Meet Polaris, The First Ice-Drilling Lunar Prospector-Bot!
9 replies, posted
[QUOTE]A first-of-its-kind solar-powered lunar rover can drill 3 feet into the lunar surface, hoisting a vertical triple solar array to capture sunlight from super low on the moon’s horizon. Roboticists at a company called Astrobotic, a spinoff from Carnegie Mellon University, built a working prototype and plan to test it in the next few months.
Astrobotic and CMU hope to nab the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize for the first privately funded team to send a robot to the moon. Polaris is designed to seek out water ice trapped in the cold craters and regolith at the moon’s poles. It has 3-D cameras and laser guidance systems for navigation, and it will communicate directly with Earth using an S-band antenna.
A lunar day lasts about two Earth weeks, and about 10 of those days would have enough sunlight for drilling at the moon’s poles. Polaris would drill up to 100 holes in those
10 days as it searches for water ice deposits. If it survives the lunar night, it could recharge again as soon as the sun comes up, and continue drilling for ice as long as its drill bit lasts.
Some vitals:
- Body: 5 1/2 feet tall, 7 feet wide and almost 8 feet long
- Wheels: 2-foot diameter composite material
- Speed: One foot per second
- Weight: 330 lbs.
- Payload: 150 pounds for drill and science instruments.
Polaris would launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and land near the moon’s north pole, according to CMU.
[img]http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/POLARIS1.jpeg[/img][/quote]
Source: [url]http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-10/meet-polaris-first-ice-drilling-lunar-prospector-bot[/url]
[url]http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/teams/astrobotic[/url]
There needs to be a winner icon.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;38003498]
There needs to be a winner icon.[/QUOTE]
[img]http://www.facepunch.com/fp/ratings/winner.png[/img]
I like that it's going on a falcon 9. One giant leap for private space industry.
It kind of resembles a shark
[QUOTE=CanadianBill;38004937]It kind of resembles a shark[/QUOTE]
In terms of design and functionality it more resembles a dimetrodon.
Does the sun only come from one direction on the moon or something? That's a really cool design.
[QUOTE=wallyroberto_2;38009187]Does the sun only come from one direction on the moon or something?[/QUOTE]
Man it must be terrible to live in a place where the sun only comes from one direction.
I just... what
EDIT: I'm going to[I] assume[/I] you're actually wondering why shadows on Earth are much softer, to which we can thank our atmosphere which scatters sunlight.
[QUOTE=Blanketspace;38003662][img]http://www.facepunch.com/fp/ratings/winner.png[/img][/QUOTE]
That's a rating.
This is an icon:
[img]http://www.facepunch.com/fp/posticons/science-posticon.png[/img]
[QUOTE=wallyroberto_2;38009187]Does the sun only come from one direction on the moon or something? That's a really cool design.[/QUOTE]
The moon rotates in sync with it's orbit around the earth, so the same side of the moon is always facing the sun.
[QUOTE=raccoon2112;38010615]The moon rotates in sync with it's orbit around the earth, so the same side of the moon is always facing the sun.[/QUOTE]
I thought the same side always faces Earth?
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