[Ip-health] Science: New Prize sends Old Hands on Flights of Lunar Discovery

[Suerie Moon]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
(copied as fair use)



Science 29 February 2008:
Vol. 319. no. 5867, pp. 1170 - 1171
DOI: 10.1126/science.319.5867.1170a
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                                                                   SPACE EX=
PLORATION:
New Prize Sends Old Hands on Flights of Lunar Discovery Eli Kintisch As a l=
egendary designer of communications satellites, Harold Rosen doesn't need t=
o spend his ninth decade figuring out how to land a cheap probe that can ma=
neuver and send back pictures from the moon's surface. But when Google anno=
unced last year that it was joining with the nonprofit X Prize Foundation t=
o sponsor the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize, the National Medal of Techn=
ology winner decided to dust off an idea for a tubular, spinning payload th=
at had been "in the back of my head" for decades. "We think we have the tea=
m to win it, and we're raring to go," says the spry aerospace engineer, who=
 at 82 stays in shape by swinging on metal rings at the beach outside his h=
ome in southern California.
 So far, Rosen's crew consists of volunteers--his wife, Deborah Castleman, =
a former satellite systems engineer; a brother and a grandson; and a handfu=
l of colleagues from the aerospace industry who jointly hold 130 patents. B=
ut Rosen hopes that the contest's publicity will attract companies willing =
to bankroll the entire effort, from design to delivery. And he thinks he ca=
n do it for the price of the winner's pot of $20 million.
 Nine other teams have also stepped to the starting line in what Google's T=
iffany Montague characterizes as "a new commercial moon race" for lunar ind=
ustries and science. Competition organizer Peter Diamandis says that the $1=
0 million awarded in 2004 as part of the Ansari X Prize to send a privately=
 built, crewed spacecraft to the edge of the atmosphere leveraged nearly $1=
00 million in related spending. He also hopes that the contest will "inspir=
e a new generation" of students, who then translate their excitement about =
space into science and technology careers.
 The Soviet Luna 24 mission in 1976 was the last robotic mission to the moo=
n. The cost of following up on that feat has been prohibitively expensive: =
NASA's recently announced lunar orbital, called GRAIL, is priced at $375 mi=
llion. Although the cash prize is far less, Montague says it is "an incenti=
ve, not meant to cover development costs."
 Some of the contestants are hoping that their lunar missions will lead to =
deals with the media or with companies hoping to extract minerals or other =
resources. "For me, it's a business plan contest," says space entrepreneur =
Robert Richards of team Odyssey Moon, which is based in the United Kingdom'=
s Isle of Man. Richards sees the race as just one step toward selling "smal=
l-scale robotic missions to deliver scientific and technology missions."
 Even the recognized front-runner in the competition has a long way to go. =
The principals in Astrobotics, a collaboration between Raytheon (rocketry, =
navigation), Carnegie Mellon University (robotics), and the University of A=
rizona (space cameras, vehicle testing), have raised $1.5 million toward wh=
at the group estimates will be $100 million that it needs for its four-whee=
led, pillbox-shaped rover mission. A focus on television and other media do=
llars has led to some unique engineering requirements, says University of A=
rizona planetary scientist Dante Lauretta. "Our media people are saying you=
 can't have the rover look that boxy," he says only half-jokingly. Engineer=
s will also need to make sure that the rover will be able to snap a "self-p=
ortrait with the [corporate] logos in focus," he says, one of the contest's=
 media-savvy rules.

   Topping it off. Aerospace pioneer Harold Rosen hopes a spinning design w=
ill spell victory for his lunar lander. CREDIT: DEBORAH CASTLEMAN
 It's not just glamour shots they're after. "Science isn't a level-one requ=
irement," says Lauretta. "But you know us, we're scientists. Once we have a=
 spacecraft on the moon, we are going to want to do science." New regolith =
formations and boulder distributions are among the features he's hoping to =
explore. Although the $5 million bonus for photographing humanmade remnants=
 of previous lunar missions may be a publicity gimmick, it also promises to=
 focus attention on the important technological problem of carrying out pre=
cision landing. NASA's Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, lacked such gui=
dance systems. Instead, they bounce-landed on the Red Planet using giant ai=
r bags. To land near the historic Apollo 11 site on the Sea of Tranquility,=
 for example, will require new technology.
 Astrobotics will use Raytheon's adapted missile-guidance technology. "We d=
on't want to land on the flag or the boot prints," says Lauretta. Mastering=
 such landing skills "could revolutionize planetary science" for future mis=
sions, he predicts. (Scientists often have to avoid geologically exciting l=
anding sites because they're too small; precise navigation could allow land=
ing in tight areas.)
 Rosen is taking another approach. He thinks the inherent stability of his =
spinning design, which he has modeled with a skate wheel and bobby pins, wi=
ll obviate the need for expensive hardware. And he hopes that chasing the p=
rize will be good for his health, too. "I thrive on it. [It] keeps me menta=
lly alert."