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A Tour of Astrobotic Technology's lunar rover lab at Carnegie Mellon (video)
Things are buzzing late Monday afternoon at Carnegie Mellon's Planetary Robotics Lab Highbay. Outside, in front of the garage door-like entrance, a trio of men fills up a kiddie pool with a garden hose. Just to their left, an Enterprise rent-a-truck backs up and a handful of students raise two metal ramps up to its rear in order to drive a flashy rover up inside. I ask our guide, Jason Calaiaro, what the vehicle's final destination is. "NASA," he answers, simply. "We have a great relationship with NASA, and they help us test things." Calaiaro is the CIO of Astrobotic Technology, an offshoot of the school that was founded a few years back, thanks to Google's Lunar X Prize announcement. And while none of the handful of vehicles the former student showcases were made specifically with the government space agency in mind, given the company's history of contractual work, we could well see them receive the NASA stamp of approval in the future. Asked to take us through the project, Calaiaro tells us, quite confidently, that the trio of vehicles behind us are set to "land on the moon in 2015," an ambitious goal set to occur exactly three weeks from last Friday.%Gallery-168976%
X Prize adopts NASA guidelines for protecting lunar heritage sites, Buzz Aldrin punch averted
NASA hopes that one small step by Google's Lunar X Prize will eventually lead to a giant leap in protecting historical sites on the moon. The X Prize Foundation announced that it will adopt guidelines released by the space agency last year to help preserve lunar heritage sites. The move comes at a crucial time as a new space race increases the possibility of an imminent moon landing, according to NASA. Google's Lunar X Prize alone currently has 26 contestants worldwide vying to land a robot on the lunar surface by 2015. NASA stressed that their recommendations aren't law and "do not represent mandatory U.S. or international requirements." Examples include approach and landing guidelines to minimize disturbance, contamination and degradation of Apollo mission sites. That certainly sounds more reasonable than, say, plopping some dude in a spacesuit at a lunar outpost to shoot trespassers with a plasma shotgun while yelling, "Get off my property!" In the meantime, feel free to mosey on over to the PR after the break.
Archon Genomics X Prize offers up $10 million for sequencing 100 human genomes
Sure, we've come to love the X Prize for all of its crazy futuristic car building and moon racing contests, but the latest competition is decidedly smaller -- at least in one sense. For the Archon Genomics X Prize, the foundation is asking teams to sequence "medical grade" human genomes -- 100 of them, in fact -- using the DNA of 100 centenarians (folks who've made it to the ripe old age of 100), referred to pithily as the "Medco 100 Over 100." The centenarian DNA may contain secrets to overcoming disease -- after all, they made it to 100 for a reason. The competition opens to teams on January 3rd of next year -- once completed, the data gathered will be opened up to researchers. Press info can be unlocked after the break.
X-Prize reveals plans for tricorder competition, suspiciously lacking Nimoy endorsement
We could feed you a line about the final frontier or exploring strange new worlds, but we'll just give it to you straight: the X-Prize Foundation has teamed up with Qualcomm to design the Tricorder X-Prize, a $10 million competition designed to boldly go where no contest has gone before. Sorry, we couldn't help ourselves. The most recent addition to the ambitious X-Prize stable is aimed at producing a mobile medical device, similar to those used on Star Trek, that can "diagnose patients better than or equal to a panel of board certified physicians." Said device would allow regular folks to "quickly and effectively assess health conditions, determine if they need professional help," and then decide on a plan of action. The Tricorder X-Prize competition is still in the planning stages and should be ready to launch sometime in 2012. Full PR after the break.
A tour around the X-Prize winning Edison2 Very Light Car (video)
A few months ago, three teams split $10 million in prizes, finally claiming the Progressive Insurance Automotive X prize. They're all at CES, and we got a chance to speak in detail with one of the men behind one of them, Edison2's Oliver Kutter, about the design of the car and, ultimately, what's going to come next thanks to that $5 million in cash the company walked away with. Read on for the details from that conversation, including why this tiny thing could actually be safer than a traditional car, as well as a video walkthrough, and pictures of the winner of the two-wheeled X-Tracer too. %Gallery-113929%
Li-ion Motors INIZIO: all-electric supercar hitting 170 mph next year, all yours for $139k
Tesla, schmesla. This, friends, is the electric vehicle that your garage has been waiting for. Designed by North Carolina's own Li-ion Motors, the downright stunning INIZIO is being hailed as the world's first all American-made electric supercar, and while the Roadster is definitely peppy, it ain't got nothing on this. Using the company's own lithium-ion battery technology and management system, the car can purportedly cruise for up to 250 miles on electricity alone, and it can hit a top speed of 170 miles per hour without breaking a sweat. Naturally, you won't (legally) fit more than two humans into this thing at once, but those two individuals will enjoy adjustable, leather / suede Recaro seating with heating and cooling features, an inbuilt 12-inch subwoofer, digital surround sound system, integrated navigation system, DVD player and rotational doors that raise on a 90-degree angle. Oh, and they'll probably drool a little after racing from zero to sixty in 3.4 face-numbing seconds. The company also adds that it emits no carbon emissions, can be recharged over 2,500 times and can go from drained to rejuvenated after just eight hours on the plug. It's expected to launch in mid-2011 with a starting price of $139,000, or just a few pennies more than the current value of the wretched Carolina Panthers franchise. Update: Just a heads-up before you throw down for a pre-order... you may not actually ever get your vehicle. Just another one to the list, really.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: Honeycomb skyscrapers, solar funnels, and the Karma PHEV supercar
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. High tech architecture took the spotlight this week as Aedas unveiled a set of photovoltaic crystalline honeycomb skyscrapers for Abu Dhabi and San Francisco unfurled plans for a sail-shaped solar stadium for the America's Cup yacht race. We also took an exclusive look inside a high-tech solar home that actually produces more energy than it consumes, and spotted a new technology that can transform any home's electrical wiring into an information-transmitting antenna. We also showcased some of the world's most efficient vehicles as the winners of the $10 million Automotive X-Prize were announced, and we were excited to hear that the first factory-built Fisker Karma supercar will be rolling up to the Paris Auto Show next month. Finally, we peek inside Jay Leno's envy-inducing green garage in this week's episode of Green Overdrive. In other news, MIT made waves on the renewable energy front as they revealed a new "solar funnel" technology that could increase the efficiency of photovoltaic cells 100 times. We also took a first look at Eddy GT's new streamlined city-friendly wind turbine, and we saw Tesla batteries jump-start residential solar systems by storing excess energy.
Three lightweight fuel economy meisters split $10 million in X Prize dollars
We're big fans of private entities giving away big chunks of cash to fund cool research, and the X Prize foundation seems to be making the most waves lately. Most recent is the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize, a $10 million total purse going to cars able to score at least an equivalent MPG of 100. There were two main classes and three total prizes, all of which recently found winners. Besting them all was the Team Edison2 Very Light Car, taking home $5 million thanks to its four-passenger configuration clocking in at 102.5MPGe running on E85 ethanol. There were also two "alternative" winners, each scoring $2.5 million: Team Li-On's two-seater Wave-II EV (187MPGe) and Team X-Tracer Switzerland's E-Tracer, an awesome and electric two-wheeled enclosed motorcycle with auto-deploying outrigger wheels. That sucker, pictured above, managed 205.3MPGe and will do 0 - 60 in under seven seconds, something that certainly can't be said of the rest. But, none of them are exactly what you'd call four star safety rated nor can any be found on dealer lots. In other words: it remains to be seen when mere mortal commuters will get to be the winners of this contest.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: solar aircraft, freshwater wind farms, and the Automotive X Prize
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. This week Inhabitat saw the world's first solar-powered aircraft soar through the night sky as it successfully completed its first 24-hour flight. We also took a look at the 15 ultra-efficient cars currently vying for the Progressive Automotive X Prize. Electric vehicles also made the headlines left and right this week as Korean carmarker CT&T announced plans to produce EVs in South Carolina and California rolls out plans for a whopping 1,600 charging stations. Heatwaves swept the states this week, but we found some solace in the abundance of sunshine as Obama unveiled plans to kick-start the US solar industry with a $2 billion investment. We also looked at a sleek and stylish solar powered bag and an advanced solar cell manufacturing technique that promises to boost the efficiency of thin film photovoltaic cells by a fourth. Wind power also made waves as plans were officially unveiled for the United States' first freshwater wind farm in Lake Erie. Finally, this week we saw several remarkable advancements from the field of biotechnology, starting with an amazing new wound dressing that harnesses nanotechnology to detect and treat infections before they strike. And from the desk of strange-yet-true comes one architect's plan to create a conceptual home entirely from meat cells grown in a lab!
Spira foam car enters Automotive X Prize, our hearts
There's something to be said about a car that gets 100 miles per gallon and floats. We're still trying to figure out what exactly that phrase is, but we're certain something has to be exclaimed. Designer Lon Ballard has concocted the, um, object you see above, which is actually an automobile modeled after Crocs and built almost entirely from foam. In fact, 90 percent of the Spira's makeup is foam, which doesn't exactly give us loads of confidence about its ability to withstand major (or minor, really) impacts on the American freeway. At any rate, this 302 pound automobile -- which can hit a top speed of 70mph via a 100cc engine -- is expected to make a literal splash in the Progressive Automotive X Prize, though we kind of doubt you'll ever see this thing mass produced in its existing form. Have a look at a pretty ridiculous video just past the break to see what kind of fun we're all missing out on.[Via Wired, thanks Eric]
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.
Progressive Automotive X-Prize competitors roundup
With about three weeks left to go, the Progressive Automotive X-Prize has already got 25 submissions (20 names have been publicly released) with creators ranging from college students to large auto makers already in the game. Here's the deal with the contest: the cars must be production-capable and fall in with federal safety guidelines, and it's got to be possible to produce and sell 10,000 of them annually, with a working business plan in place for this to happen by 2014. The car must deliver at least 100 MPGs, and CO2 emissions can't exceed 200 grams per kilometer. The prize for the competition is ten million dollars. We've seen some of these in the past -- Aptera's 2e, MDI's AirCar, and the Tata Nano are all on offer -- but there are a few new guys, too. Some of the more interesting entries are the totally rad looking diesel Avion which has gotten up to 103.7 miles per gallon, Kinetix Motors' diesel-electric hybrid E4 Sports Hatch, which should cost less than $25,000 with a top speed of 95 miles per hour. The company also claims the sporty ride goes from zero to sixty miles in 6.1 seconds. Finally, there's Physics Lab of Lake Havasu Green Giant, an electric truck that gets 50 miles per gallon on its battery, with plans to bump that figure to 100 miles per gallon using other sources of energy. Check out the gallery of other prospects, and hit the read link for the full, delicious list.%Gallery-43837%
Aptera rolls out first pre-production vehicle, promises shipments in October
Although the swoopy Aptera electric went up for pre-orders back in October of 2007, we haven't really seen much of the futuristic car outside of the odd Star Trek cameo. Hopefully that's about to change, though -- the company just rolled out the first pre-production example its flagship model, the 2e. The three-wheeled car gets the equivalent of 200mpg, and the company claims the lithium-ion battery pack will last for 100 miles on a single charge. Aptera isn't giving out final pricing information apart from "between $25,000 and $45,000" but it says over 4,000 potential customers have already signed up for a planned California-only October release. We'll see how it goes -- and we'd bet the folks at the Automotive X-Prize are keeping a sharp eye as well.
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.
West Philly High preps plug-in hybrid in bid for Auto X Prize
While we spent our high school days trying not to cut our thumbs off in shop class, these West Philly High School kids have been making a run on the $10 million Automotive X Prize. They're building a plug-in diesel hybrid in an attempt to reach that magical 100 mpg mark "without sacrificing style, safety or affordability." Pictured above is a previous project, a K1 Attack modded up hybrid and biofuel-style. Seems like they've got the chops, but they're certainly up against a lot of competition.
Lunar lander lifts off, then promptly crashes
As the sole contestant in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, Armadillo Aerospace's predictably named Armadillo managed to complete two parts of a NASA challenge to win $350,000 in prize money. However, on attempting the top task -- fly 50 meters up, fly 50 meters sideways, and land -- the Armadillo tripped up, plummeting to the ground and losing the chance to win $1 million. It'll get another chance today, although at least the team won't be rushed by the non-existent competitors. Packing 1,800 pounds of thrust to the vessel's 1,500 pound weight, the Armadillo is guided by GPS and other sensors: one day we could be taking trips to the moon in the distant, distant successor to this little beast.[Via Crave]
YouNeverCall offers cash for first cell call from the moon
We have bad enough luck with cellphone coverage in our own apartment to worry much about balls of dirt floating around in space, but YouNeverCall is tacking a slim $10k onto Google's existing $30 million in moon-related prize money for the first cellphone call made by a device or a person on the moon, so if you're headed there any time soon you might want to give it a shot. Sure, $10k probably pales in comparison to the expense of even adding a phone and related hardware to the payload -- not to mention those hefty interstellar roaming charges -- and it mainly seems like a bit of cheap PR for the YouNeverCall peeps, but we like the concept of a moon rover doing something more than just roaming and pesky science while it's chilling out way up there. Whoever or whatever is making the call will need to be able to answer some simple questions while on the phone, and the call must pass through a commercially available cellphone -- though technical details are murky beyond that. Secondary prizes are also on offer for first SMS message and first usage for the Crazy Frog Ringtone.[Via MobileWhack]
Fly Google to the moon, win $20 million
Google's sponsering a new X Prize, and this one has its sights set a bit higher than suborbital. The new contest wants competitors to send a robotic rover to the moon and beam back a gigabyte of data -- including pictures and video -- of the trip. The rover also has to travel 1,312 feet across the surface of the moon. Contest entrants are required to pony up for the launch vehicle themselves, by building it from scratch or contracting with an existing company; like the last X Prize there's no government freeloading to be had here. If somebody is successful in this feat by 2012 they'll win the $20 million, while $5 million goes to second place, and another $5 million bonus goes to teams able to surpass the minum requirements. The prize drops to $15 million after 2012 and expires in 2014 if nobody manages to win by then. More details will be announced at the WIRED Nextfest in LA this weekend.
Team Velozzi creating sexy Automotive X-Prize participant
While we've seen a couple of entrants into the Automotive X-Prize competition so far, Team Velozzi has announced a showstopper of a vehicle that will reportedly be created for the contest. Aiming to craft a vehicle that gets around 200 miles-per-gallon and receives locomotion from potent Li-ion batteries, the R&D group's potential participant currently resembles vehicles from some of the more exotic of automakers. Curiously, the company's website insinuates that it wants the vehicle to be "mainstream," but with specs consisting of a full carbon-fiber body / chassis, Brembo brakes and racing suspension, a multi-format hybrid energy system, "high-end interior," a Weismann F1 transmission, and twin AC electric engines, we can't exactly imagine this supercar fitting into the average joe's (or jane's) budget. Still, there's no denying the sexy regardless of cost, so be sure to hit the links below to get a more in-depth view of Velozzi's forthcoming automobile.[Via AutoblogGreen]
