http://astrobotictechnology.com Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:42:21 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The third prototype rover from the Astrobotic Technology team recently gained a mock camera and antenna head, making it nearly complete and ready for high-end photography. Yesterday it was posed in front of a green screen so that it can later be combined via Photoshop in combination with actual Apollo ... http://astrobotictechnology.com/2010/03/11/rover-readied-for-photography-session/ The overriding technical challenge of operating a rover near the Moon's equator is the intense, prolonged heat produced by solar radiation and the hot regolith over which the rover travels. All powered equipment inside the robot generates its own heat as well, which must be routed to the radiator for ... http://astrobotictechnology.com/2010/03/04/parts-to-battle-lunar-heat-take-shape/ The third prototype lunar robot developed by the Astrobotic team has been crowned by a mock camera/antenna head, completing its overall look. The unit was robotically machined to perfect the team's skills in creating the foam molds over which carbon fiber will be laid up to build the actual camera ... http://astrobotictechnology.com/2010/03/01/team-adds-mock-head-to-prototype-rover/ The Astrobotic rover will carry a battery pack (273 WHr) to ensure power during the high-activity landing and also for the brief periods during roving when the solar panels won't be fully oriented toward the Sun. The team is fabricating a battery pack that straps the lithium ion cells to ... http://astrobotictechnology.com/2010/02/28/fabrication-starts-on-battery-pack-mold/ The Astrobotic team has initiated testing of an experimental inertial measurement unit (IMU) loaned from Intel Labs. (IMUs measure a spacecraft's velocity, orientation and gravitational forces.) The tiny device provides six degree of freedom orientation data, utilizing a bluetooth wireless connection to a host computer. It contains three accelerometers, three gyroscopes, ... http://astrobotictechnology.com/2010/02/23/astrobotic-begins-tests-of-tiny-imu/ For the Astrobotic rover to survive hibernation during the lunar night's cryogenic cold, the team must find commercial components that perform to extremes far beyond their published spec sheets. This week an Asus netbook entered the cryo-freezer to see if its Intel Atom processor would bounce back from the ordeal. ... http://astrobotictechnology.com/2010/02/22/night-survival-test-succeeds-with-intel-chip/ NASA’s top education official has noted an important upside to the agency’s revolutionary new budget. Because the new plan fosters entrepreneurial exploration projects, young professionals at these new space companies will take leadership roles far earlier in their careers than they would at old-line aerospace companies. Dr. Joyce Winterton, the ... http://astrobotictechnology.com/2010/02/18/new-nasa-budget-to-accelerate-space-careers/ The Astrobotic team won "best in show" at the the Society of Women Engineers' Showcase Feb. 15 at Carnegie Mellon's University Center, distributing custom red-cyan glasses to that visitors could enjoy stereo images from the Apollo program -- demonstrating the vivid imagery that will be returned by the Astrobotic lunar ... http://astrobotictechnology.com/2010/02/15/demonstrating-3d-views-of-the-moon/ The ground floor of the new Gates-Hillman Center for Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon is devoted to the 5,000 square foot Planetary Robotics Lab. The PRL includes a 3,000 square foot high bay with computer controlled crane for engineering and experimentation, along with workrooms for fabrication of robots and their ... http://astrobotictechnology.com/2010/02/08/team-moves-into-planetary-robotics-lab/ The Astrobotic team at Carnegie Mellon University brought a new computer-controlled robot arm into operation last month by loading up CAD files of the camera unit that will ride atop the mast at the rover's center. The arm carved away foam to create a mold to be used for carbon ... http://astrobotictechnology.com/2010/02/08/robot-arm-begins-carving-composite-mold/