotic president David Gump.

"This initiative allows engineers and scientists to focus on just their own instruments, with Astrobotic providing the delivery and support utilities like power and communications. They can buy just what they need from us by the pound, watt, and byte."

Last month Astrobotic announced that it has signed a contract with SpaceX to launch its mission on a Falcon 9 rocket, the same vehicle that NASA will use to send supplies to the International Space Station. The Falcon 9 will throw the Astrobotic spacecraft into a lunar trajectory for a four-day cruise to the Moon.

Read the full release, HERE.

Model Lunar Lander Design for Emulating Space Flight and a Lunar Touchdown

"Flight Article," from Moidel's design for a lab-scale lunar landing flight simulator. (Carnegie Mellon University is an affiliate partner with the Astrobotics Google Lunar X-Prize team [Robotics Institute/Carnegie Mellon].

Justin B. Moidel
Robotics Institute
Carnegie Mellon University

Lunar landers are challenged to descend from a lunar orbit to the moon’s surface under a gravitational force of 1.62 m/s2, about one sixth the magnitude of earth gravity. The purpose of this research is to design and simulate a lunar lander model which will emulate the flight and landing of a robotic lunar spacecraft in order to test guidance, navigation and control (GNC) software.

Autonomous control will be developed for descent, soft landing and attitude control. An emulation can test lab-scale landing hardware in addition to GNC software and autonomy of a robotic lunar lander. This paper describes a design for a model lunar lander available for testing in two separate environments, one which constricts the lander models motion so a descent is not possible and another incorporates an innovative gravity offload mechanism to compensate for the lesser gravity of the Moon.

Read the (pdf) paper, HERE.

NASA contracts to Astrobiotics-Carnegie Mellon

NASA has selected Astrobotic Technology and Carnegie Mellon University for two contracts to study Moon excavation robots and methods to simulate the one-sixth lunar gravity on Earth.

Lightweight excavation robots are key to recovering the water and hydrocarbon deposits at the Moon's poles, which will enable explorers to "live off the land" rather than hauling all their supplies from Earth at great expense. New results from NASA probes released last week show that the water content in the polar soil is 10 to 30 times richer than previously thought, and in easier-to-access places than the floors of deep craters.

"We intend our robots to be prospectors for water and hydrocarbon resources, and then to demonstrate how they can be turned into rocket propellant and life support supplies," said Dr. William "Red" Whittaker, founder of Astrobotic Technology and a research professor at the university's Robotics Institute. "Creating propellant at the Moon will halve the cost of lunar exploration and advance the date when we can send human expeditions to Mars."

Excavation is expected to be required to remove a top layer of dry soil covering ices deposited by comet and asteroid impacts.

The lunar gravity simulation study will examine the best ways to mimic the effects of the one-sixth lunar gravity via various active and passive gravity-offload mechanisms and ways to make the apparatus scaleable and transportable for field tests in challenging terrain.

NASA selected the excavation robot proposal under its Small Business Innovation Research program and lunar-gravity simulation proposal under its Small Business Technology Transfer program designed to move university research into the commercial sphere. The two Phase I awards total $199,850 and may lead to Phase II awards in six months totaling $1.2 million.

Astrobotic Technology Inc. is a Carnegie Mellon spin-off that will fund a series of robotic Moon missions, first winning the $20 million Google prize and visiting Apollo 11 on the "Tranquility Trek" expedition in late 2011. The Trek robot will be a rolling TV studio and Internet node, sending back high-definition video of its adventures. Later missions will prospect for water ice in deep polar craters and seek out volcanic caves as low-cost shelters for both robots and astronauts.

About Astrobotic Technology:
The company has secured lunar contracts from NASA and two commercial firms. Prototype rovers are now being field-tested at Carnegie Mellon University by Dr. William "Red" Whittaker, the firm's chairman. The company will license lunar data, deliver payloads and perform on-the-surface services for space agencies, aerospace contractors, researchers, corporate marketers and the media. More information is available at www.astrobotictech.com.

Astrobotic media contact:
David Gump - 412-682-3282

OSEWG talks joint human & robotic sortees

Brian Enke

Denver Space Industry Examiner

On August 5 and 6, the Optimizing Science for Exploration Working Group (OSEWG) held a workshop at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston and discussed ways robots and humans could cooperate in future lunar missions.

Experts from the science, exploration, and robotics communities walked through various lunar mission scenarios and offered insights into how each group could support the overall mission objectives while reducing budgets and risk.

The all-star lineup of presenters included Chip Shearer (LEAG), Jim Head (Brown University), Chris Culbert (NASA-JSC), Rob Ambrose (NASA-JSC), Brian Wilcox (NASA-JPL), and David Wettergreen (Carnegie Mellon University). Private industry interests and abilities were represented by one presenter (Chel Stromgren - SAIC) and several conference attendees from aerospace companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Read the review HERE.

Carnegie Mellon's Lunar X Prize team

Photo: Bill Cramer/Wonderful Machine

Astrobotic team members [from left] Nisarg Kothari,
James Lee, Ross Finman [in foreground], Ethan Minogue, and
Charlie Munoz gather for a test run of the Red Rover.

Prachi Patel (Part of IEEE Spectrum's Special Report: Why Mars? Why Now?) "The rover has gone blind. It had been running all night, its two mast-mounted cameras capturing high-resolution stereo images of its surroundings. Now it’s sitting idly in the middle of the room. Fixing the thing is not how Ross Finman had planned to start his day at the lab.

Finman, a 19-year-old undergraduate wearing wrinkled black trousers and an old brown leather jacket, uses a laptop to log on wirelessly to the rover’s computer. ”That’s weird,” he says, and tries to restart the cameras. Still no go. Definitely not a good day.

”Who touched it?” he says.

”I did,” a student nearby shouts back. ”That’s why it shouldn’t be broken.”

Finman summons Michael Furlong, a grad student and the camera wizard around here. Furlong pulls up a diagnostics screen on the laptop. Some log files had grown excessively large, eating up CPU cycles. He deletes the files and reboots the computer. Seconds later, the rover can see again.

”Mike is the man,” Finman says, grinning at Furlong, who doesn’t take his eyes off the screen.

It’s just another day at the Field Robotics Center, part of Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, in Pittsburgh."

Read the Article HERE.

Spotlight on Carnegie-Mellon's Scarab Rover

Fresh from a second round of Ground Truth testing on the Island of Hawai'i, CM's Scarab is detailed in a recent report from The Future of Things
Scarab was designed from the start for conditions on the Moon.

The Carnegie Mellon Lunar Rover Initiative put the Scarab through two series of extended tests in 2008. The first took place in Moses Lake, Washington in June and the second in Mauna Kea, Hawaii in October and November. Most of the tests in Washington explored the capabilities of the laser navigation system and the vehicle's mobility. The tests in Hawaii also exercised the navigation systems in a lunar-like terrain filled with volcanic ash. Drawbar tests to examine what happens when forces pull back on the Scarab were also performed as were tests of the velocity camera and drilling system.

From The Future of Things, HERE.

CM's Ross Finman wins Goddard Scholarship

Carnegie Mellon University's Ross Finman will receive the prestigious Robert H. Goddard Memorial Scholarship at the 52nd annual Goddard Memorial Dinner, April 17 in Washington, D.C.

"I am thrilled to win this award because it is a great example of how the unique Carnegie Mellon environment allows motivated and driven students to pursue their technical aspirations," said Finman, 19, a junior in electrical and computer engineering.

The National Space Club Award of $10,000 is given each year to stimulate the interest of talented students to advance scientific knowledge through space research and exploration. Award recipients must be pursuing or have the intention of pursuing studies in science or engineering during their university career. It is also given in memory of Robert H. Goddard, America's rocket pioneer.

"I could not think of a more deserving awardee," said the Fredkin University Research Professor William "Red'' Whittaker. "Ross is a jewel. He is a phenomenal leader and very engaging. He drives himself to lead and pulls his team along with him," said Whittaker, who heads the university's team attempting to win the $20 million Google Lunar X-Prize for landing a robot on the moon, driving it at least 500 meters on the lunar surface and transmitting images back to Earth. "He is an extremely hard worker and is very serious about working in the field of space technology."

For Finman, space is literally the final frontier. "I came to Carnegie Mellon interested in robotics but I am now hooked after being involved with our amazing X-Prize team," said Finman of Nashua, N.H., who is also involved in a separate team challenge to build an autonomous dirt-digging robot for a NASA competition.

Finman says he is a winner because he is surrounded in an environment of winners. "I have learned so much from my collaborative, problem-solving team experiences at Carnegie Mellon, and that is exactly why I came to this research university," Finman said.

The energetic Finman admits to taking a few college-level courses at both Harvard and Johns Hopkins when he was only 16. "But only at Carnegie Mellon could I really get to sink my teeth into some novel research and be respected at such a young age," he said.

"Ross Finman is the kind of student that chooses Carnegie Mellon because our environment nurtures and inspires innovation," said Ed Schlesinger, head of the university's top-ranked Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "We celebrate his creativity and his ability to translate the fundamentals into practical technology."

A rocket enthusiast since childhood, Finman is an avid skydiver, rock climber, mountain biker and skier.

Chriss Swaney, CMU

Astrobiotics/CMU foresee role for micro-bots

Photo, above, by Mark Maxwell, Astrobotic Technology: Small commercial robots the size of riding mowers could prepare a safe landing site for NASA's lunar outpost by surrounding it with an eight-foot high semi-circle berm to block grit kicked out by spacecraft landings from hitting nearby habitats, according to research by Astrobotic Technology Inc. and Carnegie Mellon University, funded by NASA.

Astrobotic Technology and Carnegie Mellon Researchers Show Small Robots Can Prepare Lunar Surface for NASA Outpost

PITTSBURGH—Small robots the size of riding mowers could prepare a safe landing site for NASA's Moon outpost, according to a NASA-sponsored study prepared by Astrobotic Technology Inc. with technical assistance from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute.

Astrobotic Technology and Carnegie Mellon researchers analyzed mission requirements and developed the design for an innovative new type of small lunar robot under contract from NASA's Lunar Surface Systems group.

The results will be presented Friday in Washington, D.C., at a NASA Lunar Surface Systems conference co-sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its Space Enterprise Council.

"NASA faces a challenge in planning the layout for its outpost, which is expected to begin operations in 2020," said William "Red" Whittaker, chairman and chief technical officer of Astrobotic and a Carnegie Mellon professor of robotics. "For efficient cargo transfer, the landing site needs to be close to the outpost's crew quarters and laboratories. Each rocket landing and takeoff, however, will accelerate lunar grit outwards from the pad. With no atmosphere to slow it down, the dry soil would sandblast the outpost."

The research examined two potential solutions: 1) construction of a berm around the landing site, and 2) creation of a hard-surface landing pad using indigenous materials.

In the first solution, researchers found that two rovers weighing 330 pounds each would take less than six months to build a berm around a landing site to block the sandblasting effect. A berm 8.5 feet tall in a 160-foot semi-circle would require moving 2.6 million pounds of lunar dirt. Robots this size can be sent to NASA's planned polar outpost site in advance of human expeditions. Astrobotic Technology Inc. has proposed that landing site preparation be provided by commercial ventures.

In the second solution, researchers showed how small robots could comb the lunar soil for rocks, gathering them to pave a durable grit-free landing pad, said John Kohut, Astrobotic's chief executive officer. "This might reduce the need to build protective berms. To discern the best approach, early robotic scouting missions need to gather on-site information about the soil's cohesion levels and whether rocks and gravel of the right size can be found at the site."

Also at Carnegie Mellon, Whittaker is directing the development of Astrobotic's first lunar robot, which has been undergoing field trials for several months. The company's first mission, to win the $20 million Google Lunar X prize by visiting the Apollo 11 landing site and transmitting high-definition video to Earth, is set for December 2010.

Details of the study and lunar imagery are available at www.astrobotictech.com.

Carnegie Mellon tests Scarab on Mauna Kea

As reported in late summer, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg, in partnership with NASA, is preparing for rigorous testing of its Scarab lunar lander on the Big Island of Hawai'i.

"Scarab was designed and built for NASA's Human Robot Systems program by Carnegie Mellon. It serves as a terrestrial testbed for technologies that would be used to explore craters at the moon's southern pole, where a robot would operate in perpetual darkness at temperatures of minus 385 degrees Fahrenheit. The rover features a novel rocker-arm suspension that enables it to negotiate sandy, rock-strewn inclines and to lower its 5 ½-foot by 3-foot body to the ground for drilling operations. Scarab weighs 400 kilograms (about 880 pounds) and can operate on just 100 watts of power."

Read more HERE.

Lunar robotic tests on the 'Big Island'

Alyson Kakugawa University of Hawai'i - Hilo: Teams from the Kennedy and Johnson Space Centers, Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Carnegie Mellon University will visit the Big Island this fall to test robotic instruments that will be used in upcoming missions to the Moon. The Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES), based in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, will host the two-week event on the lower slopes of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea.

Scientists and engineers, assisted by PISCES staff and UH Hilo students will conduct a full mission simulation featuring three NASA developed robotics, including the Selectively Compliant Articulated Robot Arm Rover (SCARAB). The tests are designed to provide participants hands-on experience with specific technical challenges to be anticipated when humans return to the moon by 2020, explore the lunar surface and set up outposts.

“It’s one thing to test an instrument in the laboratory. But that really doesn’t tell you how it will perform during a lunar mission,” said PISCES Research Operations Manager John Hamilton. “Our challenge is to replicate those conditions as closely as possible to ensure that the test results will be a true reflection of how these instruments will perform on the Moon.”

Equipment to be tested includes a new rover wheel called a Tweel. Developed by Michelin, the Tweel’s experimental design utilizes polyurethane spokes, which prevents flats, eliminates the need for shock absorbers and provides improved traction. Scientists will also test a Sample Capture Device (SCaD) and auger unit developed by the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology (NORCAT), in conjunction with the Canadian Space Agency. The NORCAT drill can acquire subsurface samples without the use of down-the-hole electric components.

In addition to testing the equipment, scientists will be looking for ways to maximize the surrounding environment to meet their needs – a concept known as In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU).

“Astronauts have to work with limited resources on the moon, since it is extremely barren,” said Field Operations Assistant Christian Andersen. “Even basic needs like water and oxygen, which we take for granted, will have to be created from rocks and other material. So you essentially have to find ways to do more with less.”

That effort includes crops that can grow in a similar environment, which are currently being developed by the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resource Management.

PISCES Co-Director Dr. Robert Fox said as a UH Hilo based program, PISCES is blessed with a wide variety of resources.

“We really bring a lot to the table when you think about it,” Fox said. “We have the physical environment necessary for simulating lunar conditions, an ideal location in the middle of the Pacific, plus a thriving scientific infrastructure and community where research is actively encouraged.”

UH Hilo has already cultivated strong ties with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), through its undergraduate program in Astronomy, collection of world class telescopes atop Mauna Kea and the `Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai`i. Fox noted this latest initiative provides an opportunity to develop important new partnerships.

“Just look at the names,” Fox said. “Carnegie Mellon University, the Canadian Space Agency, Michelin and Lockheed-Martin are all major players. This puts us in some pretty impressive company.”

This test will be the first utilizing PISCES’ mobile field operations center. Future plans call for development of a base facility to be housed in the University Park of Science and Technology and a simulated lunar outpost located on the Saddle Road between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea.

The robots will be demonstrated on campus for selected groups of K-12 students as the culminating event. Hamilton, who observed a similar field test in Washington state with Andersen this summer, described the experience as “awesome.” He’s confident the students will have a similar reaction, and hopes the experience will spark an interest in scientific study.

“When all is said and done, the name of the game is educating our children,” Hamilton said. “Through initiatives like this we hope to inspire them to study robotics, and sharpen their stem skills like math and science, which are the keys to obtaining good paying jobs.”

Robots look to the moon

Dawn Wang - The Tartan

Carnegie Mellon faculty and students have been hard at work building a robot, called “Red Rover,” that they anticipate will land on the surface of the moon before 2012.

Carnegie Mellon has partnered with technology company Raytheon and the University of Arizona under Astrobotic Technology, Inc., a company formed by Carnegie Mellon professor William “Red” Whittaker. Under Whittaker’s leadership, the team seeks to win the Google Lunar X PRIZE.

Whittaker is the Fredkin Research Professor of Robotics at the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute and the founder of the Field Robotics Center and the Robotics Engineering Consortium, both at this university. He is also the Chairman and CEO of Astrobotic Technology, Inc. and oversees the project within and outside of Carnegie Mellon.

Most recently, he led the Tartan Racing team that won the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge’s $2 million prize with their car, Boss.

In an interview posted on the video-sharing website YouTube, Whittaker spoke of the philosophy behind what he deems a truly successful project.

“In any successful mission, if you haven’t done everything, you haven’t done anything,” he said. Whittaker has now focused his attentions on the Google Lunar X PRIZE.

The Google Lunar X PRIZE is an international competition to land a robot on the moon, allow it to move 500 meters over the lunar surface, and transfer images and data back to the Earth.

Monetary prizes will be given to the winners — $20 million and $10 million respectively for the first and second to land on the moon, if accomplished by 2012. The prizes are only valid until 2014, at which point the prize amounts drop to $15 million and $5 million apiece.

The X PRIZE aims to promote commercial space exploration, funded projects into privately funding ventures.

As universities such as Carnegie Mellon are becoming more technologically advanced, the process of expanding these innovations to commercial enterprises beyond the university becomes increasingly complex, according to Michele Gittleman, a project manager in the Field Robotics Center.

“That’s why we have a tech transfer office — so that the big ideas can make it out of the university and into the world so the entrepreneurs can run with them,” Gittleman said.

Gittleman recognized the intensity it takes to build a robot to land on the moon.

“You have to really want it to win.... you have to have the passion to stick it out,” she said. The X PRIZE has caused excitement and commotion not just in the world of robotics and technology, but also within the Carnegie Mellon community.

In addition to a group of faculty, the majority of the students working on the project are at the masters and Ph.D. level. However, a number of undergraduates are also involved in the project.

Astrobotic Technology’s new role as a spin-off of the university, rather than a separate company, allows for more student involvement on the project.

First-year mechanical engineering major Ray Barsa has already started contributing to the robotics project. He is one of the select group of undergraduates involved in the project, and as a first-year his position is especially rare.

Barsa is currently enrolled in the graduate level class Advanced Mobile Robot Development, which he decided to take after hearing about Carnegie Mellon’s X PRIZE team. His role covers working on mobility systems for “Red Rover.”

“Driving a robot on the moon is probably one of the biggest engineering challenges.... I’ve learned so much from the class .... [It] forces you to learn on your own, and there’s so many resources available,” Barsa said.

“I just feel really lucky to be part of the class .... I had hoped to work on projects like that one day, and it’s incredible to be working on them already [as a first-year],” he added.

John Thornton, a research engineer in the Field Robotics Center working on the project, echoed Barsa’s enthusiasm.

“It’s happening in our own backyard.... It’s incredible to be part of something bigger than all of us,” he said.

Thornton said Carnegie Mellon students already have the right combination of technical prowess, passion for excellence, and world-class research resources needed to get to the moon.

“Now we just throw all that in a pot, stir it up, and see what comes out,” he said. “A robot that wins the first prize of $20 million wouldn’t be so bad.”

Students interested in being part of the project can e-mail John Thornton at johnthornton@cmu.edu

Google Lunar X PRIZE draws in higher education

Will universities become the platform for space research and exploration? Private companies? Or will NASA remain top dog? Will the Google Lunar X PRIZE change space exploration?

A robot is the iconic mechatronic system, and in my mind, a rocket, lander and rover destined for the moon are the ultimate mechatronic system. The craft would involve every facet of engineering, including particularly controls, fluids, thermodynamics, physics, mechanics, electronics, computers, communications, and of course trying to make everything work together — systems engineering and mechatronics. What a better place to find experts in all these varied fields than at the engineering department of a university?

I think the early favorite is Astrobotic Technology Inc., a partnership between Carnegie Mellon University, Raytheon Missile Systems, and other institutions, including the University of Arizona. The $20 million grand prize requires landing on the moon, sending various high-resolution photos, travelling 500 meters across the lunar surface and sending back high definition video.

Teams competing for the Google Lunar X PRIZE must have 90% of their funds originating from private sources. Although this competition won't change the paradigm of space exploration, I hope it will spur more private research and development, especially at the university level. This competition provides the drive for teams to create something spectacular on a potentially small budget in a relatively very short amount of time (by December 31, 2014). I think this will show other researchers, our government and universities that we have the technology and resources to get to the moon without a billion-dollar budget.

Read the 'mechatronic' perspective HERE.