Oakland firm refines rover designed to land on lunar soil, collect $20M
July 23, 2009 by alex.gutierrez
By Mike Cronin
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Executives of Astrobotic Technology in Oakland believe they are a bit closer to winning a $20 million race to the moon.
Company Chairman William “Red” L. Whittaker, a Carnegie Mellon University robotics professor, and his colleagues on Monday showed off their third prototype of a robot they plan to send to the moon in May 2011.
The winner of the Google Lunar X PRIZE awarded by a California nonprofit that encourages innovation will be the first robot to land on the moon, travel 500 meters on the lunar surface and send images and data back to Earth. MORE
