Japan building a robot moon base in 2020, and you're not invited

Not content with the sheer badassery of sending a humanoid robot to the moon in 2015, Japan has just unveiled a mission for 2020 that will involve setting up a whole robotic moon base. It will be unmanned in the flesh-and-blood sense, but will be populated with a 660 pound rolling bot. The station will be self-powered, and will let its citizen roam over 60+ miles of terrain, gathering scientific samples that can be sent back to earth. While rocks are great, we're even more excited about the HDTV the station will be beaming back as well. The whole project will run somewhere in the ballpark of $2.2, and will be developed simultaneously with Japan's manned moon program. We're going to get working on our "I'm 660 pound a scientific exploration robot" costume right away.

[littlea Posted May 27th 2010 9:17PM]

lol

[abedinthehouse Posted May 27th 2010 9:22PM]

$2.20?!?!?
Damn thats cheap!!!!

[alettyo Posted May 27th 2010 9:31PM]

@abedinthehouse
haha you're right, that's hella cheap.
I'd like to own one prease?

[Pryomancer Posted May 27th 2010 9:34PM]

@abedinthehouse We're forgetting that $2.2 is like four thousand trillion yen.

[oproski Posted May 27th 2010 9:40PM]

@abedinthehouse Yea, lol seems like they're expecting the American dollar to skyrocket in value in the next ten years :)

[fowenati Posted May 27th 2010 9:42PM]

@Pryomancer
It doesnt matter how much yen it is, its 2.2 american dollars, therefore I am going to buy 50 Grand worth of it and send me and all my friends to the moon.

[desertdude Posted May 27th 2010 10:50PM]

@littlea
They're going to take the flag down and claim we never went there.
I'm tweeting Truman just in case.

[LouieGeetoo Posted May 28th 2010 12:00AM]

@abedinthehouse It's $2.2 billion, in case anyone wants to know without having to click to the sources.

[Ellianth Posted May 28th 2010 2:51AM]

@alettyo - Only one? I ordered 100. Gonna sell them for a killing on ebay when they realize their pricing mistake and jack up the price! I'll sell it for at least 1.1 less than the corrected retail price.

[FuturismRave Posted May 28th 2010 7:14AM]

@abedinthehouse i think what he mean to say was $2.2 million

[michelledoutzens Posted May 28th 2010 9:54AM]

@littlea Actually, Japan is planning to launch the biggest solar powered project .... on outerspace as well. http://j.mp/ikaros-project-revealed

[Bray Posted Jun 3rd 2010 7:43PM]

@abedinthehouse "Yeah. 1 small fry and a moon mission meal please. Can I have the rover please? I need it to complete my base. Yeah thanks"

[walter164 Posted May 27th 2010 9:18PM]

DARN...I WANTED TO TAKE FIST PUMPING TO THE MOON...

[fowenati Posted May 27th 2010 9:43PM]

@walter164
You still can, right after the robots take it over :)

[SolidSnake Posted May 27th 2010 9:57PM]

@walter164
all your moon bases are belong to us.

[engadgetcomexcludeengadget Posted May 27th 2010 11:55PM]

@SolidSnake Hmm, I though the moon belonged to the US... Maybe if we declare war then we won't have to pay them back all that money we borrowed?


BTW, I'm aware we don't own the moon (Dennis Hope does), and that it's not the Japs we borrowed money from.

[Valorgu Posted May 28th 2010 5:12AM]

@engadgetcomexcludeengadget
I don't think you know your economics well. We owe "the Japs" (which by the way is a derigotary term) $585.9bn, which is more than China's $540bn. At this point if you're wondering which Country owns us, it would be Japan. But does that matter when we
are nearly $3trn in debt?

[Xenoterranos Posted Jun 14th 2010 10:05AM]

@Valorgu

That's going to be an awesome estate sale when we go bankrupt.
France all coming over to take back their statue.
Canada all pissed because everyone parked on their lawn.

[walter164 Posted May 27th 2010 9:19PM]

DARN..I WANTED TO TAKE FIST PUMPING TO THE MOON...

[fowenati Posted May 27th 2010 9:44PM]

@walter164
INTERGALACTIC SKYNET??!! Where is Arnie when you need him? Oh yeah, leaving his office as governor and letting these ass holes fill up my TV screen 24/7.

[Evangelion Posted May 27th 2010 9:19PM]

Soon the construction of Evangelion Mark 06 will begin.

Everything is going according to SEELE's plan.

[weirdo557 Posted May 27th 2010 10:09PM]

@Evangelion
until a bunch of whiny ass kids ruin it all by constantly crying. congratulations shinji

[SolidSnake Posted May 27th 2010 10:26PM]

@weirdo557
why do you hate me father????
*cries*

[Sogeking Posted May 28th 2010 12:35AM]

@Evangelion

No offense, but Evangelion sucks ass.

[Evangelion Posted May 28th 2010 6:47PM]

@Sogeking Wait did you guys see that? The A.T. Field suddenly vanished!

[SolidSnake Posted May 30th 2010 12:06PM]

@Evangelion
Attack!!!

[DOUGSKEEZ Posted May 27th 2010 9:19PM]

already been there. when are we going to mars????

[New Reformation Posted May 27th 2010 9:19PM]

They are in cahoots with the Nazi Germans who fled to the moon at the end of the war!! We better watch out. (Gotta love Iron Sky)

[Miguel Posted May 27th 2010 9:20PM]

I thought Japan was just recovering from its worst recession? Now it wants to do this...?

[Dreamwriter Posted May 27th 2010 11:14PM]

@Miguel Things like this create jobs and improve the economy, as well as improving technology which creates even more long-term jobs.

[Prevacator Posted May 27th 2010 9:22PM]

"The whole project will run somewhere in the ballpark of $2.2"
Wow, my PMP costs ten times that. That's pretty damn cheap.

[nak Posted May 27th 2010 9:24PM]

$2.20 eh? Time I setup my own robotic moon base with the spare change between my couch cushions.

[delicatessen lama Posted May 27th 2010 9:36PM]

@nak A bargain :)

[everyone does Posted May 27th 2010 9:26PM]

Only 2.2 dollars for the whole project?!?!

The dollar has recovered!! Recession is over!

[neoelectrex Posted May 27th 2010 9:34PM]

Dude, for that price sign me up for 100 of em.

[Shalabi Posted May 27th 2010 9:37PM]

And finally we will have independant confirmation that the US did NOT land on the moon.

[Punisher Plum Posted May 27th 2010 9:38PM]

@Shalabi

No, we wont.

[Shalabi Posted May 27th 2010 9:50PM]

@Punisher Plum

My prediction: this project will be sabotaged and the cameras will never reach viewing distance of the "flag" or "rover".

[iucidium Posted May 27th 2010 9:50PM]

@Shalabi yup...

[tomer Posted May 28th 2010 5:44AM]

@Shalabi I hope you were being sarcastic.

[BigJayDogg3 Posted May 27th 2010 9:37PM]

" The whole project will run somewhere in the ballpark of $2.2..."

May Fools?

[leafflash Posted May 27th 2010 10:38PM]

@BigJayDogg3 You know it's 2.2 billion dollars right?

[BigJayDogg3 Posted May 28th 2010 8:48AM]

@leafflash

Do you really think anyone with any amount of sense would think you can not only travel to the moon, but set up a moon base for $2.20?

[Punisher Plum Posted May 27th 2010 9:38PM]

$2.2! Ill take 10!

*checks bank account*

Make that 3...

[everyone does Posted May 27th 2010 9:38PM]

[insert witty comment about 2.2 typo]

[buntaicho Posted May 27th 2010 9:42PM]

So how long before the machines wise up & start sending missiles of doom down to the meaty fleshy things on that blue orb?

[ChaskaCF Posted May 27th 2010 9:43PM]

well I guess they're not invited to our asteroid base :P

[andalitefriends Posted May 27th 2010 9:44PM]

$2.2??? I sure hope that's in the billion or at least in the million range.. Else, I'd like a couple of them served with my coffee please.. :P

[Blurb Posted May 27th 2010 10:12PM]

You just wait, Japan. We'll send one that's 661lbs, can go 59 miles and has flames painted on the side. Maybe one of those awesome eagle designs as well.

[F C Posted May 27th 2010 10:14PM]

Ah haah!!

The shadows are going off in all sorts of directions. PROOF that the Japanese will be faking it.

Seriously, not feeling it. Whats the point... just because?
If they send a whole bot army to scan every meter of the surface, including the dark side, it may be interesting. However, unless there are things they're not saying, its a waste of tax payer yen.