CHONDROBOT-2 - A simple, efficient semit-autonomous tele-robotic lunar excavator

CHONDROBOT-2 at 2012 Lunabotics Mining Competition, May 2012. The BRAC University team qualified for the competition with the only vehicle made entirely of recycled materials.

Rhaman, et al
School of Engineering and Computer Science
BRAC University
Dhaka, Bangladesh

A simple, light-weight and efficient excavation system to excavate and collect lunar regolith has been developed at BRAC university. The excavation system has a dimension of 1.21m × 0.66m × 0.74m with a total weight of 65 kg. 

This four wheel drive robot consists of a bucket-ladder system for excavation and is capable of collecting 8 kg of regolith per minute, and it also includes a collector bucket which can contain 18 kg of regolith to deposit a bin installed at 50 cm height. The excavation hardware can be operated both manually and remotely through a web browser without direct visual and auditory access to the hardware. A KINECT sensor, based semi-auto navigation, is incorporated to avoid obstacles while in motion.

Space exploration has gained considerable importance among the scientific community as it is key to unlimited resources beyond Earth. Sustainable exploration over a long period of time requires in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), the means to produce water, oxygen, hydrogen and some other consumables from materials available on other planetary bodies. NASA is promoting development of mining equipment that is light-weight and efficient to collect and handle regolith on the Moon, Mars, asteroids and comets, etc. With this objective, and also to promote interest in Space Science, Technology, Mathematics, and Engineering (STEM) fields, NASA has been arranging the yearly Lunabotics Mining Competition since 2010, a place where students at undergraduate or graduate levels from all over the world can take part in the design and operation of excavator systems for use on the Moon.

This paper describes the successful design and construction of an excavator system within specifications developed by NASA. The excavator system design is simple, light-weight, efficient and cheap because it is constructed fully using locally available materials. CHONDROBOT-2 is the 2nd version of CHONDROBOT, and relevant literature is reviewed as it relates to the development of each part of this tele-robotic lunar excavator.

Read the paper (pdf), HERE.

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.

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.

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.

Google Lunar X-Prize 'fashion show'

As yet unnamed rover design by the Part-Time Scientists.

Nick Azer, author of the Luna C/I (Colonization and Industrialization) blog and now an official part of the LPI's MyMoon Street Team, has been busy, "running down the Best of the Best, 'fashion-wise,' of the competing Google Lunar X-Prize lunar rovers.

"The $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE has 26 teams competing for the prize - each with their own rover, and each jockeying for the adoring love of the space community.

"Each rover, lander, hopper, ball, and other budding moon explorer has different functionality, but their own brand of robochique. The best rover may win but the foxiest will walk away with the style points.

"To that end, I'll be rolling out each of the 26 teams' rovers onto the catwalk for the ultimate in wheeled robotic fashion shows! Bundle up and brace yourself for a whirlwind tour of the finest Mr. and Mrs. Moons Luna will have to offer circa 2015."

Begin a tour of the Google Lunar X-Prize rovers, HERE.

High-speed lunar navigation for crewed and remotely-piloted vehicles

Figure 2 - NASA’s K10 autonomous or teleoperated rover designed for robotic site survey, at speeds up to 0.6 m/s. (Houghton Crater K10 Field Test, 2010) [NASA/ARC/NLSI].

Pedersen & Allan, et al.
NASA Ames Research Center
Carnegie Mellon University
Humboldt University
ETH, Zurich

Increased navigation speed is desirable for lunar rovers, whether autonomous, crewed or remotely operated, but is hampered by the low gravity, high contrast lighting and rough terrain. We describe lidar based navigation system deployed on NASA’s K10 autonomous rover and to increase the terrain hazard situational awareness of the Lunar Electric Rover crew.

Introduction - High speed mobility (by planetary rover standards) is desirable for more efficient exploration of the lunar surface, particularly if human crews are present there.

NASA’s Lunar Electric Rover (LER) can drive at 10km/h (3m/s) on rough terrain, faster on known smooth surfaces. By comparison, the MER vehicles moves at a few cm/s while stopping regularly.

Driving on the Moon is complicated by the low gravity, rough terrain, high contrast lighting and alien environment.

Under the 1/6g lunar gravity a vehicle becomes airborne at relatively modest speeds (driving the Apollo era lunar rover at 7 mph was reportedly like being aboard a rowing boat for this reason). The reduced gravity also lessens vehicle-ground friction. Together these effects increase maneuvering distances.

Astronauts complained of difficulty discerning surface features on the Moon under certain lighting conditions, such as with the sun behind them. The lack of terrestrial depth cues compounds the difficulties of driving.

The 3 sec signal round trip time delay to the Moon permits tele-operating a vehicle from Earth (e.g. Lunakhod) with diffculty (increasing with speed).

This paper describes our robotic rover navigation systems, currently running on NASA’s autonomous or teleoperated K10 rover (Figure 2) and as a crew aid on the LER for increasing pilot situational awareness of the surrounding terrain. We address terrain sensing for 4 different classes of rovers: K10, the Lunar All Terrain Utility Vehicle (LATUV, Figure 3), the LER and the LER operating under lunar gravity and time-delayed tele-operation.

Subsequent sections describe the terrain mapping and hazard detection software, pose estimation, the rover software infrastructure for command and data handling, the graphical user interface and performance figures.

Read the Full Abstract, HERE

Figure 8 - Apollo 17 Station 3 high-resolution pan centered on the south rim of Ballet Crater; frames AS17-138-21155 through 21167 assembled by David Harland for the Apollo Surface Journal [NASA/JSC].

i-SAIRAS 2010. 10th International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space - Sapporo, Japan, August 29 - September 1, 2010

JAXA plans for robotic moonbase by 2020

Japanese Space Agency concept drawing of robotic lunar base [JAXA].

Nancy Atkinson
Universe Today

The Japanese space agency, JAXA, has plans to build a base on the Moon by 2020. Not for humans, but for robots, and built by robots, too. A panel authorized by Japan's prime minister has drawn up preliminary plans of how humanoid and rover robots will begin surveying the moon by 2015, and then begin construction of a base near the south pole of the moon. The robots and the base will run on solar power, with total costs about $2.2 billion USD, according to the panel chaired by Waseda University President Katsuhiko Shirai.

Read the article HERE.

JURBAN partners with Tree House Ventures

The Baltimore based Google Lunar X PRIZE team JURBAN has announced partnering with Virginia-based Tree House Ventures in preparation for a commercial launch of an unmanned robotic "swarm" to the moon by 2012.

Hat tip to SpaceRef, 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

Piloting a lunar rover

At NASA Ames Research Center, in Mountain View, CA two K10 rovers navigate a lunar-like landscape. The K10 program is designed to help NASA do more advanced surveys and surveillance of the moon, and for the time being, the robots are being deployed in a series of similar environments across the planet. [Daniel Terdiman/CNET]

Daniel Terdiman
CNET news

MOUNTAIN VIEW (NASA ARC) - For a few minutes Thursday, as I steered one of NASA's K10 intelligent robots across a small field of rocky, sandy terrain, I could almost imagine myself piloting the rover across the surface of Mars or the moon.

Until, that is, I realized I had pretty much no idea what I was doing, and saw that my struggles to steer the rover forward were actually sending it backward. Given that this little robot is worth at least as much as a mid-range Mercedes, I was relieved to see the eagle-eyed scientist standing a few feet away from it as it approached a group of large rocks that could send it sprawling, a switch in his hand capable of stopping it dead in its tracks.

I was spending the afternoon at NASA's Ames Research Center here, talking with Terry Fong, the director of the Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG), about the K10 rover program--an initiative designed for remote scouting operations on the moon or Mars. To be sure, the program has been around for a few years, but Fong and his team are constantly tweaking the robots, and so what I got my hands on Thursday (remotely, at least) was a great deal more sophisticated than would have been the case just a few years ago.

Read the Story and view the Video HERE.

Regolith Excavation Challenge concludes with three winners

Team Braundo of California, first to compete in the 2009 Lunar Regolith Challenge [New Scientist/MacGregor Campbell]

Mark Whittington
The Examiner

NASA’s Regolith Excavation Challenge has concluded and there are three winners, first, second, and third place. According to Parabolic Arc, the winners are:

“Paul’s Robotics, Worcester, Massachusetts (439 kilograms – $500,000); Terra Engineering, Gardena, California (270.6 kilograms – $150,000); Braundo Rancho, Palos Verdes, California (263.75 kilograms – $100,000)”

The Regolith Excavation Challenge, as part of the Centennial Challenges program, took place over the weekend at Moffett Field in California. The goal was to use either a teleoperated or autonomous device to excavate at least 150 kilograms of simulated lunar regolith within thirty minutes. The Regolith Excavation Challenge was conducted on behalf of NASA by the California Space Education and Workforce Institute (CSEWI) with NASA providing the prize money. Twenty three teams competed for the prize money this year.

Read the Story HERE.

University of British Columbia engineering students unveil NASA regolith challenge vehicle

UBC TREAD cycle (YouTube video) Oct. 2, 2009 - NASA Regolith Challenge entry video "for one complete cycle of excavation, drive and unload. Autonomous line-following for ramp ascent." [UBC / YouTube]

John Meech
UBC Public Affairs

A robot designed by UBC students will be shoveling moon dust at an international robotics competition next week, vying for a $500,000 prize and the opportunity to contribute to NASA’s future space exploration projects.

The UBC team has created a robotic machine that can excavate simulated lunar soil (regolith). Excavating regolith will be an important part of any construction project or processing of natural resources on the Moon.

The UBC TREAD robot team will compete in the NASA Regolith Excavator Centennial Challenge at Ames Research Air Force Base in Mountain View, California, on Oct. 17.

Media are invited to see a sneak preview of TREAD’s excavator in action on Saturday, October 10, from 10 a.m. – noon. Contact Prof. John Meech at 604-761-0472 to attend.

See UBC’s robot: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd_MNrIRei4

During the NASA competition, robots will be tested in box containing eight tons of simulated lunar regolith that is about four meters square and about one-half meter deep. In order to qualify for a prize, a robot must dig up and then dump at least 150 kg of regolith into a container in 30 minutes.

The NASA challenge is designed to drive progress in aerospace technology of value to NASA’s missions; encourage the participation of independent teams, individual inventors, student groups and private companies of all sizes in aerospace research and development; and find the most innovative solutions to technical challenges through competition and cooperation.

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.

Google Moon's great promise

Demonstrating the potential of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC, AZU) and showing off the timely, definite usefulness of Google Moon as a place to peg the millions of pieces together of the multi-layered lunar jig-saw puzzle. Zooming in on a strip of Taurus-Littrow, one-time address of Apollo 17, earlier detail (l) and a preliminary scan by LRO's Narrow Angle Camera (r), the valley floor south of North Massif and west of the landing site can be toured "at Street Level."

The potential is breath-taking.

If new data from LRO's WAC and NAC is added with promised regularity, Google has provided serious students of the Moon the world over with a workspace unlike anything seen since the U.S. Geological Service first delivered and continuously improved availability of on-the-fly imagery of the Solar System. (USGS PSD Imaging Node)

Terry Fong wrote, July 22: I'm very pleased to announce that "Moon in Google Earth" went live this morning:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/features/2009/Google_Moon.html
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/Google_Moon.html
http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/annc/20090720-moon.html

"Moon in Google Earth" was co-developed by Google and the Intelligent Robotics Group and features historic satellite imagery, historic maps, 3D models, and guided tours.

You can explore this for yourself (Windows, Mac, and Linux) by downloading the latest version of Google Earth (http://earth.google.com), then switch into "Moon" mode via the planet icon (looks like Saturn) on the top toolbar.

If you'd like more information, please let me know. Also, if you have any suggestions for a future update, I'd welcome your suggestions!

Cheers,

Terry Fong

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.

Team Italia conceives Bot Swarm to win Google Lunar X-Prize

An impossibly huge notional unit, part of a swarm of similar robots GLXP Team Italia has announced it may use to win the Google Lunar X-Prize, looms over the lunar Nearside

Jeremy Hsu, Space.com - "What began as a glimmer in the mind's eye for one robotics researcher has grown into a national endeavor for Team Italia, one of 17 groups competing for the Google Lunar X Prize.

"Team Italia has evolved," said Piero Messina, president of the Naples-based International Association for the Aerospace Culture (AICA) that is coordinating Team Italia. Messina helped pull together all the major Italian aerospace and engineering universities, as well as the two largest Italian aerospace companies, to support the race to land a robot on the moon by 2012.

"The idea to compete for the Google Lunar X Prize crystallized around the vision of Alberto Rovetta, a professor of robot mechanics at Politecnico di Milano. Rovetta's designs for lunar robots resemble skittering spiders or crabs that could deploy as a swarm of mobile cameras and sensors on both legs and wheels."

Read the article HERE.

OSEWG Workshop on Robotics

OSEWG 2009 Workshop on Robots
Supporting Human Science and Exploration
Head Up Robotics.Youngster.com

The Optimizing Science and Exploration Working Group (OSEWG) is conducting a workshop on Robots Supporting Human Science and Exploration in August.

"This workshop will investigate how robotics might best be used to support a sustainable program of human exploration and science on the Moon," announced Dr. Matthew Deans, of the Advanced Capabilities Division, Exploration Science Missions Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

"The objective is to identify areas where high-priority lunar science needs can be met with space robotics capabilities, while fostering improved understanding and communication between the communities. The workshop will engage the Lunar Science and Space Robotics communities to include expertise from both domains."

"We are not soliciting submissions," Deans said. "This will be a working meeting."

More information: from LPI HERE.

Photo Album from FIRST Robotics International

And William Pomerantz at the Google Lunar X-Prize blog The Launch Pad has posted an excellent and representative selection of shots taken before, during and after the 2009 FIRST Robotics International finals in Atlanta, April 12. A great crowd and a hopeful look forward at tomorrow's planetary scientists and engineers.

Someone is this crowd will be going to the Moon.

See it HERE.

Japanese taskforce recommends lunar exploration

The task force charged with plotting Japan's future space development said it wants a two-legged robot strolling on the Moon by the end of the next decade.

The drafted five-year plan, outlined Friday by Japan's Strategic Headquarters for Space Development (SHSD) called lunar exploration with robots "an important current goal" of its space strategy.

Joint exploration of the moon with robots and astronauts was suggested as the next step.

The plan also recommends Japan shift its goals from space-related technological advancements to an emphasis on development that can meet defense and other practical needs, according to Japan Today.

Robotics teams goes for 'lunacy' in LA

William S. Hart Union High School District
Santa Clarita Valley, CA

The robotics team from West Ranch High School journeyed to Long Beach March 13 and 14 to compete in the Los Angeles Regional FIRST Robotics Competition.

Following a "lunacy" theme, 61 high school teams from Southern California, Arizona, Brazil and Chile challenged each other on a "lunar crater" roughly the size of a tennis court, scoring points by launching balls called "moon rocks," "empty cells" and "super cells" into the containers of the opposing teams' robots.

The West Ranch team placed 13th among 62 schools and made it to the first round of the elimination playoffs.