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NASA successfully tests autonomous lunar lander navigation system, codename GENIE (video)
Robonaut2 may have fantastic biceps, but raw muscle won't put a man humanoid on the moon -- that takes rockets. Rockets like the one in this RR-1 prototype lander, recently outfitted with a Guidance Embedded Navigator Integration Environment (GENIE) system to let the craft safely descend to the lunar surface. On June 23rd, NASA and partner Armadillo Aerospace put the system to the test, hoping it could figure out the complex algorithms necessary to process volumes of data from the laser altimeter, GPS and inertial sensors, and quickly enough to steer the rocket engine accordingly... but the machine performed like a charm. See its first solo flight in an inspiring, flame-filled video after the break, and skip to 4:12 for the good stuff.
Lunar: Silver Star Harmony gets 'definitive' Limited Edition
Has any game been remade and repackaged into "Limited Edition" bundles more often than Lunar: Silver Star? With the announcement of this special edition PSP package from XSEED, we think the answer is "no." The Limited Edition will include a UMD version of the game, soundtrack CD and a set of 13 "bromide" collector cards "highlighting the girls of Lunar." Oh, game publishing companies, you know what fans want. The press release calls this the "definitive version of Lunar: The Silver Star." That is, until the next time they decide to remake this game. The Limited Edition will cost $40, $10 more than the standard edition, and will release on PSP in Q1 2010.%Gallery-80575%
XSeed brings localized Half-Minute Hero, Lunar: Silver Star Harmony to E3
XSeed just announced its E3 line-up, which includes two PSP games we've heard about before: Half-Minute Hero and Lunar: Silver Star Harmony. You might remember Half-minute Hero as Hero for 30sec (the new name sounds so much better), which was that bizarre micro-RPG we've been drooling over for the past couple of months. As for Lunar: Harmony, it's a remake of the original Lunar game from Sega CD. Both games were previously Japan-only titles but are now coming to North America. Expect both to arrive sometime in the fall.
Lunar: Harmony of the Silver Star may get US release via XSEED
The first screens of the PSP remake of Lunar look very good. The sprites have been redrawn, but the lovingly detailed backgrounds really demand the most attention. Siliconera has more screens of the PSP remake, and we very much approve. While it seems likely a US publisher will bring over the RPG to the games-starved masses on this side of the Pacific, Siliconera notes that "XSEED might be picking this up for North America." We hope some publisher gets on board supporting this project. We want a localized version as soon as possible.
Lunar: The Silver Star returns on PSP
Lunar: The Silver Star, the classic Sega CD/PlayStation role-playing game from Game Arts, will be re-released on the PSP. Rather than a full remake, Gungho Works' Lunar: Harmony of Silver Star appears to be an enhanced port of the PlayStation game -- the screens in the Famitsu scan retain the classic 2D look of the PlayStation version, but the article claims that the PSP version features "new scenarios."Siliconera cleverly speculated that this title would be the "enhanced remake of a classic PSOne RPG" that XSEED plans to announce in the near future. This game is well-known enough among PlayStation RPG lovers to be worth teasing.
Researchers tout plans for moon greenhouse, Silent Running sequel
The Google Lunar X Prize obviously hasn't drawn quite the same number of competitors as some of the more Earthbound X Prizes, but it looks like things are starting to heat up a little bit, with Paragon Space Development recently teaming up with Odyssey Moon in an effort to deploy the first greenhouse on the surface of moon. Specifically, the team is hoping to grow a Brassica plant (a member of the mustard family) in a pressurized greenhouse like the one picture above, and possibly even see the plant re-seed itself within a single Lunar day (or 14 Earth days), which just so happens to coincide with the average growth period for the plant on Earth. Of course, that would only be one small part of the X Prize mission, which first and foremost requires teams to safely land a craft, send some live video back to Earth, travel at least 500 meters, send some more video, and carry a payload. So, still a little ways off, but don't let that stop you from checking out the (autoplaying) video after the break, in which Paragon's Taber MacCallum (a Biosphere veteran himself) explains the project to the folks at Engineering TV.
Odyssey Moon hopes to bring lunar payloads to the masses with MoonOne
Looks like our civilian space agency is serious about getting their little robot outpost on the moon, and now they've teamed up with a company called Odyssey Moon to develop small robotic lunar landers based on NASA's Common Spacecraft Bus. The firm hopes to provide regular commercial services (the craft supports a roughly 110 lb payload) in the event of an oncoming "moon rush," a magical future time where everyone and their mother are looking to get a piece of the lunar surface. Who knows what sorts of new discoveries (and new practical jokes) await those of us who are brave enough to exit the gravity well and live amongst the stars? To peep that far out Engineering TV episode where they break it all down for us, hit the read link.
NASA ruminating a robot-built lunar outpost to make way for manned missions
NASA commissioned a study on the feasibility of using little smallish tractor bots to prep a lunar outpost before the humans show up, and the research seems to show it as a good idea. The theoretical plan is for 330 pound mower-sized bots to show up on the moon and prep the surface for actual buildings, landing sites, roads and so forth. The robots are basically glorified tractors (or perhaps simplified tractors) so lunarnauts shouldn't expect a palace by the time they show up -- just a bunch of displaced dirt. Berms seem to be a big theme of construction, since a sort of "blast shield" is needed to make sure debris from takeoff and landing don't damage the actual settlement.[Via ComputerWorld; warning: PDF read link]%Gallery-46088%
First team sets a date for Google Lunar X-Prize attempt
Just under a year after Google ponied up the money for the Lunar X Prize, there's a team set to attempt a launch and claim the $20M reward. The Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association (ARCA) has scheduled up a launch of a 92-pound rover called the European Lunar Lander within the next three months, with the plan being to float a balloon over the sea to a height of 11 miles, at which point a STABILO rocket will carry the payload to space. To win the prize, the ELL has to land, travel 500 feet on the surface of the moon, and send video, images, and data back to Earth. That's quite a tall order -- we'll be watching this one closely, since even if ARCA succeeds, there's still several $5M prizes out there for second places and the completion of several other objectives.
Lunar: Dragon Song now $9.99, still terrible
One of the first RPGs on the DS -- and, arguably, worst -- Lunar: Dragon Song was both a sales disaster and an affront to the Lunar series. With that in mind, we're sure you're thrilled to hear that Amazon is selling the terribly-translated game (blame Ubisoft) for $9.99, a quarter of the ridiculous $39.99 price Lunar: Dragon Song originally debuted with in 2005!Sure, it's a terrible game, but just think -- for only ten bucks, it could be your terrible game. Or, even better, it could be your friend's terrible game! That's right, you can grab this for a buddy you're not particularly fond of, but are obligated to buy a cheap Christmas present for anyway (Maybe that "pal" who slept with your girlfriend a few years back?). When he calls to ask why you gave him such a loathsome gift, you can be like, "Hey, how was I supposed to know it was garbage? I thought you liked RPGs? By the way, if I ever catch you leering at my girlfriend again, I am going to beat you like a rented mule. Merry Christmas, sucka."[Via CAG]
Japan's KAGUYA spacecraft performs first lunar HDTV transmission
DirecTV's "Starship" has the right name, but it can't hold a candle to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) KAGUYA satellite which has beamed back the first ever HDTV images from the moon. Form its orbit about 100km above the moon's surface, the spacecraft trained its HDTV camera on the moon and sent the images back for all to see. There were only two "scenes" put in the can, both taken from the area around "Oceanus Procellarum." Click through to see (the very crispy, we think) stills from the captures as well as a short video clip. Alas, the video offered up by JAXA is a decidedly non-HD 480x270 pixels. Taking a lesson from Alien's "In space, no one can hear you scream" PSA, there's also no audio, so feel free to add your own soundtrack as you watch (some version of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" is the obvious choice).
Lunar Lander Challenge set to kick off with $2M at stake
It looks like New Mexico's the place to be for anyone looking to catch a glimpse of a possible future mission to the moon, with the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge set to get underway tomorrow at the Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo. As an added incentive for competitors, NASA is ponying up $2M in prizes, although they'll have their work cut out for them if they want to take that home. Specifically, they need to show off a rocket-propelled vehicle and payload that "takes off vertically, climbs to a defined altitude, flies for a pre-determined amount of time, and then land vertically on a target that is a fixed distance from the launch pad." Then they have to do that all over again within a predetermined period of time. To open things up a bit, there's also two difficulty levels but, as with all challenges of this sort, no one takes home a prize unless they fully meet all the requirements.[Via Physorg, photo courtesy of X-Prize Foundation/Paragon Labs]
DS Fanboy poll: Remakes of choice
Earlier this week, we asked you, our dear readers, to discuss games you'd like to see given a spit and a polish for the DS in this age of remakes, and as usual, you came through in a big way. In fact, you gave us so many fantastic suggestions that we've decided to split our selected list into two polls instead of just doing one. We can't include everything suggested, obviously, but we've prepared a selection of bigger releases and more obscure titles, and we're going to let you vote every day, just in case you want to throw your support behind more than one game. Once you've voted, we will profile the top two results from each poll and examine exactly why they would be well-suited to our favorite handheld. So try to vote for the titles you think are the most suitable, those that would most benefit from the kind of treatment we're seeing with the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy titles ... and hey, vote for the games you'd just like to see in portable form as well.And if you just can't decide ... well, that's why we're letting you vote more than once! You can vote your heart and your brain, and the cream will rise to the top.
Carnegie Mellon shows off "Scarab" lunar rover
It looks like the moon could soon become a relatively crowded place if even half of all these robots and rovers we keep hearing about actually get off the ground, the latest of which comes to us from Carnegie Mellon University. Dubbed the "Scarab," this four-wheeled bot is equipped with a Canadian-made drill capable of obtaining meter-long geological core samples, which its creators hope could turn up evidence of hydrogen, water or other recoverable resources. While it's appearance would suggest otherwise, the Scarab apparently won't be tearing up the lunar surface if and when it gets there, with it boasting a top speed of just four inches per second. On the upside, it will apparently be able to maneuver over rocky surfaces, and it can anchor itself to the ground to stay in place while drilling. While that would be enough for most folks to call it a day, it seems that project leader William "Red" Whittaker won't be resting on his lunar laurels, as he's also announced that he'll be assembling a team to compete for the Google Lunar X-Prize, which promises $20 million to anyone that can land a privately funded robot on the moon by 2012.[Via The Raw Feed]
Wise Fwom Yor Gwave: Some classics we'd like to see resurrected on PSP
We've previously seen Afterburner and Lemmings re-tooled, to make them suitable for our favorite portable. While both of those titles are enjoyable, there is still a ton of gold to be mined from the past, then reshaped into something grand and new. With that in mind, I thought it we'd do a public service, and remind publishers of some of those titles. Here they are in no particular order: Bionic Commando Contra Lunar Streets of Rage Splatter House Bonk Strider Double Dribble Golden Axe Shinobi Out of this World Zombie Ate My Neighbors Those are a few of the titles we'd like to see. But what does our opinion matter? Let us know what games we missed, or what classics you'd like to see resurrected on the PSP.
Rumor: Microsoft will publish bargain-priced US Project Sylpheed
Never trust retail listings as concrete evidence of future releases, but GameStop has an interesting page up on its website for Square Enix's Project Sylpheed, here spelled Silpheed. What makes the listing all the more bizarre is its bargain price of $39.99 and its publisher, Microsoft Game Studio (which, oddly enough, is also listed as the developer).Of course, the actual developer, Game Arts (Grandia, Lunar series), has used many publishers -- Grandia II, for example, saw Square Enix publishing the title in Japan and Ubisoft publishing in US and Europe. We don't feel this has anything to do with Microsoft trying to butter up Square Enix while Final Fantasy XIII's exclusivity is supposedly in discussion, but that Square Enix had no interest in distributing the title outside of Japan. But, if the $40 price is accurate, how much faith does Microsoft have that US audiences will embrace the game? There's so much about the listing that feels shaky.No announcements have been been made by Microsoft, Game Arts or Square Enix. According to the listing, Project Sylpheed will be released July 11.[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]
Magnetic space tube to help suck up lunar soil
Not sure if NASA has this on tap or not, but Benjamin Eimer and Lawrence Taylor of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville just invented a special magnetic collection tube that sucks up lunar soil so we can extract precious resources for use in future moon colonies. The tube, which is sort of like an elephant's trunk or one of those leaf suckers, would suck up lunar soil (not peanuts and leaves) containing water, oxygen and other resources to be extracted by astronauts. They'd need to gather and transport large amounts of the stuff without stirring up jagged moon shards and hazardous dust, so bulldozer-like equipment is definitely out of the question. The tube's coils would create a magnetic field that attracts the iron-laden soil, keeping it neatly centered to be distributed to storage facilities or processing plants via a pipeline system. Assuming the tube rules at collecting a massive supply, the soil can then be bagged to stack on top of lunar habitats to help regulate unpredictable temperatures and block radiation from hazardous space particles. Sweet! Once they hook us up with some sci-fi WiFi, we'll be reporting from Engadget's new intergalactic office. [Thanks, Matthew]
NASA develops inflatable lunar habitat
As much as we wish this was some type of anti-gravity bouncy castle, NASA's current experiments with inflatable structures are intended for slightly less entertaining implementation on the moon, where crews will use them as outposts for research, testing, storage, and living. NASA's contractor, ILC Dover, has presented a capsule-like prototype that's 12 feet in diameter and made of multilayer fabric. It's currently being evaluated for emerging technologies such as flexible structural health monitoring systems, self-healing materials, and radiation-protective materials. In addition, they showed a connecting smaller inflatable structure that served as a demonstration airlock. To justify these solutions, the team's next step is to perform studies comparing inflatable and rigid structures for crew habitats.The modular airtight inflatables are favored for being lightweight and adaptable, and if all goes well, the first extended-stay lunar missions could start as early as 2020. [Via Primidi]
Lunar Knights website gets updated
The website for Konami's Lunar Knights game has received a monstrously massive update, complete with new artwork, screens, TV commercials and music. With each media update that site receives, and subsequently we all receive, our excitement grows. Soon, it will reach epic proportions and be seen from space by vampires. Then, we will launch ourselves into space and slay that vampire, just as Lunar Knights would want us to.See also: Lunar Knights conquer evil through site update, Wi-Fi confirmed
Lunar Knights conquer evil through site update, Wi-Fi confirmed
A media explosion just occurred over at the Japanese site for Lunar Knights: Vampire Hunters. While we suspected the game would make use of Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connect service, we may now report that the final boxart shown for the title features the logo, bringing much joy to our hearts. The site has received a ton of new content in the way of movies and screenshots, so anyone looking to hunt down vampires (even in space) should be especially excited for this title. Wi-Fi details have not been confirmed, but current speculation points to online co-op.See also: Between the darkness and the light: Lunar Knights Lunar Knights: a little action, a lot of fun
