Tranquility Trek
Launch date: May 2011
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 two kilometers from the site just after local dawn (late on May 8), using precision propulsion and landing technology developed in cooperation with an aerospace partner. 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 draws on decades of off-road robotic expertise at Carnegie Mellon University. It 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. 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 permanent lunar outposts want these and additional questions about the Apollo sites answered.
Corporate sponsors of the Tranquility Trek 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 244 degrees F – colder than liquid nitrogen. The rover will hibernate, waiting for the warming rays of the next dawn. However, mission planners aren’t yet placing odds on whether the robo-explorer can survive the night.
