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Boulder CO (SPX) Jan 24, 2011 Next Giant Leap (NGL) announced that Draper Laboratory has committed over $1 million from their internal research and development (IR and D) program to fund the design and development of a guidance, navigation and control (GN and C) system testbed for use in Next Giant Leap's commercial lunar mission. "A critical component of any lunar landing mission is the GN and C," said Seamus Tuohy, Space Systems Director at Draper. "In addition to landing, we are developing a system that can propulsively hop, and this provides great flexibility to perform regional exploration of the lunar surface." Draper has enlisted MIT faculty, staff and students for the development of the GN and C testbed in order to deliver a future capability to enhance the Nation's space exploration efforts as well as develop the Nation's future space technology leaders. NGL is a leading contender for the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, which requires contestant vehicles to travel at least 500 meters from their initial landing location. The innovative GN and C research underway at Draper will allow NGL's exploration craft to traverse large distances while flying over obstacles. This "hopping" method of transportation has many advantages on a low gravity body such as the moon. Michael Joyce - Founder of NGL - stated, "I'm thrilled by the commitment to the NGL mission shown by Draper's team. Their funding ensures that this critical mission component will be ready to fly on schedule." In addition to Draper's IR and D support and funding from eSpace, NGL anticipates additional income via its offering of exciting and unique corporate sponsorship opportunities.
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Lunar water may have come from comets - scientistsParis (AFP) Jan 9, 2011 Water on the Moon came in large part from comets which bombarded the lunar surface in its infancy, a study published on Sunday suggests. For decades, the Moon was thought to have been as dry as it was void of life and atmosphere. This assumption, though, has been revisited after findings by NASA last year of significant traces of frozen water in a permanently shadowed crater. Astroph ... read more |
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