by Michael Belfiore | Jun 21, 2011 | Blog
Draper Laboratory, the organization that developed the guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) software for the Apollo moon landers is in the thick of a new moon race. The Google Lunar X PRIZE promises $20 million plus bonuses to the first non-government team to...
by Michael Belfiore | Jun 7, 2011 | Blog
As long as electric vehicles (EVs) are stuck with conventional batteries, drivers will either have to park for long periods during recharging or swap out heavy, bulky batteries on the fly. MIT students Mihai Duduta and Bryan Ho, led by professors Craig Carter and...
by Michael Belfiore | May 6, 2011 | Blog
During my visit to Google Lunar X PRIZE team Astrobotic at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh last week, I got team member and CMU mechanical engineering student Charlie Muñoz to explain how the team is solving a major technical challenge. The lunar night lasts...
by Michael Belfiore | Apr 29, 2011 | Blog
I captured this video clip this week at Carnegie Mellon University, home of the Astrobotic Google Lunar X PRIZE team in Pittsburgh. Red Rover is the name of the team’s moon-robot-in-development. Its namesake, CMU robotics professor and Field Robotics Center...
by Michael Belfiore | Apr 22, 2011 | Blog
When the Shuttle retires in just a couple of months, NASA will be forced to bum rides off its former arch rival, the Russian Space Agency, to the tune of $63 million a seat. That’s because the ship that was to replace the Shuttle has gotten itself billions of...
by Michael Belfiore | Apr 8, 2011 | Blog
With Elon Musk’s announcement this week that his company, SpaceX, is developing the world’s most powerful rocket, a little-acknowledged fact has become all the more clear: SpaceX IS the US manned space program. Yes, naysayers like Senator Shelby of Alabama...
