Astrobotic’s first project aims to win Google Lunar X Prize (and related prizes) and show the world Apollo 11 in high-definition clarity. This historic location hasn’t been seen since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left their boot prints in the lunar soil.
The rover will touch down one to two kilometers from the site just after local dawn in April 2013, using guidance and control technology evolved from the autonomous vehicle expertise at Carnegie Mellon University. (For example, Dr. Red Whittaker’s “Boss” SUV won the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge for autonomous vehicles able to navigate through city traffic.) A pinpoint landing will be a breakthrough in planetary robotic exploration – existing systems do not employ continuous course corrections to seek a precise location and to avoid obstacles like small boulders and craters.
The rover will roll off the lander and roam 500 meters to capture the $20 million Google Lunar X Prize through a series of high-definition telecasts — in 3D. Because Astrobotic plans to launch from Cape Canaveral, it also will collect a $2 million bonus from the State of Florida.
The rover then scans the horizon to locate Apollo 11 and heads toward the historic site. Important questions will be answered – what has happened to the landing stage after 40 years of exposure to harsh solar and cosmic radiation and constant bombardment by micrometeorites? Will the flag still exist or has it disintegrated? Engineers planning NASA’s future lunar expeditions want these and additional questions about the Apollo sites answered.
Corporate sponsors of the Tranquility TrekTM expedition will see their contests and promotions fulfilled over the next two weeks of exploration. Global television and Web audiences will get to participate, conversing with the rover and helping decide its next moves. Purchasers of payloads and services will have their goals completed.
After two weeks of discovery, the Sun will set at the Apollo 11 site. Temperatures will slide toward minus 290 degrees F – as cold as liquid nitrogen. The rover will hibernate, waiting for the warming rays of the next dawn. Mission planners aren’t yet placing odds on whether the robo-explorer can survive the night, but components are being screened in a cryogenic freezer to determine which bounce back from the extreme deep freeze. Thus far, the team has identified batteries, solid state drives and processors that resume operation when the temperature warm s back up to roughly minus 80 degrees F.
